HJAR Sep/Oct 2024

DIALOGUE 12 SEP / OCT 2024 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS soon they have dealt with any trauma that they're experiencing. “Trauma” is a catchall word, but it's a very individualized experience. There's still a lot we're learning about trauma and its effects, but part of creating trauma-informed communities is identifying when an individual has experienced trauma and that their behaviors, their mannerisms, their thought processes, their clinical symptoms may be a result of that trauma — not necessarily always, but it's something that we need to be more aware of — which is why we state, when somebody's in a trauma-informed environment, that the question should not be, "What's wrong with you?" but rather, "What's happened to you?" From there, through conversation and dialogue, one can identify how trauma may be affecting the individual and how it may be manifesting any type of signs or symptoms within that individual. Editor We asked several experts before we decided to interview you: If rape is so prevalent, why aren't these stats more common knowledge? We asked if this stat was kept quiet because bringing rates forward in the media would actually embolden rapists and cause more rapes. All the experts we've spoken to said no. They thought the opposite. What is your opinion? Wyandt-Hiebert My thoughts are, with regard to the statistics, that it's important for the prevalence to be known anytime that we're talking about an epidemic. To talk about it does not mean that it's going to cause someone to do something. We talk about it on campus all the time here; and every time we do a presentation on sexual violence, I’m not seeing an increased number of individuals raping per se, but we will see more people coming forward for help, whether it be something that happened to them years ago or last month or a week ago. I don't think it emboldens those who have these inclinations to exude their power and control over another individual. In fact, if we could really, truly, honestly figure out what causes a sex offender to offend, what an amazing accomplishment that would be because then we could have very effective treatments for sex offenders. But we also know that the sex offenders who have been incarcerated and held accountable is a small percentage — out of every 1,000 rapes, only seven ever spend a day in jail. If we were able to hold more individuals accountable, I think that's when you would see a decrease. But those who have been held account- able, the rate of sexual violence, the recid- ivism of the crime is very high once they are off supervision. Once they're no longer on parole, where somebody's constantly checking in with them, then we see those rates of recidivism continue to go up. I think there's a lot to learn yet about sex offender behavior and what makes a sex offender tick. And there are different types of sex offenders, from those who are extremely sadistic and almost ritualistic to the sex offender who exudes power and control and does not accept no or just doesn't even ask about consent. There's a whole range of sex offenders that are studied, and you can look those up in the psychological stacks, but I don't think talking about it is going to cause an increase in sexual violence. I think talking about it increases the likelihood for victimized individuals in need of help or assistance to be able to come forward and seek the help that they need and rightfully deserve. I also think that talking about sexual violence in healthy and truthful ways, and knowing the facts will debunk the myths out there, will counter the rape culture that people live in. When I talk about rape cul- ture, we live in a society where we have a lot of false notions about sexual violence. We have this idea that sexual violence primarily occurs from the stranger jumping out of the bushes. A lot of times, individuals think, "Oh, we will prevent sexual violence by offering self-defense courses." Self-defense courses basically focus on the idea of somebody jumping behind you and getting you into a hold or using a weapon against you. I'm not saying don't take self-defense; don't take me wrong. It's a tool. But the reality of it is most of those types of programs are not teaching individuals about when you're sitting on the couch next to somebody — the person you've sat next to a hundred times. You're watching something on the television together, eating popcorn. Why is that night different? What's going on? How do you fend off somebody? Perhaps you had some level of a relationship, a sexualized relation- ship with them. Why this night are they ... We don't teach individuals or talk with individuals about the situations in which an individual is a known person. We know the vast majority of assaults occur by acquain- tances. We kind of have it backward with a lot of our general thinking that it's a stranger, when, really, it's more likely to be the acquaintance. We ought to be having those conversations about sexual assault and how it occurs and among whom it's occurring. With self-defense courses, they teach about stranger danger, how to get out of a lock hold or a weapon coming at you. That's all important to know, but we focus so much on it that we're forgetting where the vast majority of sexual assaults are happen- ing and how they're happening. The only primary prevention of sexual violence, true prevention, is for those who are sex offenders to stop offending. But if you're going to look at it from a secondary standpoint, having those conversations about what consent is, verbal and nonver- bal, looking at rape culture, why is it that so many sex offenders are not being held accountable? Having those conversations and debunking the myths related to sexual violence and the rape culture that we live in, the aspects of power and control that come into play with sexual violence, I think that's when we start making an impact and a dif- ference. But you have to have the conversa- tions. You can't brush it under the rug and hide away from it. Editor I was watching Gone with the Wind from a race perspective the other day with