Week Three Theme: " Prevention is Everyone's Duty."
Why should Sailors prevent sexual assault?
· The day-to-day duty of every Navy man and woman is to work together as a team to improve the quality of our work, our people, and ourselves.
· We show respect toward everyone on the team without regard to race, religion, or gender.
· We all have a responsibility to care for the safety, professional, personal, and spiritual well-being of our people.
· Our missions will be more successful, and we will work better as a team when the well-being of everyone is treated as important.
· Preventing sexual assault is related to the Navy’s core values of honor, courage, and commitment.
· If all Sailors take a stand when someone is starting to cross the line with another Sailor, they will play a vital role in preventing harm to a victim and in preserving a unit’s ability to function proficiently.
· Offenders of sexual assault rely on your inaction to ensure they can have their way with a victim.
· Your quick action is not meddling — it is assisting a fellow Sailor in harm’s way.
(SOURCE: ―Hurts One, Affects All‖. (2011). Navy Training Video Facilitator’s Guide. 4.)
What does Active Bystander Intervention mean?
Active bystanders take the initiative to help someone who may be targeted for a sexual assault.
Intervention doesn’t mean that you directly intervene stop a crime in progress; rather, these steps are ―early intervention‖ – before the crime begins to occur. (SOURCE: ―I got her out of there‖. (ND). DoD Active Bystander Training Guide)
What are the three components of Active Bystander Intervention?
There are three components to Active Bystander Intervention. They are referred to as the ABCs:
Assess for safety. Ensure that all parties are safe, and if the situation requires calling authorities. When deciding to intervene, your personal safety should be the #1 priority. When in doubt, call for help.
Be with others. If safe to intervene, you’re likely to have a greater influence on the parties involved when you work together with someone or several people. Your safety is increased when you stay with a group of friends that you know well.
Care for your fellow Sailor. If it appears that someone’s attempts to fend off the unwanted sexual advances aren’t working, we want you to feel responsible for the welfare of another human being, and offer to help-- even if that person is not aware they need help. Focus on the inappropriate behavior that should be stopped. (SOURCE: ―I got her out of there‖. (ND). DoD Active Bystander Training Guide)
FACT: About 40% of sexual assaults against women and 23% of sexual assaults against men involve alcohol and/or other drugs. (SOURCE: DoD. (2011). 2010 WGRA. Washington, DC: DMDC. Available: http://www.sapr.mil/index.php/research.)
FACT: The highest risk group for becoming a sexual assault victim is E-1 to E-4, ages 20 to 24, most incidents occurring during the weekends and with alcohol playing a major role, impairing the judgment of predators, victims, and bystanders.
FACT: Sexual Assault training must provide an environment for a frank discussion about mental models, assumptions, development of a command climate intolerant of sexual assault, and at the same time be supportive of sexual assault prevention and bystander intervention behavior. Sailors are trained not as potential perpetrators or victims of sexual assault, but as bystanders who can and will intervene with other Sailors when they encounter risky situations.
Myth: Bystander Intervention Training is all the Navy needs to fix the problem.
Fact: Bystander intervention training is a piece of a larger strategy addressing changes in attitudes and behaviors in the Department of the Navy. Messaging must be truthful, targeted and position based. It must be both formal and informal. It must support a service culture of professionalism, respect and trust.
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