Shasta Campus Advocacy, Resources and Education for Safety (CARES) Program

These terms can be defined and used differently depending on the context. Even if an experience does not exactly match these descriptions, someone can still be experiencing harm. If you have experienced any of these, please consider your immediate safety. If you are fearful for your safety, call 9-1-1. It may help to talk to a Campus Safety officer, a confidential advocate, friend, family member, or other person who can provide support. 

Domestic Violence – A pattern of coercive tactics abusers use to obtain and maintain control and power over their partner or former partner. Domestic violence abuse can include but is not limited to: physical, emotional, verbal, financial, legal, spiritual, and sexual abuse.

Sexual Assault – Any unwanted sexual act or behavior which is threatening, violent, forced, coercive, or to which a person has not given consent or was unable to give consent. Sexual assault can include but is not limited to: rape/attempted rape, forced sexual acts, or unwanted sexual contact such as fondling, kissing or touching.

Sexual Harassment – Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature in the workplace or learning environment, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Harassment does not always have to be of a sexual nature and can include offensive remarks about a person’s sex. For example, negative comments made to a woman about women as a group may be a form of sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances. The harasser can identify with any gender and have any relationship to the victim, including being a direct manager, indirect supervisor, coworker, teacher, peer, or colleague. 

Stalking – Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or to suffer substantial emotional distress.  

Course of conduct means two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts in which the stalker directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means, follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates to or about a person, or interferes with a person's property.

Reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim.

Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may, but does not necessarily, require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.

Common Misconceptions of Sexual Violence

MYTH: Sexual assault is often the result of miscommunication or a mistake.
FACT: Sexual assault is a crime, never simply a mistake. It does not occur due to a miscommunication between two people. Sexual assault is any unwanted sexual contact obtained without consent through the use of force, threat of force, intimidation, or coercion.

MYTH: Sexual assault won’t happen to me or to anyone I know.
FACT: People of all ages, races, religions, and economic classes, and can be and have been, victims of sexual assault. Sexual assault occurs in rural areas, small towns and larger cities. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a rape or attempted rape occurs every 5 minutes in the United States.

MYTH: Sexual assault is provoked by the victim’s actions, behaviors, or by the way they dress.
FACT: Sexual assault is NEVER the victim’s fault. Sexual assault is a violent attack on an individual, not a spontaneous crime of sexual passion. For a victim, it is a humiliating and degrading act. No one “asks” for or caused their assailant to commit a crime against them.

MYTH: Most sexual assaults occur between strangers. 
FACT: Most sexual assaults are committed by someone the victim knows: a neighbor, friend, acquaintance, co-worker, classmate, spouse, partner or ex-partner. Studies show that approximately 80% of women reporting sexual assaults knew their assailant.

MYTH: Sexual assaults only occur in dark alleys and isolated areas.
FACT: A sexual assault can happen anywhere and at any time. The majority of assaults occur in places ordinarily thought to be safe, such as homes, cars and offices.

MYTH: Women falsely accuse men of sexual assault or “cry rape.”
FACT: Reported sexual assaults are true, with very few exceptions. FBI crime statistics indicate that between 2% and 10% of reported rapes are false. This is the same rate of false reporting as other major crime reports.

MYTH: Men cannot be sexually assaulted.
FACT: Men can be, and are, sexually assaulted. In Colorado one in seventeen men are sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Sexual assault of men is thought to be greatly under-reported. Any man can be sexually assaulted regardless of size, strength, sexual orientation, or appearance. 

MYTH: Most sexual assaults are interracial.
FACT: Almost all sexual assaults occur between members of the same race. Interracial rape is not common, but it does occur.

MYTH: People who commit sexual assaults are mentally ill, abnormal perverts.
FACT: Sexual offenders come from all educational, occupational, racial and cultural backgrounds. They are “ordinary” and “normal” individuals who sexually assault victims to assert power and control over them and inflict violence, humiliation and degradation. 

MYTH: Victims who do not fight back have not been sexually assaulted.
FACT: Anytime someone is forced to have sex against their will, they have been sexually assaulted, regardless of whether or not they fought back. There are many reasons why a victim might not physically fight their attacker including shock, fear, threats or the size and strength of the attacker.

MYTH: A rape survivor will be battered, bruised, and hysterical.
FACT: Many rape survivors are not visibly injured. The threat of violence alone is often sufficient cause for a woman to submit to the rapist, to protect herself from physical harm. People react to crises in different ways. The reaction may range from composure to anxiety, depression, flashbacks, and suicidal feelings.

