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Sexual assault is any type of sexual activity in which one of the persons does not consent* – or is made to consent by force or threat of force, manipulation, coercion, or leveraging of power. *See Consent
‘Sexual violence’ is a more recently used umbrella term that encompasses all types of unwanted sexual activity, but also the impact of rape culture in our everyday lives. If we think of sexual violence as a pyramid, we are able to see a holistic view of the violence we endure on an everyday basis that has led up to and continues after our experiences of assault.
From this approach, sexual violence can be:
- Forced, manipulated, or coerced contact of any kind that is sexual in nature/intent
- Stalking and cyberstalking or being sent/asked for unwanted/solicited nude photographs
- Leering, cat-calling, or other forms of verbal and nonverbal unwanted sexual attention of a persistent or abusive nature
- Leaking nudes, revenge porn, taking sexual photos/videos without the person’s knowledge.
- Using drugs or alcohol/intoxicated or someone’s level of conscious to rape/assault someone
- Being a doctor, teacher, police officer, manager or someone else of authority abusing power to engage in unwanted sexual contact, advances, or comments.
- Being an elder family member and abusing power to guilt/silence someone into assault.
- Expecting, demanding, relentlessly asking for sexual favoursImplied /expressed threat of reprisal for refusing to comply with a sexually-oriented request;
- Leveraging one’s relationship status or feelings of intimacy to convince someone of engaging in sexual contact out of guilt, shame, or gaslighting.
- Threatening to self-harm if you do not engage with them sexually
- Sexualized/fetishized graffiti or remarks especially of queer, trans, and/or people of colour
- Unnecessary touching or patting by anyone especially persons of authority
But also can be:
- Sitting in class where the topic of debate is – “was it really rape if…?”
- Going to a music show where a known abuser is the featured act
- Watching a comedy/movie/music that makes jokes about rape or uses it to advance the plot / feign character development.
- Witnessing a perpetrator become the president of the United States
- Having someone you thought was your friend complain being “friendzoned” and not taking no for an answer because they’re a “nice person”
- Not being believed when you say any of the above has happened to you/is affecting you and that you’re being “too sensitive”
- Sitting at a family dinner where your family members are defending a public abuser
- Sitting at a family dinner with your abuser after your family/friends refused to acknowledge the abuse.
- Telling your partner you did not want a sexual act to happen, and having to console them, or having them get angry, or having them deny it/defend themselves
- Sexual violence is always an act of violation where power and control used to create an non-consensual environment, usually where the victim is guilted, manipulated, shamed, or gaslit into a traumatizing or re-traumatizing experience.
Sexual violence can and does happen to anyone, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, etc. However, the majority of targets for sexual harassment are women, trans and queer folk (especially those of colour).
Only the individual can choose to define their experience as ‘sexual violence’, and it is not up for debate.
In an ideal circumstance, consent is a clear, conscious, coherent, informed, comfortable, enthusiastic, verbal, “YES” that followed a transparent conversation between all parties involved without any use of manipulation, coercion, or leveraging of power.
We at CSSSVS understand, however, that not everyone has had experiences where this was the case and they still believe it was a consensual experience. According to Canadian law, consent is:
1. You can only consent for yourself.
2. You actually have to be able to give consent. That means you have to be awake, conscious, and sober enough to make a clear decision.
3. People in positions of trust, power or authority can’t abuse their position to get sexual activity.
4. If you imply “NO” or do not imply “YES” through your words or behaviours that’s just as good as saying “NO”.
5. You have the right to change your mind and stop anytime for any reason during sexual activity.
As for the age of consent, here’s a quick run down:
1. Under 12: are unable to consent under any circumstance.
2. Ages 12-16: some flexibility for “close in age” and peers.
3, 16 is the official age of consent.
4. Young people under 18 years old are protected from exploitation.
That being said, only the individual who experienced the act/environment is able to decide if it was consensual or not. Their decision on if it was consensual or not is never up for debate.Read full consent law here: justice
The term “survivor” is a chosen identity for a person of any gender, sexual orientation, ability, race, ethnicity, or age, who has experienced sexual violence.
The term “victim” is also a chosen identity for anyone who has experienced sexual violence.
The term “victim” or “survivor” speaks to an individual’s feelings around their experience of sexual violence, all that led up to it and all that came after.
The identifying term for a person who has experienced sexual violence is always a personal choice, can change at any time, and is never up for debate. The choice of “survivor” or “victim” varies person to person and there is no preference for one identity over the other.
- Anyone who has experienced sexual violence at any point in their life.
- Anyone who has witnessed someone experience sexual violence at any point in their life.
- Anyone who knows someone who has experienced sexual violence at any point in their life.
- Anyone who has questions about sexual violence, student support, and abuser accountability.
Yes, we encourage allies, bystanders, friends, and family, of someone who has experienced sexual violence to call us to ask questions, seek out resources, and for their own personal support. Supporting survivors can be re-traumatizing for those of us who hold space for their experiences and emotions. We are here for you while you are here for them.
You can report to Ryerson through the Ryerson Office of Sexual Violence Support and Education or through Human Resources.
You can report to the Toronto Police by going into your closest police station or calling 911 if it is an emergency.
For more information about what these processes look like, what you can expect after you make a report, and services for helping you through the reporting process please text or call our anonymous support line. If anonymity isn’t a priority for you, you can also access the ‘Contact Us’ page and one of our staff members will be happy to confidentially support you in any way we can.
It is! If you have questions about the confidentiality of the line please check out our policy under ‘About Us.’ This includes information about how we work to keep your information safe and our limits to confidentiality. If you have any questions not covered by this policy please don’t hesitate to contact us.
If you scroll down to the bottom of this page you will see a volunteer link. There you can sign up for our volunteer training (which usually runs once every 4 months) in order to become a SASSL volunteer. You can also Contact Us if you’d prefer to volunteer in a more general capacity.
We regularly hire student staff. To be informed about when we are hiring, watch our social media pages or visit rsuonline.ca/jobs.