Crisis centers and the long road to justice

For those of us who dedicate our lives to ending sexual violence, the past few weeks have been bittersweet.

The stories being shared across the country – of harassment too long endured, crimes too long hidden – are painful to hear. The grief and outrage of sexual assault survivors shines a light on something deeply troubling in our culture, something we’d rather not confront.

But the airing of so much pain is also a sign of hope, because it’s the only way forward. Hearing these stories, grappling with what they mean and what they demand of us, is vital if we’re going to change our world for the better.

Rape Crisis Centers have been doing that bittersweet work for decades. There are thousands of crisis centers all over the United States – from Orange County, California, to Orange County, North Carolina – and most of them are like ours: small nonprofits that rely on the support of their local communities. We are available 24/7 to help survivors of sexual assault, we sponsor dozens of support groups and we run an education program that helps guide young people toward safe and respectful relationships.

Agencies like ours have evolved into a vital part of the public safety infrastructure in towns across America, but crisis centers began as a social movement. The Orange County Rape Crisis Center and hundreds like it were founded in the early 1970s to give voice to some fairly radical ideas. Among them were the notion that all people deserve full and equal participation in school, in the workplace and in public life. That sexual harassment, violence and intimidation present an obstacle to that equality. And that our society needs persistent, long-term advocacy to become a fairer and safer place.

That’s why crisis centers have always been more than just an emergency hotline. We are a place where survivors turn to find their voice, to work toward both personal healing and the hope of a broader reckoning with injustice and inequity.

The language that today’s survivors use to name their experience and call out their harassers has its roots in the consciousness-raising movements of the 1960s and ’70s, when marginalized groups brought attention to widespread shortcomings in the administration of justice in the United States. Their efforts were controversial, they were met with plenty of resistance and they were absolutely necessary in laying the groundwork for the basic rights we expect today.

There was plenty of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination before the 1970s, but the terms only came into wide use thanks to political organizing by crisis centers and their allies. Laws and workplace protections we think of as commonplace today grew out of painstaking, difficult work by community organizations like ours. Progress doesn’t just happen; it was hard-won.

As we’ve seen, that progress is still far from complete. Nonprofits operate in a world of pressure to show measurable results and short-term impact. But the project of shifting a culture takes time. There’s no easy way to calculate the return on investment for a society that takes harassment seriously, that no longer protects perpetrators or sweeps accusations under the rug. It’s hard to calculate the value of invaluable things.

I often think about that when I look at our budget today, as we try to balance huge growth in calls to our hotline and demand for services with the need to continue investing in education and advocacy. I’m heartened that more people than ever are calling for our support, because it means more people see hope in coming forward. We’ll never turn anyone away.

But my colleagues and I know that our vision of the world – one where sexual violence and oppression are banished for good – requires more than just meeting today’s needs. We have to advocate for justice, educate young people to expect better, and hold our communities accountable to their highest values.

We’re not done yet.

Alyson Culin is the executive director of the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, whose mission is to stop sexual violence and its impact through support, education and advocacy. Get and give support at ocrcc.org.

This story was originally published November 22, 2017 at 11:02 AM with the headline "Crisis centers and the long road to justice."