Kickoff: Sexual Violence Awareness Week
Unless otherwise noted, these speeches and open letters were written for the Dean of Students of Biola University between 2011-2016.
Most of us sitting here understand what the word ‘rape’ means.
Most of us understand what the word ‘abuse’ means.
And most of us can honestly say, “I’ve never done that, I’ve never had that done to me… why are we talking about this?”
And that’s part of the issue. We’re not just talking about rape, or abuse. We’re talking about sexual violence. Which means we’re talking to, and about, a lot of people here in this room.
That’s uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable to ‘give voice’ to such things at Biola.
It’s uncomfortable because it involves talking about sex, which Christians are not very good at talking about in public.
It involves talking about power and violence, which Christians are good at talking about, as long as we’re talking about someone else’s problems with power and violence.
It involves talking about gender, and those conversations are often so culturally and politically loaded that they spark into anger or fizzle into uncomfortable silence.
And because so much sexual violence goes unreported, and the definitions of sexual violence are so inexact, the statistics are in flux. But several studies have found that one in four women and one in six men are or will be victims of some form of sexual violence in their lifetime.
But as stunning as those statistics are, they’re nothing compared to the experiences of these victims. Sexual violence leaves scars that are physical, emotional, and spiritual, and its victims need help, hope, and healing. But most sexual violence is never reported, either to police or to friends and family… and so the suffering goes on in the dark. In silence.
Our intent, for the next three days, is to shine the light of the gospel into that darkness, and to give voice to those things that are hard to talk about. To learn about what sexual violence is… to recognize the red flags in our own behaviors, attitudes, and relationships… and to offer healing and recovery to victims… but also to those who have victimized.
I hope you’ll be here for most of the next three days. Because we’re not talking about someone else. We’re talking about you, or someone you love very much.
