Your voice is powerful. And when you add your voice to the sea of voices in Lansing standing with survivors, your voice can change the world. Why does your voice matter? Because sexual trauma by its very nature can make victims feel alone and isolated, as this component of the trauma is embedded in every layer of the experience. 

First, the perpetrator usually has to isolate the victim. 

Then friends, family, and institutions sometimes continue the process of isolation by questioning how or why this happened, implying or outright assigning blame to the victim, minimizing, ignoring, or not believing what happened is true. If people do not feel safe or welcomed to talk about what happened, they learn to be silent.

Afterwards, survivors may feel anxious, unsafe, and worried about a reoccurrence. They may not trust anyone; after all, they may have trusted their perpetrator, friends, family, and institutions only to feel betrayed. They may feel depressed, have poor and disrupted sleep, and lack the energy to engage in activities. It is typical to want to withdraw from social situations, avoid the public, and not want to date or engage in intimacy, or not want to be touched at all.

Your voice has the power to break through that isolation and prove that survivors are not alone. That you believe survivors. That you stand with survivors. That it isn't their fault. 

By the Numbers

• Every 73 seconds someone is sexually assaulted.
• 94% of women who are raped experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the two weeks following the rape.
• 30% of women report symptoms of PTSD 9 months after the rape.
• 33% of women who are raped contemplate suicide.
• 13% of women who are raped attempt suicide.
• 21% of people who are transgender, genderqueer, and nonconforming have been sexually assaulted.
• Native American people are twice as likely to be sexually assaulted than any other race.