MYTH: “If you wouldn’t have been drinking, you wouldn’t have been sexually assaulted.”
FACT: Alcohol is a weapon that some perpetrators use to control their victim and render them helpless. As part of their plan, an assailant may encourage the victim to use alcohol, or identify an individual who is already drunk. Alcohol is not a cause of rape; it is only one of many tools that perpetrators use.

MYTH: Serial rapists are uncommon.
FACT: Most every perpetrator is a serial rapist, meaning that they choose to use coercion, violence, threats of force, etc., to assault people on a repeated basis.

MYTH: When women say no, they really mean yes.
FACT: Yes means yes! When someone says yes, s/he is explicitly giving consent. Silence does not equal consent. It is the responsibility of the person initiating or escalating sexual activity to gain consent at each and every level. If you are ever unclear about your partner’s wishes, ask for clarification. If your partner says no or seems unsure, respect that person and her/his wishes.

MYTH: If a person is aroused when s/he is assaulted, then it is not really sexual assault. 
FACT: Orgasm does not mean that someone “enjoyed” the sex, or that they wanted it. Orgasm can be a natural biological reaction that someone can’t control; it does not mean that forced or coerced sexual activity was consensual and often this is used to silence the survivor. 

MYTH: The reason that men get raped is because homosexual men are raping them, and lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals rape more or are more likely to be sex offenders than heterosexuals.
FACT: There are no statistics that support the idea that lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals are more likely to commit sexual assault or be sex offenders than heterosexuals. In fact, sex offenders are disproportionately likely to be heterosexual men. 

MYTH: It is OK to pressure or talk someone into sexual activity.
FACT: No! This falls into the category of coercion. Coercion is a tactic used to intimidate trick of force someone to have sex with him or her without physical force.

Information from https://thebluebench.org/

Common Misconceptions of Sexual Harassment

MYTH: Sexual harassment is rare.
FACT: Sexual harassment is extremely widespread. It touches the lives of 40 to 60 percent of working women, and similar proportions of female students in colleges and universities.

MYTH: Sexual harassment only happens to women and is perpetrated only by men.
FACT: Both men, women and non-binary individuals can be victims or perpetrators of sexual harassment. In addition, sexual harassment may occur between members of the same sex.

MYTH: The seriousness of sexual harassment has been exaggerated and most so-called harassment is really trivial and harmless flirtation.
FACT: Sexual harassment can be devastating. Studies indicate that most harassment has nothing to do with "flirtation" or sincere sexual or social interest. Rather, it is offensive, frightening and insulting. Research shows that survivors are often forced to leave school or jobs to avoid harassment; may experience serious psychological and health-related problems.

MYTH: Many victims make up and report stories of sexual harassment to get back at their employers or others who have angered them. 
FACT: Research shows that less than one percent of complaints are false. In fact, Complainants rarely file complaints even when they are justified in doing so.

MYTH: People who are sexually harassed generally provoke harassment by the way they look, dress and behave. 
FACT: Harassment does not occur because people dress provocatively or initiate sexual activity in the hope of getting promoted and advancing their careers. Studies have found that victims of sexual harassment vary in physical appearance, type of dress, age, and behavior.

MYTH: If you ignore harassment, it will go away.
FACT: It will not. Research has shown that simply ignoring the behavior is ineffective; harassers generally will not stop on their own. Ignoring such behavior may even be seen as agreement or encouragement.

Information from: Rancho Santiago Community College District

Organization	CONTACT INFORMATION
One SAFE Place 2250 Benton Drive Redding, CA M-F 9-5pm	24 Hour Crisis Hotline: 530-244-SAFE (7233) Main line: 530-244-0117
Empower Tehama - Tehama County 1805 Walnut St., Red Bluff, CA 275 Solano Street, Ste. 201, Corning, CA M-F 9-4pm​	24 Hour Crisis Hotline: 530-528-0226 Main line: 530-528-0300
Human Response Network 111 Mountain View St. Weaverville, CA 96093 M-F	24 Hour Crisis Hotline: 530-623-HELP (4357) Main line: 530-623-2024
NorCal Services for Deaf & Hard of Hearing - DeafSAFE http://www.norcalcenter.org/deafsafe/	(916) 993-3393 VP Email: deafsafe@norcalcenter.org Social Media: www.facebook.com/deafsafe

