What is Sexual Violence?

Can we prevent sexual violence in Grey Bruce? What is needed to make change in our community? Violence Prevention Grey Bruce (VPGB), through its Sexual Violence Prevention Sub Committee conducted Grey Bruce’s first Survey on Sexual Violence Prevention. Over 345 people tackled these questions in the STOP Sexual Violence survey conducted December 2017 until the end of February 2018.

We are pleased to present this final report with the findings and recommendations from the community survey. We would like to thank all of the survey participants for their time and for their thoughtful responses to the survey. About two thirds of the participants identified as survivors of sexual violence and told us what was helpful and how we can do more to prevent sexual violence. Service providers took time from their busy schedules to complete the survey, and make sure that the people they serve knew about the survey and had an opportunity to participate. Members and member organizations of Violence Prevention Grey Bruce distributed the online survey and hard copies and made it possible for people from all over the region and with many diverse perspectives to participate. Thank you to the people who responded through our social media campaign and to everyone who took part in the survey.

The Sexual Violence Prevention Sub Committee has worked for many years to explore ways we can prevent sexual violence in Grey Bruce. Some of the key learning that influenced the decision to conduct the STOP SV survey and its design are:

The need to engage people from all walks of life in a ‘conversation’ about sexual violence (SV) in our community.
The need to raise awareness and provide information about sexual violence, services and supports in our region, and to counter commonly held beliefs and myths about the issue.

Sexual violence is a difficult issue to talk about. The confidential survey tool allowed people to speak freely, overcome shame and silence and engage in change in a wide-ranging community conversation.

There are evaluated and evidence based programs and approaches that can prevent sexual violence. We wanted people to know about these, and hear from them about how we are doing using such programs in Grey Bruce.

Sexual violence, for the purposes of the survey, includes sexual assault and sexual harassment. Sexual assault is a crime under the Criminal Code of Canada. It is an assault that is sexual in nature including: sexual assault; sexual assault with a weapon, threats to a third party or causing bodily harm; and aggravated sexual assault. Sexual violence towards children is a crime: Every person who, for a sexual purpose, touches, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, any part of the body of a person under the age of fourteen years is guilty of an indictable offence.

Sexual harassment is unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature which: violates your dignity, makes you feel intimidated, degraded or humiliated, and/or creates a hostile or offensive environment. (Survey Definition)