April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Here's What's Happening!

Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2025 logo. White background with multicolored letters

Here's the Facts:

Over 53% of women and over 29% of men reported experiencing contact sexual violence

More than 1 and 4 non-Hispanic Black women (29%) in the United States were raped in their lifetime

1 in 3 Hispanic women (34.8%) reported unwanted sexual contact in their lifetime

More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women (84.3%) have experienced violence in their lifetime

32.9% of adults with intellectual disabilities have experienced sexual violence

That means over 1/2 of the women you've met likely have a sexual assault (SA) story. That means prevention needs to get better, and that means we have to be part of #changingthatnarrative.

What is SA (Sexual Assault)?

Sexual violence is an umbrella term that includes any type of unwanted sexual contact — including sexual abuse, assault, and harassment.

What are the Forms of SA?

Forms of sexual violence include:

• Rape or sexual assault

• Sexual harassment

• Sexual abuse

• Unwanted sexual contact/touching

• Sexual exploitation and trafficking,

• Exposing one’s genitals or naked body to others without consent,

• Nonconsensual image sharing and/or coercion (including AI-generated imagery) 

• Words and actions of a sexual nature against a person’s will and without their consent

What Can We Do?

We can find ways to learn more about it so we can be part of the solution.

This month, Courageous Fire, LLC, will have:

1. Information on our website and our social media pages to help you do just that

   
   

   

   Two Black women hugging supportively. 1 is wearing a yellow shirt, the other's shirt is brown. The slogan reads: "Together we act, united we change"

   
   

2. FREE in-person training in the Iowa community to help you get better at spotting the hidden trauma it leaves behind and attending to it. Check out the video below, then click here to RSVP before it's full

   
   

   Black woman in the video wearing yellow shirt, black glasses, and has locs.

   
   

3. FREE virtual training to help you learn how to use online resources that are culturally-informed if you're part of the Black Iowan community, and other resources that can help anyone with healing following SA or other traumatic circumstances. Black Iowans, click here to sign up for April's training.

   

   Back the Black logo. Red, black, then green stripes, with the words Make it OK across the top of 2 brown and Black hands joined in the middle. All of this is in a circle.

4. Everyone who does not identify as part of the Black community, click here to sign up for April's training

   
   

   

   Make It OK original logo. Black words "Make It" above a lime green circle with white capital letters "OK" in the middle of the circle.

5. All the time, Courageous Fire, LLC has training courses that we're building all the time to help you learn more about SA (sexual assault), DV (domestic violence), and TDV (teen dating violence) through our learning management system, Courageous Access! The TDV Fast Facts: Parenting Black Youth is available now! Click here to purchase your access today

Together, we can move beyond awareness into action—because changing the narrative starts with each of us. Let’s make prevention stronger, healing deeper, and support louder. #changethenarrative

~ Courageous Fire, CHW