Report It Now!

March 7, 2008 · Filed Under Violence Against Women

In addition to the Report IT rally for Victim’s Rights that took place on February 19 and will again on April 29, Angela Shelton, an advocate and speaker on sexual violence and PAVE ( have collaborated to create the Report It Now! campaign.

The Report It Now campaign, as well as the Rally for Victim’s Rights are both about raising awareness about the vast number of people that are victims of sexual assault. It is a national collaborative effort to raise awareness on the vast under-reporting of sexual assault including rape, incest, and abuse.

Sexual assault is a very serious pandemic that is not always treated as seriously as it should be. Over 80% of sexual assault cases go unreported and when these cases are reported, the victims are only revictimized by lawyers and the court system. We have all heard the misogynist comments made when women speak about sexual violence and the excuses that men leech onto and try to throw in our faces. “Well the women that are abused should stop being whores with their short skirts.” “Women are just asking for it.” and etc. etc. What is not understood about sexual violence is that while ’sex’ is in the name, it is almost never about that–Sexual violence is about control and almost never about purely getting into someone’s pants when they don’t want it. Not only are (mostly) men throwing these kinds of excuses in the face of women who are speaking out about this violence, but the court system does the same thing! “Well how many drinks did you have, Miss?” “And what were you wearing?” To quote Tori Amos directly, “Yes I wore a slinky red thing, does that mean I should spread?” (Me and a Gun) And no, it does not.

Every two and a half minutes, someone in America is sexually assaulted and the Report It Now campaign is all about exposing the amount of unreported sexual violence cases. It is a campaign to show these so-called court systems the amount of people that are afraid to report their cases because of them, not because they have something to hide or any other ludicrous assumption. To show these people the nature of the crimes and the numbers of these cases that happen that cannot be denied, there is a Report It Now online form where you can report your abuse for purely survey reasons. The online form is not an actual police report and it is also completely anonymous, so there are absolutely no worries that your name will ever get out.

If you, a loved one or someone you know is a victim of sexual assault, I urge you to fill out the online form and report your case. Not only are you aiding the campaign in retrieving accurate results of sexual assault, but it is highly cathartic to fill out the form; it is like the first time you ever told someone about your abuse or even admitted it to yourself–It’s an indescribable feeling.

The online form may be triggering, so if you begin to fill out the form and feel yourself being triggered, please got to RAINN or call your local crisis center and stay safe.