Written by: Luana Scanlan

​How the Alliance is Developing Primary Prevention for Our Community Connecting with the community is the Alliance’s main strategy for all of its prevention efforts.  ‘Connecting’ involves showing up to our partners’ events, building relationships that support our mutual goals, and above all . . . listening. With purpose and authenticity
 
In this process of connecting, we come to understand shared risk and protective factors of violence in all its forms.  While the root cause of violence may be power of one over another, there are, as we have learned from our community members, many factors that shape what power looks like and how it is wielded.  These factors include one’s culture, level of education and worldly experience, social status, one’s values and how one is raised as a child, among many others.
 
Community connectedness is a shared protective factor that could have a broad impact on violence in the community. One form of violence, for example, bullying, can increase families’ and individuals’ risk for domestic violence. A community that has a zero-tolerance for violence, whose members watch out for each other, and who step in to protect potential victims can help the Alliance to develop services and strategies that would have the widest impact.
 
In our interviews with community members, we have learned that while violence has no boundaries, there are ‘hot spots’ in some villages.  These areas are described as “poor”, “young parents on drugs”, “druggies living in rented houses”, and sadly, the victims are primarily the children. While the village around them functions, these areas are known to the community and avoided.  These individuals and their community are dis-connected.
 
Preventing violence involves engagement through communication, not avoidance.  And a key principle of this approach is cultural competency. Knowing the situation, it is important to connect through communication within the context of the unique views, values, and ways of doing things in a community. Listening to the community is how we learn to communicate in a culturally competent way.  Simply translating education materials into a different language does not constitute a culturally appropriate or relevant strategy as it does not address the different ways communities talk and think about violence. Nor does it reach those who need the help the most.
 
Every intervention the Alliance implements involves connecting with the community by . . .

1. Using positive messaging that is nonbiased and based on evidence
2. Using the language of the target audience
3. Speaking to the audiences’ cultural values
4. Offering solutions, ‘how-to’ ideas
5. Telling a compelling story
6. Promoting positive social norms
7. Meeting people where they are at

Look for more prevention-based interventions and activities coming from the Alliance Team in the near future! Be part of the solution – contact the Alliance for opportunities to partner and get involved.

Written by: Luana Scanlan 

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, there are five damaging social customs or norms linked to the sexual violence normalized in rape culture[1]:

1. Objectifying and oppressing people (treating people like things you have power over).
2. Promoting violence and blaming victims.
3. Promoting power over another.
4. Promoting damaging views of gender roles (‘men can’t control themselves’, etc.).
5. Supporting and promoting secrecy and silence of violence.

As you can see, the impact of rape culture reaches beyond the scope of sexual violence. It also lays a foundation, a fertile breeding ground, for misogyny (hate of women) and inequity.
Through social norming people, regardless of gender, are made to feel as though they have a responsibility, but not the power, to avoid being sexually violated. Norms may support the idea that only men are the perpetrators, that they cannot be victims, and that because sexual behavior is associated with male character (strong, masculine, etc.) they cannot be held responsible for their actions – it’s just ‘in their nature’.  Because the narrative has been controlled by men their voices set the norm.
Consequently, rape culture empowers the rapists and averts perpetrator accountability through victim blaming and negative stigma linked to sex and individual behaviors.  In these ways victims become fearful of not being believed: the impact it will have on their families, the reflection it will have on their loved ones. A victim may not even realize that the act is criminal.  The concept of rape within a marital relationship is still foreign to many people who believe that sex is a husband’s “right”.
Rape culture objectifies and oppresses all people and in doing so prevents a society from engaging in democratic, equitable conversations about rape prevention. For example, 47% of bisexual men and 40% of gay men have experienced some form of sexual violence in their lifetime[2]. Yet, the visual of a rape victim continues to center on a young woman.  Only recently have social messaging promoted the ideas that gender roles and sexual preferences do not determine vulnerability, or that rape is really about power not sex. 
The impact of rape culture is evidenced by the acceptance of sexist jokes, prevalence of music and videos that objectify women, the discounting of victims’ experiences and rights, the lack of effective deterrents such as enforcement of laws criminalizing sex acts including assault and harassment.  The complex interrelated factors that perpetuate rape culture also support other forms of violence and inequity. In our next article we’ll review culturally based risk and protective factors that impact the incidence and prevalence of sexual violence.


