Sexual Violence Prevention

Sexual Violence is Preventable

Victim Services has offered prevention programs for over 30 years to Dodge, Fillmore, and Olmsted County. We are committed to providing these services to our community because we know sexual violence prevention works. Over the last couple years, we have greatly expanded our prevention programming.

Overview of Sexual Violence Prevention

Historically, prevention efforts have focused on risk reduction. However, we target potential perpetrators of sexual violence as it is the perpetrator's responsibility to prevent sexual violence. Our prevention efforts focus on the entire spectrum of prevention which includes strengthening individual knowledge and skills, educating providers, and changing organization practices to best prevent sexual violence. We offer several different school-based informational prevention programs, please contact our office for more information. 

School Based Prevention Programs

And Then It Changed: is a 50 minute presentation that demonstrates healthy ways of talking about challenging topics relevant to 5th grade students including how the media influences body image, how people can use tricks and lies to get what they want, and how to respond when someone does something that makes you uncomfortable or that you don’t like. The vast majority of the content demonstrates positive ways to handle situations.

The Mask You Live In: Pressured by the media, their peer group, and even the adults in their lives, men of all ages confront messages encouraging them to disconnect from their emotions, devalue authentic friendships, objectify and degrade women, and resolve conflicts through violence. These gender stereotypes interconnect with race, class, and circumstance, creating a maze of identity issues boys and young men must navigate to become “real” men.  By using clips from the film "The Mask You Live In", this 50 minute interactive program will help students better understand how our society and media has created a false picture of masculinity, and understand its harmful effect on our society.

Exploitation Through Technology: is a 50 minute interactive program that focuses on what exploitation is and how it is used through technology. This presentation defines exploitation bringing awareness to students on how exploiters target and trick teens into exploitive relationships. It will show that exploitation can range from being asked to send revealing pictures, to sex trafficking. Students will also be given information on what they should do if they experience a risky online situation, and how they can prevent exploitation from happening in their lives.

The Spectrum of Violence: is an interactive 50 minute lesson that can be presented to middle school and high school students.

The presentation focuses on the following:

  • The various forms of sexual violence
  • What to do and where to go if it happens to them or someone else
  • Criminal versus wrong
  • Consent and age of consent
  • The impact of media, advertising, and society has on sexual violence

Can I kiss you? is an educational 50 minute presentation for Middle School and High School students.

This nationally recognized program helps schools:

  • Reduce sexual violence among teens by giving males and females "How-To" skills for making better choices with intimacy and relationships.
  • Increase the number of teens who intervene to stop alcohol-facilitated sexual assaults at parties and events.
  • Show teens how to better support classmates and loved ones who may be survivors of sexual assault.
  • Slow down the speed at which teenagers often engage in unhealthy relationships and intimacy.