CAMPUS SAFETY - To file a report, visit the 6500 building on the Redding Campus or use an electronic form through the Campus Safety webpage: Report an Incident Online  

• Campus Safety can help you file a report with local law enforcement officials, or you can contact them directly:
  • Redding Police Department – (530) 225-4200
  • Shasta County Sheriff – (530) 245-6540
  • Anderson Police Department – (530) 378-6600
  • Red Bluff Police Department - (530) 527-3131
  • Tehama County Sheriff – (530) 529-7900
  • Trinity County Sheriff – (530) 623-2611
• View the Campus Safety Brochure (PDF)

SHASTA CARES - For help connecting to resources, to set up a presentation, or for general information about Shasta CARES, please contact (530) 339-3684.

TITLE IX - For Title IX options, visit www.shastacollege.edu/titleix or File a Title IX Report online

PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELING - For Student Health and Wellness services, visit www.shastacollege.edu/healthwellness.

An engaged bystander is someone who intervenes before, during or after a situation when they see or hear behaviors that promote sexual violence or domestic violence.  Engaged bystanders help to create healthy communities and help others build safe and respectful environments by discouraging victim blaming, changing social norms that accept domestic and sexual violence and shifting the responsibility to prevent sexual violence and domestic violence to all community members. 

Right To Be tells us the 5 Ds that can help someone become an engaged bystander.  When reviewing these, remember that the first step is always assessing which option is safest before acting!

DISTRACT - Distraction is a subtle and creative way to intervene. Its aim is simply to derail the incident of harassment by interrupting it. The keys to good Distraction are:

1. Ignore the person who is harassing and engage directly with the person who is being harassed.
2. Don’t talk about or refer to the harassment that’s happening. Instead, talk about something completely unrelated.

DELEGATE - Delegation is asking a third party for help with intervening in harassment. The keys to Delegation are:

1. Look for a Delegate who is ready and willing to help. Often, a great choice is the person right next to you.
2. When you Delegate someone to help you, try to tell them as clearly as possible what you’re witnessing and how you’d like them to help. 

DOCUMENT - Documentation involves either recording or taking notes on an instance of harassment. It can be really helpful to record an incident of harassment, but there are some keys for safely and responsibly documenting harassment:

1. Assess the situation. Is anyone helping the person being harassed? If not, use another of the 5Ds. Recording someone’s experience of harm without ensuring they’re already receiving help can just create further trauma for them. If someone else is already helping out: assess your own safety, and if you are safe, begin documenting.
2. ALWAYS ask the person who was harassed what they want to do with your recording and/or notes. NEVER post it online or use it without their permission. 

DELAY - Even if we can’t act in the moment, we can still make a difference for someone who’s been harassed by checking in on them after the fact. Many types of harassment happen in passing or very quickly, and it’s not always possible we’ll have a chance to intervene in another way. But we don’t have to just ignore what happened and move on. We can help reduce that person’s trauma by speaking to them after an instance of harassment. 

DIRECT - Sometimes, we may want to respond directly to harassment by naming the inappropriate behavior confronting the person doing harm. Use this one with caution, because Direct intervention can be risky – the person harassing may redirect their abuse towards the intervening bystander or may escalate the situation in another way. The first key to Direct intervention is to assess the situation before you decide to respond, by asking yourself the following questions:

1. Are you physically safe?
2. Is the person being harassed physically safe?
3. Does it seem unlikely that the situation will escalate?
4. Can you tell if the person being harassed wants someone to speak up?

If you can answer yes to all of these questions, you might choose a direct response. 

The second key to Direct intervention is to keep it short and succinct. As tempting as it may be, avoid engaging in dialogue, debate, or an argument – since this is how situations can escalate. If the person harassing responds to your Direct intervention, focus your attention on assisting the person who was harmed, instead of engaging with the person doing the harm.

Through the Shasta CARES program, campus and community partners have created the Coordinated Community Response Team (CCRT). The CCRT is currently comprised of members from Student Services, Campus Safety, Health & Wellness, Residence Life, Human Resources, Athletics, One SAFE Place, Redding Police Department, and Empower Tehama.

The CCRT team works together to create a trauma-informed response and develop culturally competent violence prevention programs. Shasta CARES provides primary prevention programming and events to educate the campus on realities of sexual violence, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. The events and workshops promote healthy behaviors, equity, safety and accountability.