Bloomington High School North, Nikean, 2015, Page 6

Description:	LETS TALK ABOUT SEXSenior Eliza Goehl creates safe place to talk about sexual assault.Instead of getting an early case of senioritis her juniorand senior years of high school, senior Eliza Goehldedicated her time to creating a sexual assault awarenesscampaign. The campaign was focused on aspects of sexualassault- defining, discussing, encouraging students to besupportive of peers and talking about how students canrefrain from contributing to rape culture.The campaign, SAAM, is modeled after National SexualAssault Awareness month. Sex is often perceived assomething teenagers treat casually and with disregard todeeper feelings that may beyond just the physical act ofbeing intimate. However, Goehl has found a way to reachstudents and get them comfortable with talking about sexualboundaries.In high school, any topic related to sex often feels taboo.Yet, assaults are happening all the time and awareness andprevention trainings are necessary if we want to see a dropin assaults, Goehl said.The idea for a sexual assault awareness campaign firstcame to Goehl last year, when she realized that sexualStory and photo / Claire Carneyconsent seemed like a gray area for high school students.We wanted to clear the line, Goehl said. We had a callout meeting that approximately 20 students attended. Fromthere the campaign organizing took off.With only the financial support of student council, Goehland her team launched the campaign under the sloganOnly yes means yes. Goehl said it helped get studentsthinking about sexual consent.I was very pleased with the reaction and participationfrom North students last year, Goehl said. We had greatsupport and people seemed very engaged in the tutorials weorganized. Most students seemed to recognize theseriousness of the issue naturally.Part of the key to this success was the open environmentGoehls campaign created.Our campaign sparked conversation about sexuality bymaking students feel more comfortable discussing sex. Whenpeople are able to discuss sex more openly the idea ofverbally consenting or declining becomes much easier,/
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomnorth/id/7915
Collection:	Bloomington High School North

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