{"id":31928,"date":"2022-05-20T08:38:38","date_gmt":"2022-05-20T08:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=31928"},"modified":"2022-05-20T08:38:38","modified_gmt":"2022-05-20T08:38:38","slug":"truth-is-it-does-happen-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/20\/truth-is-it-does-happen-here\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Truth is, it does happen here\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Gavin Curwick, a 16-year-old junior at Lafayette\u2019s Peak to Peak Charter School, has been attending Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) schools since the second grade, and of sexual violence perpetrators at school, \u201cI just know too many people that basically walk free,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people that I think have done things that aren\u2019t held accountable, like, ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

When a close friend \u201chad some accusations (of sexual violence) come out against him,\u201d he says the cultural tides swept his friend\u2019s actions under the rug. \u201cI see people that just go, \u2018Oh, yeah, whatever.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reports of sexual violence among teenagers and elementary school students in Boulder County have increased dramatically over the past two years\u2014a trend not unique to this community, but reflective of national currents. While the Department of Justice reports that the total number of juvenile delinquency cases has fallen between 2015-2019, sexual violence was among the few cases to see an increase. Researchers at West Virginia University\u2019s Department of Pediatrics reported \u201calarming numbers of U.S. adolescents have experienced sexual violence\u201d in a June 2020 study: 26.6% of 17-year-old girls and 5.1% of 17-year-old boys surveyed reported having experienced sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cA large part of it is misogyny,\u201d Curwick says. \u201cBecause a lot of guys, I noticed, it\u2019s like those small comments [they start making at a young age] that lead into their actual, like, views\u2026. They started viewing people as less. I can see how that goes, they go down that path.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many BVSD students and parents that spoke to Boulder Weekly<\/em> reported accounts similar to Curwick\u2019s. \u201cThis goes back to the root issue, again\u2014 why is it that women [are] still seen as these objects?\u201d says Debbie Pope, a BVSD parent and CEO of YWCA Boulder County, a social justice organization dedicated to eliminating racism and empowering women. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Data from Boulder County Public Health (BCPH) shows 11 Boulder County residents in the 10-17 age bracket visited an emergency department for reasons related to sexual violence in 2019. In 2021, twice as many young people did so. The trajectory of 2022\u2019s emergency visits thus far closely parallels that of 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the elementary school level, reports of sexual abuse are rising, too. \u201cWe do see more kid-on-kid abuse,\u201d says Don Shires, director of development and outreach at Blue Sky Bridge, the child advocacy center associated with Boulder\u2019s 20th Judicial District. The organization functions as part of a national network of child advocacy centers, each tasked with providing communities safe and supportive environments for abuse victims, and neutral, professionally-led forensic interviews.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cNumbers don\u2019t tell the whole story. Is it that people are reporting more? Or is it that there\u2019s more sexual assault?\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014Janine D\u2019Anniballe, MESA<\/em><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This year, Blue Sky Bridge broke its record for the most forensic interviews conducted in a month: 38. Forensic interviews happen when law enforcement, judicial and social service agencies need information for sexual abuse cases. In April, Blue Sky Bridge conducted 26 interviews, and \u201cMay is shaping up to be very busy,\u201d Shires says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But numbers \u201cjust don\u2019t tell the whole story,\u201d says Dr. Janine D\u2019Anniballe, director of Trauma Services at Boulder County\u2019s Mental Health Partners, and director of Moving to End Sexual Assault (MESA), where she\u2019s worked for 22 years. \u201cIs it that people are reporting more? Or is it that there\u2019s more sexual assault? We can\u2019t really know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In some ways, the increased reportage of sexual violence in Boulder County is a product of design: a sign that BVSD and MESA\u2019s targeted work over the last two years to make reporting sexual violence easier for students is working. D\u2019Anniballe says the call volume on the hotline number they\u2019ve disseminated to BVSD students is up 44%. (The hotline is 303-443-7300 and is available to all Boulder County residents; of the increase in calls, D\u2019Anniballe says, \u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s all teens and young adults, but they\u2019re in that mix.\u201d)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, BVSD added a bevy of information to its website, making it easier for students to report sexual violence and educate themselves on what is guaranteed to them under Title IX\u2014a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, which can \u201cinclude sexual harassment or sexual violence, such as rape, sexual assault, sexual battery, and sexual coercion\u201d at any public and private schools or school districts receiving any federal funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), nationwide, 81% of women and 43% of men report experiencing some form of sexual harassment and\/or assault in their lifetime. The majority of those experiences happen during high school years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAmong those who reported experiencing sexual harassment and assault, 57% of women and 42% of men said it had happened by age 17. High school-age, 14 to 17 years old, was the most frequently selected age people reported for their first experience (27% women, 20% men).\u201d<\/p>\n

And, as the University of West Virginia researchers found, women aged 16 to 19 are four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than women in all other age groups. According to data shared by NSVRC, one male is the most typical perpetrator of sexual harassment and assault for persons of all genders (reported by 72% of women and 35% of men); the second most typical perpetrator, female respondents said, was two or more males (13%).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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