Sometime in 2019, I was walking through the administrative hallway of a local school when I saw one of my favorite kiddos. His 6-year-old self was sitting in the “in trouble” chair near the principal’s office.  Very quietly he said, “I need your help. I keep getting in trouble because I am having trouble getting my personal space.”

This child went on to tell me that he was in trouble because he punched another child. My young friend who was in trouble said that he couldn’t put into words how to get his personal space. He couldn’t find the words. On the playground, just before he punched the other child, he was trying to seek out personal space for himself in a non-verbal fashion. He was able to tell me afterward that he got so angry that the words got lost. He was able to tell me afterward that he didn’t know exactly how to move away from the other child and keep enough distance to maintain safety.

— Bridget McAlonan

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As a sexual violence prevention and response organization we spend a lot of time thinking, discussing and learning about the root causes of sexual violence. Early in the work here in Maine we seemed to have more straightforward answers as to why these types of crimes and abuses against people exist. We would say simply that power and control were at the root of all sexual violence. Although nothing about the issue of sexual violence is straightforward or simple, we still know that power and control are significant root causes, and we are actively working to understand that the roots are deeper and more widespread that we have historically talked about.

Over the past few years, Maine sexual assault prevention and response centers have been learning a great deal about the relationship between oppression and sexual violence, and have been working to ground ourselves and our services in an anti-oppression framework. After all, oppression like sexual violence is a significant trauma in an individual’s life that not only impacts them but those who care about them, their family systems and the community at large.

“Anti-oppression refers to all the ways an individual, community, institution or system actively prevents, challenges and ends oppression against other people. It means taking a stand against and addressing the ways that oppressed peoples are prevented access to crucial resources, let alone choices. It means addressing violence, abuse of power, and the ways people are manipulated, limited, controlled, silenced, incarcerated and erased. It is widely understood that oppression in all its forms can cause mental, emotional, physical and spiritual trauma to people, communities and ecologies. Trauma can cause deep, devastating and sometimes irreparable damage, particularly when it is rooted in harms passed through many generations.” (Tremblay et al., 2014)

At Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Services we root ourselves in an anti-oppression framework because people who have been harmed “are not single-issue people. We are all impacted by the ways our identities, cultures, and experiences interact with other forces in the world. To provide good care to survivors, we must use a lens that enables us to see survivors as their whole selves, including how their experiences and options are impacted by systems of oppression. In addition, rooting in anti-oppression work enables us to understand systemic and societal barriers that both uphold sexual violence and make it difficult for survivors to seek support,” according to the Sexual Assault Demonstration Initiative, Foundations of Advocacy, in 2020.

“All of our individual and social identities are overlapping and intersecting. Race, ethnicity, class, ability, sexual orientation, and gender identity all have an impact on the risk of experiencing sexual violence. For survivors, this also influences access to the options available for healing and support after violence,” according to SADI.

“Anti-oppression work is at the core of the kinds of lasting social change that will ultimately prevent sexual violence.” (Perrotto, 2016).

So with all that in mind, the work we do with that one child who knows he needs help and support in keeping his personal space in order to keep others safer is building on that anti-oppression framework.  The safety nets we string throughout our communities to help build each other up — the parent support groups, the presentations in kindergarten classes, the drop in services to community housing and outreach programs, the 24 hour helpline — all these things and more help us to root up those barriers and systems that cause harm. All the connections that we can build up help people who have been harmed find ways to heal.

Kayce Hunton is a client services coordinator and Bridget McAlonan is a prevention education coordinator with Auburn-based Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Services.