[1] Davis, R., et al., (2010). Sexual violence and the spectrum of prevention: Towards a community solution. www.nsvrc.org

[2] Walters, M. L., Chen J., & Breiding, M. J. (2013). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010 Findings on Victimization by Sexual Orientation. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Written by:  Luana Yoshikawa-Scanlan, CDC RPE

Rape culture is the normalization and justification of sexual violence in a community.  Social norms - beliefs, values, and attitudes - minimize the impact of sexual violence. In many cases the responsibility is placed on the victim, and those vulnerable to sexual violence, to ‘avoid’ situations where they may be sexually violated.
In response to a person being raped or sexually assaulted you may hear things like “She asked for it” or “He’s a guy – she should have known better”.  This victim blaming approach is the fuel that drives social norms that perpetuate rape culture.  Placing blame and responsibility for someone else’s (the rapist) actions on the victim prevents society from holding the rapist accountable.  Stigma is then associated with the victim – weakness, sexual object, ‘loose’ and immoral instead of the act of rape itself.

You may hear or see messages in the media and from parents or teachers that advise girls not to walk alone at night, not to wear ‘revealing’ clothes, not to flirt or ‘party’ and ‘lead boys on’. 
Not, not, not…focusing on the possible victim’s behavior instead of the possible perpetrator.  Girls are told ‘don’t get raped’ whereas the message should be ‘don’t rape.’

According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), approximately 96% of those who sexually abuse children are male. 90% of rape victims are female. In the U.S., 433,648 Americans aged 12 and older were sexually assaulted or raped between 2010-2014[1]. Yet rape is one of the least prosecuted crimes in the U.S.:

• while 92% of victims can identify their violators[2],
• less than half are reported (46 out of every 100),
• and less than 1% lead to an arrest and prosecution.
• 5 out of 100 rapists are convicted annually of a felony[3],
• but only 3 of those 5 will spend a single day in jail according to RAINN.  

 This trend further supports a culture of rape by removing the deterrent.
 
The Centers of Disease Control (CDC) provides support for the primary prevention of rape and sexual violence.  Following the social-ecological model, prevention activities address the complex interrelated root causes of rape culture and sexual violence at every level of society.
 
These activities include supporting working parents with safe and affordable childcare, establishing school and workplace policies that promote social norms to protect people against sexual violence, empowering vulnerable individuals with opportunities to learn protective skills. As we’ll see in next month’s article, rape culture negatively impacts us all – especially our youth.
[1] Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2010-2014 (2015)
[2] Kingi, V., Jordan, J. et al., (2009). Responding to sexual violence: pathways to recovery. Univ. of Wellington Crime & Justice Research Center. www.library.nvfvc.org.nz

[3]https://www.thehivelaw.com/blog/how-many-rapists-are-convicted/#:~:text=~3%2C258%20rapists%20are%20convicted%20per,per%20year%20in%20the%20US.

The Alliance Rape Prevention Education Project has conducted Talanoa Sessions within the community to help develop the process and outcome evaluation to assess Rape Prevention Education capacity to advance health equity focused primary prevention strategies and to address root causes of sexual violence (SV) in American Samoa.
In the next few months the Alliance will create eight activities to answer and address the Centers for Disease and Controls evaluation questions.  The following activities will be done:
1. Conduct an audit of primary prevention and health equity resources used by partners and staff, and available through the CDC. The
compilation of these will be made available for dissemination on the Alliance website.
2. Engage two groups of community members to understand their knowledge of SV primary prevention, their experiences and attitudes
regarding SV, the context in which SV is understood and discussed in their communities (language, social norms, cultural protocols, etc.)
3. Engage stakeholders to identify SV prevention efforts in the Territory of American Samoa and gauge the extent to which health equity is
incorporated into SV prevention strategies by conducting the following:
3a) Survey of Alliance staff and partners
3b) Talanoa Session with Alliance staff and Board members
3c) key informant (informal or semi-structured) interviews with primary stakeholders (service providers, service users, etc.)
3d) a non-randomized survey of stakeholders using the Community Engagement Assessment tool (www.nexuscp.org/ncei)
3d) a review of administrative data including past assessments of DVSA, annual reports, organizational documents, etc.
4. Develop and disseminate PSAs (ProVision Consultant) informed by the focus group data to further engage community members through
social media.
5. Write and disseminate articles for the Alliance’s monthly newsletter, Tusitala, to inform stakeholders of the RPE assessment activities and progress.

