15 hours Ago
By Sylvia Ghazarian While April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), we must remember that for survivors, this is not just one month out of the year—it’s their daily reality. Sexual violence is not confined to a calendar; it’s woven into the everyday lives of far too many. Awareness is important, but it’s not enough.
We must make a conscious, ongoing effort—every day—to believe survivors, to support them, to challenge the systems that harm them, and to create a culture rooted in consent, accountability, and care. Sexual assault does not discriminate. It affects people of all genders, races, sexual orientations, and ages.
Yet in the United States and across the globe, survivors—especially young people, college students, and those from marginalized communities—are often silenced, dismissed, and retraumatized by a culture that still asks, “What were you wearing?” or “You must have done something.” That’s where Denim Day comes in. Observed on the last Wednesday of April (April 30th), this global movement began after a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court in which a rape conviction was overturned because the survivor wore tight jeans.
The implication? She must have helped remove them—so it couldn’t have been rape. In protest, women in the Italian Parliament wore jeans to work. Today, Denim Day stands as a symbol of solidarity, resistance, and visibility for survivors everywhere.
Survivors need to be seen, heard and believed. But in today’s political environment even that basic human right is still under attack. We live in a culture where women’s bodies are politicized and sexualized, where survivors are doubted, and where justice is elusive.
The very institutions meant to protect often fail us —worse, they render survivors invisible and burden them with shame. We see this clearly on college campuses. At the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project (WRRAP), we are witnessing a surge in urgent requests for help from college students—young people who have been raped or sexually assaulted and now face an unwanted pregnancy.
Many are away from home, without a support system, terrified, and unsure of where to turn. WRRAP steps in to provide funding for abortions and emergency contraceptives because no survivor should be forced to carry the trauma of sexual violence into parenthood. These survivors are not just numbers.
They are your classmates, your siblings, your neighbors. And far too often, they are left to suffer in silence because the systems around them either don’t believe them or don’t care. The emotional toll is staggering.
The financial toll can be paralyzing. At WRRAP, we work with providers nationwide to ensure survivors receive the care they need—not the judgment they fear. We must also talk about the silent signals that call for help.
A hand gesture, shared widely on social media during the pandemic, has become a quiet plea for safety: holding your hand up with your thumb tucked into your palm, then folding your fingers down to trap the thumb. It’s a symbol of being trapped—an unspoken cry that says, “I need help.” Recognizing it could save someone’s life.
So if you see it, don’t look away. Act. Believe.
Support. And let us not forget the harrowing story of Gisèle Pelicot —brutally raped by over 50 men, then put on public trial, her trauma dissected and doubted in courtrooms and news outlets alike. But she stood tall.
She survived. Her courage ignited international outrage, but also admiration. She reminded us all: survivors are not defined by what happened to them.
They are defined by their resilience, their fight, their refusal to disappear. Yet, these stories should not require media attention to matter. Every survivor deserves dignity, safety, and care.
But they also deserve action. This month, we remember that believing survivors is not enough. We must fund their access to care.
We must vote for policies that protect and uplift them. We must call out the institutions that continue to fail them and demand better. And we must continue to work toward a future where no one has to suffer in silence.
This year’s them Together We Act, United We Change reminds us that real progress happens when we stand in solidarity, take collective action, and refuse to look away from the reality of sexual abuse, assault, and harassment. WRRAP has been doing this work for over 33 years, funding access to abortion and emergency contraceptives for people across the country—especially those who have survived the unimaginable. We do not ask how or why.
We do not require proof. We believe. And we act.
As one survivor we helped shared, “I am very thankful for helping fund my abortion. I’m only 13 years old and was in a bad situation where I was raped by a grown man and got pregnant in the process and I don’t want to mess my life up by having a baby at a young age. I want to go to the school and be something in life.
I am very appreciative for everything you have done to help me.” To the person reading this who may need help: You are not invisible. We see you.
We believe you. And you are not alone. Sylvia Ghazarian is Executive Director of the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project ( WRRAP ),.
