Tucsonans raise awareness of groups at higher risk of sex assaults

Sheri first tried to seek help to recover from years of sexual violence in the 1960s when she was 14 years old, but says nothing was available back then.

She endured 15 years of violence as a child, with her abuser telling her she was stupid and that no one would believe her if she tried to report. The violence only stopped when she finally went to live with her grandmother. Sheri says her grandmother did her best to try to help her deal with her “waking nightmares” — which she now knows to be flashbacks — but resources were scarce.

Sheri tried to gain access to services two other times in the decades following, and though she says the research and energy expended to help survivors steadily increased, she was still met with resistance.

It wasn’t until three years ago that Sheri was able to get the help she needed, thanks to the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault, known as SACASA.

Sheri is diagnosed with complex PTSD and uses a mobility scooter. She’s a member of a community that is three times more likely to experience rape and sexual assault, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that more than 80% of women with disabilities had been sexually assaulted and 50% of those women had been assaulted more than 10 times. In addition, research suggests that women with disabilities experience more frequent and more severe acts of violence.

Because of her involvement with SACASA, Sheri says she’s able to do things with her life that she never had before, thanks to the tools and knowledge she received from staff and other survivors.

Some groups more vulnerable

Hoping to raise awareness about the epidemic of sexual violence and the inequity that exists among victims, local officials and service providers came together Wednesday to promote April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

The theme of this year’s local campaign is “Demand Equity: Sexual Assault Affects Everyone.” Participating organizations are calling on all individuals, communities and institutions to move towards building racial equity and respect.

Somebody is sexually assaulted in America every 68 seconds, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), but that violence is not evenly dispersed. Sexual assault disproportionately affects minority populations that are often underserved and more vulnerable:

47% of transgender people surveyed reported being sexually assaulted at some point in their lives, according to the 2015 US Transgender Survey.

77% of Latina women surveyed say that sexual harassment is a major problem in the workplace, according to the Office for Victims of Crime.

American Indians are twice as likely to experience rape/sexual assault compared to all races, according to RAINN.

For adult women, recent Centers for Disease Control data reports lifetime prevalence of rape as about 1 in 5 for African Americans — 22% — compared to 19% for white women, according to RAINN.

“Sexual assault occurs too often to marginalized communities,” said Tucson Mayor Regina Romero. “It’s hard to find the courage to report your abuser when day to day, you are spent fighting microaggressions. It’s hard to find the courage to report an assault when others are intent on demeaning your gender identity, your ethnicity, your language, your legal status.”

Microaggressions are comments or actions that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally express a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group, according to Merriam-Webster.

Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva, who spent 28 years working in local schools, said she saw microaggressions starting at a very young age.

“You see a lot of the discourse as we have young people that start to explore relationships from elementary and into middle and high school,” she said. “It’s an opportunity that we have when we talk about education to really focus on young people and have them understand that they should have autonomy over their own bodies, they should be able to say no, they should be able to create boundaries and that is acceptable and that is okay.”

Grijalva said that if there was more education about these issues, she would hope there would be fewer cases where people feel they don’t have the right to walk away from harmful situations or relationships.

She referred to longtime employee of the Pima County Assessor’s Office who was killed — allegedly by her partner — last weekend. Maria Acedo was found dead inside a home on Sunday, April 2. Jesus Andres Gutierrez, 42, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of first-degree murder, second-degree burglary, third-degree burglary and auto theft.

“I don’t know all of the details, but I hope people that are in situations that are that difficult know that there is a network of support to get help,” Grijalva said. “It impacts you your whole life when you see these kinds of acts around your family and in your community.”

Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said it’s not enough to just talk about the problem, and that solutions must also be part of the conversation.

“We can’t have people in trauma expected to pull out a policy manual and figure out what to do,” she said. “It’s on us, the rest of us, to spend April to learn what to do when someone comes to us who has just been assaulted.”

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Conover said that if, and likely when, that happens, there are five steps people can take: be brave and courageous; be quiet and listen with compassion; don’t let them be alone; call 911 if possible; and visit SACASA’s website to access its 24/7 bilingual helpline.

Tucson Police Chief Chad Kasmar detailed his department’s commitment to survivors and to addressing current and cold-case sexual assaults from a victim- and trauma-centered approach. He said the Tucson Police Department recently received a Sexual Assault Kit Initiative grant that will pay for advanced testing technology on cold-case rape kits.

The $1.5 million will support sexual assault investigations and prosecutions that resulted from the 2019 completion of testing of previously untested sexual assault kits. In collaboration with the Pima County Attorney’s Office, TPD will use advanced DNA testing methodologies to identify and apprehend offenders, Kasmar said. Grant funds will be used to support personnel, maintain an inventory of cold-case sexual assault kits and their evidence, review and prioritize cases for advanced testing, and conduct follow-up investigations.

“Sexual violence is preventable,” said SACASA director Kaitlyn Monje. “Together, our attitudes and our actions, our votes and our voices, our privilege and our power must be used collectively to demand equity for all and to demand an end to sexual violence.”

‘Taking the first step to get yourself help’

Sheri found SACASA by way of the Veterans Administration, where she received services from the Psychosocial Rehabilitation And Recovery Center. An Army veteran, Sheri served stateside during the Vietnam War, working with the head psychologist and soldiers returning home from the war.

In August 2020, her recovery advisor suggested she seek a support group, and after two days of internet research about various programs across the country, she discovered SACASA.

“I knew what I needed, but I didn’t have the words,” she said, adding that she was blown away by the staff and services from the start.

Sheri said the first question the call taker at SACASA asked her was “What do you need?” — a question she said she had been waiting nearly her whole life to hear.

“In three other attempts to try to seek therapy and get help, not one time in all those decades was I ever asked, ‘What do you need?’” Sheri said of the simple question.

The call taker’s next question was if she was safe and needed a place to stay. “Nobody asks you that and SACASA does,” Sheri said.

The call taker said they’d set her up with an intake call with a therapist and to expect a call by the next day. She received a call hours later, with the therapist asking questions about Sheri’s level of safety, her shelter and food situation and more. She had Sheri provide her with a “light highlight” of what her life had been, saying she didn’t need to go into detail then.

The next week, Sheri was enrolled in SACASA’s classes in safety in relationships and seeking safety.

“I was totally amazed at the openness of this therapist and of the other clients,” Sheri said.

She eventually enrolled in a third group, dealing with shame and trauma, and is still participating in the safety in relationships group, saying it’s “a marvelous method of helping women learn how to differentiate who’s safe and who isn’t to have in life.”

“I cannot expound enough on the services they have offered us and the difference it has made in my own life,” Sheri said, becoming emotional. “No matter what you ask them, they’re going to have an answer, and if they don’t, someone else in the office does. That’s a big deal.”

Sheri said her unwillingness to give up on herself is the one thing that kept her going all those years, a message she wants to share with other survivors.

“You’re worthy of help. You matter, you will always matter, but you’ve got to matter to yourself first,” she said. “Taking the first step to get yourself help ... that’s 90% of the healing process.”

She echoed Grijalva’s sentiments about educating children at a young age about consent.

And in terms of bystander intervention, “nothing less than action is acceptable,” she said.

Sheri said that although she’s been with SACASA for nearly three years, she knows that one day she won’t need the support group.

“I can see a light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “I joined a philosophy discussion group and a knitting/crocheting group. I’m doing things now that I’ve never been able to do before in my life.”