If you are interested in participating in this project please do not hesitate to contact our office and ask for Lessie to sign up for a Talanoa Session.  If you would like more information regarding this project please continue to follow us online as we update every month. 

Written by Luana Yoshikawa-Scanlan, CDC RPE Project Manager, PRIME Consultant; 
Assessing Rape Prevention in our community begins with understanding what it is, and what it is not.
The typical public health approach is to define a ‘problem’, identify ‘risk and protective factors’, develop ‘prevention strategies’, and reach out to the public using these strategies to raise awareness and educate people on how to avoid the problem.
Primary prevention focuses on changing the underlying causes of the problem rather than the problem itself.
In other words, while critical, information like sexual violence prevalence, skills to reduce risk of being victimized, availability of victim services do not prevent the acts of sexual violence.
Primary prevention aims to ‘eliminate and reduce factors’ that enable sexual violence and keep it from happening in the first place.  An example of this is active bystander strategies. An active bystander is aware of a situation that may lead to sexual violence and takes action to ensure the violence doesn’t happen. 
Outreach, awareness, and education aim to reduce individual risk and increase community support for victims/survivors. These approaches address the possibility (risk factors) of, or aftereffects of violence (personal experiences, beliefs).
Primary prevention, on the other hand, addresses health and social inequities that fuel the social norms that contribute to violence. 
The line between primary prevention and the outreach-awareness-education work we do in the community is often blurred and ambiguous. However, this line is what differentiates RPE Primary Prevention: a world without sexual violence. Working from this perspective changes our approach to the outreach-awareness-education. From ‘addressing’ the problem to eradicating the roots of the problem. For example, educating people on how to be healthy, non-violent individuals; learning skills to improve individual wellbeing.
As the Alliance prepares to engage the community in discussions about rape prevention and sexual violence, we are developing discussion questions that aim at the roots of those problems. After all, you cannot solve a problem that you don’t understand, or worse – don’t acknowledge.  We encourage people to join upcoming community talanoa and online surveys to share knowledge, experiences, and ideas.  
Photo from CDC Violence Prevention site: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/about/publichealthapproach.html

Written by:  Jennifer F. Tofaeono, Ex Dir
     The Alliance attended a pre-conference session during the National Sexual Assault Conference (NSAC) hosted by Valor to learn more about CDC’s Rape Prevention and Education Program (RPE), during August 22, 2023 – August 24, 2023,   The RPE seeks to build and support sexual violence prevention efforts at our local level, including sexual assault coalitions, such as the Alliance.
       During the meeting we were tasked to sit with other Coalitions across the United States, as well as researchers, and Department of Health organizations working on RPE Programs. Included was a RPE National Dialogued hosted by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center on August 21, 2023.  Participants were asked to explore and frame messages about the work we do to find common ground in a charged climate.  We were asked how challenges affecting new or longer-term partnerships during this current time.  Members in our group discussed how relationship building takes time, but we recognize it is the key. Another challenge has been using funder jargon that does not connect in communities to do the work. Although we spent time focusing on challenges, we also talked about successes, was the ability to build relationships that were sustainable outside of government or legislative goals and requirements. It meant people were connected to seeing the best for their community, not because of where funding or legislative requirements flowed, but because they understood the issues.
     The CDC RPE project thru the Alliance will be based on holding conversations.  It is essential to have discussions in the community to understand what rape prevention in American Samoa is.  How do we define it, what would make it successful for victims of Rape, and their families.  We ask that you follow us as we continue to unpack these discussions.  If you would like to learn more about the CDC RPE project please visit:  Rape Prevention and Education Program |Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC
​