This month the University of Memphis Title IX team will be presenting an Sexual Assault Awareness Month Instagram contest.
The contest will be called #30daysofSAAM. Individuals can choose to post their own responses to prompts provided by the NSVRC (National Sexual Violence Resource Center) and the hashtags #IASK, #TIGERSASK and #SAAM.
More information can be found on the university’s website. Abby Kindervater, Title IX prevention specialist, and Kenneth Anderson, Title IX coordinator, both from the UofM, are helping support SAAM (Sexual Assault Awareness Month).
Kindervater, a UofM alum, wanted to help spread the word about sexual assault against students and created the Instagram contest.
Kindervater said she thought the Instagram contest would be a great way to reach to campus students because most young people have accounts.
“Not every student has time to come to events, but they’re always on IG (Instagram) and that’s a great way to engage in the conversation through social media,” Kindervater said.
Kindervater said there have been other events that educate students about proper sexual consent.
“We’ve had many events to provide resources to students including consent workshops and advocacy workshops because we want students to be aware and knowledgeable on how to handle disclosure and tough situations,” Kindervater said.
The university also has two victims services campus coordinators, Diane Stacks and Sheila Woods, who were hired this past year. They are located in Mitchell Hall and students are able to come to them for guidance in any sexual assault situation. There is also free counseling for students in Wilder Tower.
“I just want each student to become more involved and better informed about sexual assault and how it affects the community and how can we prevent it from happening,” Kindervater said. “With this month, we just want to provide as many resources as possible.”
In the fall, Kindervater and the rest of the Title IX staff will be presenting the Red Zone, which is the period of time that students are statistically likely to be targeted and sexual assaulted. During October, they will speak about domestic violence.
