The Roanoker - March/April 2015 - 35

A program for men
One of the primary concerns for those attempting to
change attitudes about rape while educating at the
same time is that there is little available that teaches
young men proper behavior in this area. Jefferson
College of Health Sciences in Roanoke is attempting
to remedy that.
It has created a program that trains health care
providers - men and women - in appropriate response to rape. EMS responders "have the first significant role in the healing process," says Sarah Higginbotham, director of the Voice Can End (VOICE)
program at Jefferson.
"We want the male EMS professional to respond
in the same compassionate way as the female. This
is a community issue and we are hoping to come
together to stop rape. There are far more good men
than bad men."
The men are taught appropriate behavior, which
includes being sensitive with the use of language.
"We want people who will help prevent rape, not
just respond to it," says Higginbotham.
Higginbotham says the Family Coordinating Council has reached out to high schools and junior highs
in Roanoke and "are getting ready to go into city
schools to talk about [rape]. There will be some peer
influence involved in this. Roanoke City has been
very inviting of a healthy relationship. We're hoping
to get everybody on board." -DS

anything' to her. She said he had not, but said she didn't
like to stay at his house and that it had always felt creepy
when he hugged her.
"One Father's Day, my brother, my husband and I
met my father for lunch. My father kept trying to hug
me, even when I stepped away. Even my husband noticed. When we got in the elevator to go to our table on
the second floor, my father kept trying to get closer and
closer to me. I finally backed into a corner of the elevator and pulled my husband in front of me. Even then
my father kept trying to reach around my husband to
touch me. That was the first time my husband actually
believed me when I told him that my father behaved
inappropriately to me."
Later in her life, the problem continued. "My father
entered the world of the Internet in the 1990s and because I knew a little about computers, he came over and
asked me to teach him how to use his. He was constantly
moving close to me and I just tried to create as much
distance as I could. I finally had to just leave.
"One night I dreamed that he stood too close to me
and, in my dream, I slapped him across the face and
told his to stay the hell away from me. I wasn't afraid
of him - awake or asleep - after that."
The

R oanoker.com

Louisia is a Roanoke Valley professional
woman who learned a valuable lesson early, though
it has troubled her since.
"When I was 18, I got a summer job at an architect's office. One of my job duties was to run copies
of blueprints. Because the machine used ammonia, it
was in a room off the main work room. There wasn't
much room to move around in there, and when I was
working the machine, there was a space of only two
feet behind me and the table was against the wall.
"The boss, a married, middle-aged man, often
made it a point to 'have to' get something on the
other side of the room when I was running prints. He
would squeeze behind me, grab me around the waist
(or higher) when he went past, and make it a point
to rub his penis against my buttocks when he did so.
"I never said a word. What could I say? He was my
boss. He wasn't 'really doing anything,' and he could
get me fired or make my work days miserable if I made
a big deal out of it. After a while, I just got used to it.
It was one of those things that was going to happen,
and saying something about it wouldn't help. Later,
I wondered why do girls have to get used to things
like that?" I
MARCH/APRIL 2015

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The Roanoker - March/April 2015

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