NSVRC Blogs

Respect Together, the umbrella organization of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) and the Pennsylvania Coalition to Advance Respect (PCAR), acknowledges the unpublishing of content from our websites following the current administration's executive orders. The organization is in the process of restoring these pages. The unpublishing of these pages harmed many in our community, most especially transgender and LGBTQ+ populations and communities of color, who themselves experience disproportionate rates of sexual violence.    "We take full responsibility for the unintended

  From February 10-14, 2025, #LoveDataWeek is celebrated internationally to explore critical questions about data ownership and origins. This year's theme challenges us to examine where data comes from and who owns it before we use it in our work. Whether you're a first-time participant or a returning supporter to #LoveDataWeek, here are 10 ways to celebrate and get involved: Participate virtually in Love Data Week activities through this calendar of events. Listen to the NSVRC Podcast The Resource, to lessons learned from sexual violence prevention field. Browse the NSVRC online

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month (TDVAM). The theme for this year is “Respect That!” This theme was selected by the love is respect Youth Council and highlights the importance of treating partners with dignity and respect. Teen dating violence includes physical, emotional, sexual, or digital abuse in a current dating relationship or by a former dating partner. Young people experience violence at alarming rates. According to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: Over 70% of women and over 60% of men first experienced intimate partner violence (sexual or

Check out the most-read NSVRC blogs in 2024.  Each blog is on a unique topic related to sexual violence.  Below you will find the top five blogs from 2024 and the top five blogs that readers still enjoy.   The top 5 NSVRC blog posts that were published in 2024 are:  Taylor Swift and the Dangers of Deepfake Pornography (February 2024): Taylor Swift was a victim of deepfake pornography. This blog examines the phenomenon and its origins, how it harms victims, and what can be done about it.   How Colleges Can Get Involved in SAAM 2024 (March 2024): Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) is a time

The Respect Together library contains some of the freshest and most up to date resources available. These include valuable resources for the Transgender, Nonbinary, and Intersex communities. With over 58,000 unique titles, the library boasts quality research, training materials, audio visual resources, and much more. Check out the titles below, along with the thousands of other great quality resources in the online catalog at www.nsvrclibrary.org.   Bodies and barriers: Queer Activists on Health Edited by Adrian Shanker   LGBT people pervasively experience health disparities, yet many are

  From invisibility to misclassifications and institutional biases, a variety of factors throughout history have prevented both transgender+ and intersex populations from being accurately recorded and studied in the medical field. Broadly speaking, how has that had a long-term effect on health outcomes (particularly sexual health outcomes) for older transgender+ and intersex people that grew up in that era of medical misinformation?   I would say that one of the main outcomes is that we don’t necessarily have a lot of long-term cohort-based studies around the community in general. Because

This is the second excerpt of a two-part interview. Be sure to read the first part here.     Oftentimes, uniformed service is a career people feel a strong passion for or find a sense of purpose and belonging in. When a transgender troop experiences sexual assault while serving and isn’t believed or sufficiently helped by their superiors, what should service providers know about the additional struggle of feeling institutional betrayal on top of sexual trauma?   In August of 2022, I was at the NOVA (National Association for Victims Assistance) Conference in Denver. I was attending a

This is the first excerpt of a two-part interview. Be sure to read the second part here.     SPARTA Pride is a non-profit dedicated to providing assistance to and advocating for current and former transgender members of uniformed services. Could you discuss how health equity, particularly with regard to physical and mental health for sexual violence survivors, is part of your mission?   In our work, we are proud to include all of the uniformed services, which encompasses organizations like NASA and NOAA. We also provide advocacy and support for future warriors and spouses/significant others

  When COVID-19 changed our lives in 2020, it became apparent early on that the burden would fall disproportionately on marginalized communities. While often described as “unprecedented times,” COVID-19 impacted the country on similar lines as pandemics throughout history, placing some individuals at higher risk of exposure, death, and deleterious impacts of infection and isolation. Similar to COVID-19, gender-based violence (GBV), including sexual and domestic violence, may be a result of imbalanced power dynamics and oppression, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities. At the

This is the second excerpt of a two-part interview. Be sure to read the first part here.   How might being a racial minority impact the experiences of a transgender/gender-expansive survivor in incarceration?   Intersectionality plays a role in people’s experience across the board. Whether that person is in detention or outside of detention. In particular, Black transgender women experience some of the highest rates of violence both in and outside of detention. Holding multiple oppressed identities means that if a person is being discriminated against, they’re being discriminated against on