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If you ask a woman what her self-defense techniques are when she walks alone at night, you鈥檙e likely to hear a variety of answers. 鈥淚 carry pepper spray,鈥� 鈥淚 hold a set of keys gripped between my fingers,鈥� or 鈥淚 pretend to talk on the phone鈥� are just a few responses.
According to a 2014 U.S. Department of Justice on sexual assault among college-age females, one in four women are victims of sexual assault during their undergraduate careers. The perpetrators are not necessarily strangers creeping in dark corners. In about 80 percent of assaults, the woman assaulted knew the offender.
鈥淚t鈥檚 one of those things that鈥檚 almost like a number to you,鈥� says Alexa Harrington, journalism student at the University of Texas at Austin. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 think, 鈥極h that鈥檚 not going to happen to me, I鈥檓 not one of those people,鈥� until someone close to you becomes one of those people.鈥�
She recalls a skit during her freshman orientation that discussed sexual consent, but noticed students didn鈥檛 take it very seriously. She says many of her fellow freshmen skipped the play or brushed it off saying it was a joke.
, director of the Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault at UT Austin, is spearheading a four-year multi-campus study for the entire University of Texas system.
鈥淲hen these crimes happen to students, it can change their trajectory,鈥滲usch-Armendarizsays. 鈥淭hey might even change their major, or they may drop out of college all together.鈥�
The goal, she says, is to try to come up with a complete picture of the impact of sexual violence on campus.
EntrepreneursYasmineMustafa and Anthony Gold say that for those at risk today, there鈥檚 no time to wait. That sense of urgency inspired them to create something called : a small circular device with a button that can be clipped onto one鈥檚 clothes or worn as accessory. When pressed, Athena emits a loud alarm and sends the user鈥檚 location to a list of designated emergency contacts.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 just want to put a Band-Aid on the problem, we want to get to the root causes of violence against women,鈥� says Anthony Gold, co-founder of ROAR for Good, the Philadelphia startup behind Athena.
The group has already raised $200,000 through crowd-sourcing and, starting in the spring of 2016, plans to sell the devices at $99. A portion of those proceeds will go towards education programs that focus on increasing empathy and decreasing violence. Gold says these conversations are crucial in changing the culture 鈥� he says we need more men that won鈥檛 ignore the problem, and will take action in bystander situations.
Gold鈥檚 company has spent the last 16 months conducting focus groups and user-testing trials. They鈥檝e decided to add a silent mode for users who want to be discreet 鈥� it sends a text without sounding an alarm. They鈥檙e also engineering the final product to call 9-1-1 in emergency situations.
Gold acknowledges technology is not a solution to the larger issue of sexual violence of campus.鈥淣o device 鈥� not Athena, pepper spray,Tasers鈥� there鈥檚 not a single device that鈥檚 going to solve this issue of assaults against women,鈥� he says.
Busch-Armendariz says overall, prevention is about recognizing the deeper issue: 鈥淚 think that when we understand that it鈥檚 a deeply rooted social problem 鈥� not an individual problem, although individuals may be affected by the issue 鈥� then we will see some reduction of the numbers of people victimized.鈥�
Harrington carries mace with her at all times and she says fortunately she鈥檚 never had to use it. She says that until we鈥檙e at a place where women can feel safe on college campuses, more educational efforts and devices like Athena might just be necessary.
Busch-Armendariz, who says she has been researching interpersonal violence for 20 years, thinks we鈥檙e on the right track. She says an engagingdialogueis the first step in figuring out what we need to do as a community to stop sexual assault.
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