By Ashlyn Beck | Staff Writer

Attendees of the “Bringing in the Bystander” event Wednesday afternoon took steps to end their roles as bystanders and make the fight against sexual violence their own.

The Waco Advocacy Center and the Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office hosted the event in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Kyla Wilson, prevention and education director at the Waco Advocacy Center, said the event was interactive and engaging. She said hosts wanted to give attendees the opportunity to engage in discussion rather than listen to a lecture.

“Sexual violence is not a fun thing. It is a hard and harsh reality,” Wilson said. “But at the same time, it’s so important to be having conversations, because we’re never going to change anything if we’re ignoring the issue.”

Dr. Valerie Willis, education and prevention specialist in the Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office, said one of the intentions of the event was to provide support and resources for fighting against sexual violence.

“When we look at any kind of issue, we want to look at what the research says and what helps not only address the issue but also proactively prevent the issue,” Willis said.

Bystanders tend to not intervene because they believe someone else will, Willis said, and people tend to diffuse that responsibility when in an emergency situation. Willis said the event helped train people to intervene and to do it safely.

“Don’t assume anyone else is going to intervene,” Willis said. “You’ve gone through this training. You’re aware of the strategies now. If it doesn’t compromise your own safety, you are equipped.”

Willis and Wilson both said Generation Z is a generation with a lot of power digitally, able to advocate for others and bring awareness to issues like this.

“We as people, more than ever before, have such strong individual platforms to be ambassadors for all kinds of things,” Wilson said. “It can be as small as diversifying who you follow on social media and sharing more information that way to folks.”

One of the downsides to this, Willis said, is Generation Z has the tendency to be engaged digitally instead of physically. Willis said one of the biggest ways to engage in the fight is to pay attention to what is going on.

“Sometimes, you’re not even aware of the situation where you can intervene because we are so checked out and not paying attention to what is going [on] around us, and awareness is a step forward,” Willis said.

Willis and Wilson both said silence is not an option. They said silence implies that inexcusable actions are excusable, so speaking out is a great step in fighting sexual violence.

“Things like this issue have power in the silence, and when we choose not to intervene, it’s almost like we’re letting that unwanted thing perpetuate in society,” Willis said.

Wilson said it is also helpful to simply listen to people’s stories, as elevating survivors’ voices shows they are not alone.

“If somebody ever makes an outcry, the most important thing you can say is, ‘I believe you,'” Wilson said.

They said attending events, participating in initiatives like Denim Day, wearing buttons and showing other outward signs of support go a long way. These things are “signs of hope” for those who have suffered from sexual violence.

“I think it’s important for any national awareness day or anything that deals with somebody who’s experienced trauma, that we take an unapologetic stance with them,” Willis said. “So that they do feel that support, not just after they are recovering from that incident but long term.”

There are also a lot of misconceptions surrounding sexual violence, and part of the hope behind Bringing in the Bystander was to unravel those misconceptions and allow people to stand with survivors. Willis said recognizing those who have suffered and revisiting that every year helps continue to dismiss misconceptions and make space for healing and growth.

“It should be our goal to help people who are hurt so that we can create these communities that don’t perpetuate hurt and that can help heal,” Willis said. “So I hope healing comes out of a lot of these events this month as well, here and globally.”

One piece of advice Wilson gave to people recognizing Sexual Assault Awareness Month is to engage in self-evaluation. She said it is important to think about how one’s behaviors might perpetuate unhealthy relationships and to make an effort to change those behaviors.

“[It’s] creating widely recognizable symbols that people can see not only during their lives but also throughout the year,” Wilson said. “That just kind of keeps this awareness at the forefront of your brain, and it kind of gives you that awareness to then be constantly self-assessing.”

Normalizing open and honest conversations about sexual violence is one way to promote change, Wilson said.

“If we all took the time to do that, we’d be looking at a different Waco, a different Baylor, a different world,” Wilson said.