A visit by pageant royalty last week underscored a problem many women face on college campuses across the U.S.
Miss Wyoming, Jordyn Hall, visited Sweetwater County last week as part of a tour of the state’s community colleges and high schools to educate students about campus rape and sexual assault. The tour is part of Hall’s community service platform, “Shatter the Silence - Stop the Violence,” which deals with issues surrounding sexual assault. Hall spoke with students at Green River High School Wednesday morning, as well as a few athletics teams in both Green River and Rock Springs.
Sexual assaults are crimes that often are not reported, with as many as 80 percent of all instances are unreported.
“It’s a topic that’s swept under the rug,” Hall said. “It’s mind boggling that it goes under reported.”
Additionally, statistics cited by Hall state approximately two out of every three sexual assaults are committed by an acquaintance to the victim and as many as four out of five women, on average, will be the victim of a sexual assault in their lifetime. Hall believes a lot of the stigma related to sexual assault comes from the culture of blaming the victim, with people often saying if the victim hadn’t dressed a certain way, they wouldn’t have been sexually assaulted. She also said many people are afraid to report sexual assaults because they fear they would be blamed for the incident or simply will not be believed.
Hall said she gears her presentations to fit in with the age group she’s speaking to. With high schoolers, Hall said she’s more sensitive to their age while discussing the topic. With college women she presents information and resources available to them. She informs them they have a right to a victim advocate, which is federally-mandated. The advocate speaking to male audiences, Hall said she focuses what consent is and isn’t and how to determine if they have consent.
“It depends on the demographic,” Hall said.
Hall said high school students in particular tend to be surprised at the statistics
Hall informed them about. Hall was crowned Miss Wyoming on June 25. The Miss America program provides scholarships to young women ages 18-24. Hall is a history major at the University of Wyoming and will graduate in December.
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