The Verde Valley Sanctuary will be hosting three meet-andgreets this month to discuss Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the first of which took place on Thursday, April 13, at the Cottonwood Public Library.
The discussion was led by Vivien Mann, the director of community-based advocacy for VVS. “It’s very sacred work to me and I’m honored to be able to do it,” Mann said.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month is intended to raise public awareness of how to prevent sexual violence. Sexual violence is defined as a person allowing themselves to be forced or manipulated into any unwanted activity, especially when they claimed to be unable to consent.
Mann argued that although everyone responds to trauma in a different way, their responses usually fall into one of three categories: Fight, flight or freeze. She claimed that during traumatic incidents, the resulting flood of hormones and neurotransmitters can impair frontal lobe function, which can potentially interfere with rational thinking and decision making, and hippocampal function, which can result in gaps in memory.
Due to the variable response of the brain to trauma, there is no typical behavioral response to trauma.
Mann also attempted to debunk what she said were common myths surrounding rape, beginning with the concept of rape as resulting from miscommunication. She stated that most rapists know their victims are unwilling but proceed anyway. Mann further claimed that many people freeze under stress as an instinctual response and are unable to act rationally as a result of giving way to their emotions — citing figures from the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence to the effect that 75% of victims freeze during sexual assault.
She rejected the idea that many people lie about being raped, quoting another ACESDV statistic that only 2% to 10% of cases of sexual assault are suspected to be false reports.
Mann argued that if individuals find someone confiding in them about an assault, they should believe them. She also shared grounding exercises to help victims manage their out of control emotions and discussed three types of grounding exercises: Physical exercises to focus on the body and senses, mental exercises to focus the mind to cope with anxiety and soothing exercises to increase feelings of relaxation, safety and comfort.
VVS will be holding further events at the Camp Verde Community Library on Wednesday, April 19, at 5:30 p.m. and at the Sedona Public Library on Thursday, April 27, at 6 p.m.
