I’m involved in the Facing Project because our culture has an expectation for how sexual violence occurs. People believe that sexual violence can only occur under a certain set of circumstances and, without these conditions, there cannot be sexual violence. A standard such as this invalidates the experiences of millions of survivors and facilitates tolerance of sexual violence in our community. The Facing Project is challenging society’s expectation, pushing for us to listen and become educated and supportive to all who have survived.
-Elena Diller
This post originally appeared in Facing Sexual Violence in Rockbridge County, a publication of The Facing Project that was organized by Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.