We believe that sexual violence can be prevented.

 

We believe that work to prevent sexual violence is a core service provided by rape crisis centers.

 

We believe that victims of sexual violence are never at fault for what happened to them; Therefore, we do not support any strategies or curriculum whose primary purpose is to teach victims how to protect themselves from abuse.

 

We understand that oppression is both a root cause and a contributing factor to sexual violence, and we affirm that work to end racism, sexism, ableism, heterosexism, classism, or any other kind of oppression *is*, by definition, sexual violence prevention.

 

We believe that teaching healthy sexuality is essential to sexual violence prevention.

 

We believe that it is everyone in a community’s responsibility to end sexual violence, and that the work cannot be done by rape crisis centers alone.

 

We affirm the use of the socio-ecological model and the 9 Principles of Effective Prevention as essential components of appropriate primary prevention program design.

 

We encourage all agency staff, volunteers, and boards to understand, support, and participate in the work of sexual violence prevention work in their communities.

 

We believe that, because the chance for disclosures of sexual abuse is so high in prevention work, subcontracted sexual violence prevention staff must be employed at a certified sexual assault center and must achieve and maintain sexual assault certification themselves.