UW-Madison PAVE

Currently, there are over 1.5 million people in the U.S. Military who are on active duty.  It is their job to fight for our country to keep us safe from harm.  However, it is now time that we step up for the safety of our armed forces.

Sexual assault is a growing problem in the military with no end in sight.  In a 622-page report published by the Department of Defense, a staggering 3,158 total instances of sexual assault were reported—but that is just the beginning.  The DoD believes that number only makes up 13.5 percent of the actual number of sexual assaults in the military in 2010.  A better, more accurate estimate would be closer to 19,000 sexual assaults. To put that number in perspective, that is about half of the UW-Madison student body and a little more than the population of Middleton.

With April being Sexual Assault Awareness Month, this issue has been brought under especially bright lights during the last couple of weeks, but it should be an issue we think about and address all year long.  Civilians looking out for the safety of our military personnel cannot be reserved for one month of the year.

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Are you a UW-Madison student looking for employment on campus next year? Well why not work for a group committed to making our world and campus a better place?

 PAVE has a number of staff positions available, including: media advocate, finance and office coordinator, data and services coordinator, volunteer coordinator, peer education coordinator, peer facilitator and outreach coordinator! All positions pay $9.19/hr. 

For more information and details on how to apply, visit our website.

Applications will be accepted through Tuesday, April 24 at 7 p.m. Please send all questions to uwpavechair@gmail.com  

I am blessed with two pretty cool jobs — one as a sexual violence prevention educator, the other as a sexual health educator. During my commute, I make the personality switch from a sensually energetic instructor of pleasure to bracing myself for handling the daily atrocities that are rape, sexual assault and intimate partner violence. On most days, I am taken aback by the conflicting duality of it all. How can sex — something intended to be so purely and wonderfully divine — be turned right around to be used as an evil, corrupted weapon?

On the days I feel especially inspired, I am able to see the connection. If we only ever discussed pleasure and fun, we would fail to acknowledge that some individuals experience sex in a darker context. Likewise, if we only ever discussed the dangerous potential of sex, we may begin to forget why and how sexuality can be enjoyable.

The work of sexual violence prevention is to eliminate rape-supportive culture — a society in which sexual violence is considered ordinary and prevalent attitudes dismiss, tolerate or even condone rape. Comprehensive sexual health educators are working to create a sex-positive culture. The beautiful simplicity is that our efforts can be synchronized to gradually replace one model with the other.

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