Rape Culture: Sexual Violence on a Spectrum

CC's Prevention Approach

Colorado College takes a comprehensive approach to sexual violence prevention. Sexual violence encompasses a continuum of behaviors such as harassment, unwanted touching, sexual coercion, and rape. Primary prevention - preventing violence before it occurs - requires a shift in culture and campus climate where all these types of behaviors are unacceptable and not the norm.

CC uses the socio-ecological model to demonstrate the connection between individual, relationship, community, and societal factors that contribute to or protect against sexual violence. Comprehensive prevention must address all these levels, emphasizing incorporating initiatives that complement and reinforce each other at the relationship, community, and societal levels. Changes at these stages have the potential for more widespread and sustainable impact on a college campus than initiatives that only focus on the individual level of violence prevention.

Finally, our comprehensive approach to prevention also ensures that our primary prevention strategies at each level complement secondary and tertiary prevention strategies that address the needs of survivors immediately following an assault and long-term follow up and support for healing.

This programming is for everyone: we all have a stake in ending sexual and gender-based violence, and in creating a campus culture in which everyone engages in healthy sexuality and relationships. Below you'll find a brief overview of our sexual health and violence prevention programs:

• Active Bystander Intervention
• The Good Sex Series: healthy sexual engagement programming
• Awareness programs around consent and the impacts of unhealthy relationship dynamics
• Social norming campaigns
• Passive programming about gender-based violence and systemic oppression (RA bulletin boards, social media, bathroom publications, and poster campaigns like Consent@CC)
• New Student Orientation workshops on Title IX, sexual safety, and violence prevention

Check out these links for more information about our other workshops and initiatives.