Stacey Honowitz raising campus sexual assault awareness with #NoConsent campaign
LOS ANGELES (FOX 11) - "Remember I do NOT consent even if passed out or spent."
These are the words written on blue bracelets created by Stacey Honowitz, supervisor of the Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit at the state attorney's office.
"The reason I did this, it's not going to stop a rape… but it's raising awareness..." said Honowitz, who decided to make the glow in the dark bracelets after the highly publicized trial of rapist, Brock Turner.
"It was really when you heard the words of the rape victim herself, that everybody kind of took note and said, 'how could somebody have gotten a six month sentence?'" said Honowitz.
She was referring to the letter written by the woman who was unconsciously raped by the former Stanford University freshman. The trial caused a public uproar due to Turner's relatively light sentence of six months in jail and three years of probation, after being convicted guilty of three counts of sexual assault.
Honowitz said the trial's decision cannot be undone but it does provide an opportunity to raise awareness of the current rape culture epidemic plaguing campuses and society.
"A lot of things go unreported, even when you're not on campus, there are rape cases that go unreported," said Honowitz, which is why she is encouraging sexual assault victims to come forward.
Honowitz said that many victims experience embarrassment after an attack, asking themselves why they drank so much, or questioning if they brought it upon themselves.
"If you voluntarily drink and are passed out, it is not carte blanche for someone to say, 'well now I can have sex with you,'" Honowitz added.
It is never the victim's fault, so report it and know that you are not alone.
Victim advocates, police officers and prosecutors are just some of the support available to sexual assault victims. Honowitz knows the process is not a pleasant one, "But it's something that has to be done. You have to be able to have closure. If you are a victim of a rape, you are going to live with that for the rest of your life if you don't come forward."
"We want women on campus to know that if God forbid they are assaulted, if they know something has happened, not to be afraid to come forward."
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