To start, I am a man — a white heterosexual man to be exact. I am probably not the first image that comes to mind when talking about an advocate at a rape crisis center. But here I am, volunteering with the Orange County Rape Crisis Center as a Companion for survivors of sexual violence. In sharing my story of how I got here, I hope that other men will read this and consider getting involved, either within our community or by taking a firm stand against sexual violence.
When I was finishing my final year of my undergraduate career, I began to take an interest in women’s issues. To this day I cannot pinpoint what started it, but I do remember reading more blog posts and articles through Facebook about women who had been sexually harassed or assaulted, as well as more generic commentary about the everyday discrimination women encounter. By the time I was in graduate school, my awareness of the frequency of sexual assault, particularly on college campuses, led me to change my academic focus toward women’s rights and gender equality. Although my studies focus on the global stage, my conviction that women’s issues needed to be addressed only grew.
I volunteered as a Companion to learn more about sexual violence and how to combat it from a third party perspective. Reading about instances of rape left me feeling angry that such actions occurred with stunning regularity, and frustrated that people could either brush it off or treat it as “just the way things are.” While I am grateful for the training provided by the Center and have enjoyed my experience so far, I cannot deny that it has been emotionally trying. Exposing myself to a subject that I could not personally relate to was difficult. I certainly cared about what happened, but I understood very quickly that I could never fully comprehend the harassment, the violence, or the subtle discrimination because I was born a man. Continue reading Why I Decided to Become a Companion
