AWARE's 'Hope in the dark' campaign takes a renewed stand against sexual violence

AWARE President Margaret Thomas talks about Hope In The Dark, their new campaign focused on how people can be better allies to victims of sexual violence.

Content warning: Sexual Violence/Assault.

If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, contact the Sexual Assault Care Centre: 6779 0282 (Weekdays, 10am-6pm), or via sacc@aware.org.sg. For workplace-related incidents, contact the Workplace Harassment and Discrimination Advisory: 6950 9191 (Weekdays, 10am-6pm) or via whda@aware.org.sg.

Every week, numerous incidents of sexual assault, workplace harassment or voyeurism are reported in Singapore. It's an unfortunately true and terrifying fact, especially for victim-survivors. In fact, according to AWARE, 7 in 10 of their Sexual Assault Care Centre (SACC) clients choose not to make an official report — meaning that actual numbers might be higher than reported. Even then, overall data indicates that this statistic is a 79% improvement compared to four years ago.

Aware's president, Margaret Thomas, says that they have the #MeToo movement to thank for the renewed spotlight. Along with the MeToo movement, Thomas highlighted that high-profile sexual violence cases such as Monica Baey’s voyeurism case and SG Nasi Lemak-style Telegram groups distributing nonconsensual explicit images of women and girls sparked a conversation and invoked a level of higher consciousness within our community.

This consciousness often comes at a price: Thomas explains that the understanding of sexual violence causes a sense of despair and hopelessness.

At AWARE, we acknowledge those feelings of despair – we struggle with them ourselves – but ultimately, we believe that change is possible, and that we can take tangible steps to fight sexual violence in society.

Thomas tells us how Aware wants to prevent and address sexual violence in Singapore.

What are the current statistics on sexual violence in Singapore?

A total of 6,988 reports of sexual assault were made to the Singapore Police Force between 2017 to 2019, of which 40% of the victims were below the age of 16. Meanwhile, AWARE’s Sexual Assault Care Centre (SACC) saw 1,019 cases in 2020, with a total of 967 new cases. This was the first time in SACC’s history that the cases crossed the 1,000 threshold. However, we believe that neither of these numbers captures the full scale of the problem, as there are likely many more survivors who choose not to make reports or seek help.

What does trauma-informed support mean?

We understand that trauma emerges from experiences that are perceived to be physically or emotionally harmful, even life-threatening; and that it can have lasting adverse effects on a survivor’s functioning and well-being.

AWARE’s trauma-informed support for sexual assault survivors includes: understanding and identifying psychological, physical, emotional, and behavioural responses to trauma; being empathetic with all callers and clients, bearing in mind that any of them could have experienced trauma; recognising that trauma symptoms don’t define people but are expressions of struggle; remembering that our role is to listen and validate, not make decisions on clients’ behalf; making sure to avoid re-traumatisation; and facilitating clients’ recovery from trauma.

Why do you think there's an issue of immobile allies/bystanders who choose not to speak out?

We do not place an onus on every bystander to speak up about sexual violence, since there are many factors in such a decision and not everyone has sufficient freedom or opportunity to do so. Our goal with Hope in the Dark is to encourage everyone who does have the power to speak up and take action against sexual violence - whether that entails lending support to survivors in their lives, participating in one of our workshops, or donating to the campaign.

Unfortunately, we recognise that there are gaps in understanding about sexual violence that are stopping some from taking a more active stance against it. For one, some young people do not fully grasp the nuances of consent, particularly in situations involving underage participants and coercion. A survey by Ipsos in 2019 found that 41% of Singaporeans agreed or strongly agreed that false accusations of sexual harassment were a bigger problem than unreported acts of sexual harassment (despite an estimated 2-6% of reports being false). The overall prevalence of victim-blaming and rape myths (“to avoid sexual assault, women should not wear provocative clothing”, “a true victim would fight back against assault”, etc) only fosters this confusion, making bystanders less sympathetic and allow perpetrators to escape accountability for their actions.

Even if they do not subscribe to such rape myths, some may still feel unsure of how best to respond to sexual violence in ways that will not cause more trauma to survivors.

Anyone who feels this hesitance can sign up for our Sexual Assault First Responder Training to gain the necessary skills to support survivors.

What current challenges is AWARE facing?

In terms of AWARE’s recent advocacy around sexual violence, it has focused on procedural issues faced by survivors who report sexual violence. While there have been efforts to ensure that reporting and investigation processes are survivor-centric, some victim-survivors continue to face lingering problems that relate to the following:

Reporting process remains daunting, despite special arrangements;
Access to forensic medical examination;
Fear of polygraph test; and
Lack of regular communication on progress and outcome of investigation

These barriers discourage many survivors from filing police reports; 7 in 10 SACC clients choose not to make an official report.

How can we be of better support towards victims of sexual violence?

At our Sexual Assault First Responder Training, we recommend that bystanders use these four essential statements when lending support to sexual assault survivors to offer emotional and practical support without judgement, prescription or victim-blaming subtext: “It’s not your fault”, “It’s your choice how to move forward”, “It’s your experience”, and “I’m here to support you”.

Beyond that, bystanders can listen without judgement, or check in on them regularly, help them find information about filing a report if that’s what they desire, accompany them when they report, or act as an official witness during an investigation.

To continue being a better ally to victims of sexual assault, you can offer your support by spreading awareness on the campaign. All funds donated to Hope in the Dark will go towards public education for Sexual Assault First Responders, educating parents and teachers, working with management from companies, institutes of higher education and other organisations. It will also fund AWARE’s research and advocacy into areas of sexual violence including technology-facilitated sexual violence and workplace sexual harassment.