Learn more about The SHARPP Center's annual awareness campaigns and ways to get
involved in our events & educational opportunities!
National Stalking Awareness Month | January
January is National Stalking Awareness Month (NSAM)
Every January, The SHARPP Center strives to educate our community on the signs and impacts of stalking. Due to NSAM coinciding with UNH's J-Term break, most of this awareness month's information and education is shared through our social media platforms (@UNHSHARPP). We share articles, educational content, additional resources, and engage in myth-busting to help our community learn more about the layers and realities of stalking. If you're interested in learning more or participating in our awareness month, check out our upcoming events & social media pages to stay updated.
Roots of the Movement
NSAM was due to strong advocacy and awareness-raising by Debbie Riddle after her sister, Peggy Klinke died as a result of stalking in 2003. The goals of NSAM are to increase the public's understanding of the crime of stalking and to share accurate education around stalking behaviors.
Stalking Statistics
- An estimated 13.5 million people are stalked in a one year period[1]
- People ages 18-24 experience the highest rates of stalking victimization[2]
A stalker can be someone you know well or not at all. However, the majority of stalking victims are stalked by someone they know- often times, by a current or former intimate partner[1]
Stalking Overview
Stalking is defined as a pattern of behavior directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or suffer substantial emotional distress.
Stalking in the Media
Learn about how stalking is portrayed in movies and TV shows with by Pop Culture Detective.
Interested in reading more about the impact of the media's depiction of stalking on our own interpretations/feelings around this form of violence? Check out the below articles:
Additional NSAM Resources
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1 Smith, S.G., Basile, K.C., & Kresnow, M. (2022). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2016/2017 Report on Stalking. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease control and Prevention.
2 Smith, S.G., Zhang, X., Basile, K.C., Merrick, M.T., Wang, J., Kresnow, M., & Chen, J. (2018). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2015 Data Brief. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, CDC
Sexual Assault Awareness Month | April
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM)
The SHARPP Center honors national SAAM every April alongside other organizations across the country. Together, we work towards bringing awareness to and inspiring prevention of sexual assault, harassment, and violence in our respective communities. Every April, we host numerous awareness events and prevention programs for UNH students, faculty, and staff members. Our goal for this month is more than just bringing awareness to the prevalence of sexual violence. We move through and beyond that awareness-raising objective to center preventing violence from happening in the first place by inspiring collective activism towards community change.
Preventing violence from happening is a community-wide effort and responsibility. The movement to end sexual violence began with (and continues to be driven today by) community advocacy, student activism, and grassroots community organizing. We invite you to be part of the solution by learning more about sexual violence, sharing what you learned with others, and engaging in direct action opportunities to further cultivate social change. Below you'll find more information about the roots of this movement and helpful strategies on ways to get involved.
Roots of the Movement
Although , it is important to note that activism around the issue of sexual violence has been present at UNH and beyond since the 1970s. The SHARPP Center itself was established during this timeframe as a result of community & student activism. Zooming out to look at the national history of anti-violence work, we can turn to the 1940s and 1950s during which movements for equality and social change began to gain traction with the Civil Rights Movement. Advocates that championed these efforts (including Audre Lorde, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, & Maya Angelou) worked at the intersections of race-based and gender-based violence in their activism efforts. By the 1970s, there was a demand for wide-spread social change around issues of sexual violence.
Throughout the following decades there was a steady growth of Take Back The Night events, marches, and protests that expanded the conversation around sexual violence. Marches spanned from demands for more resources and safety for women attending college, to protests against violent pornography films and displays of outrage after the murder of women at night. This community organizing is honored and continued today via Sexual Assault Awareness Month. At The SHARPP Center, we consider this month a continuation and amplification of the anti-violence work we engage in year-round. We invite you to use this month to get involved in bringing attention to and preventing sexual violence - and then take what you learned with you long past the end of April.
Get Involved & Create Community Change
Ending sexual violence is a community-wide effort and responsibility. When we embrace this concept, it becomes easier to enact social change. Transforming our UNH community to be a space free from violence, harassment, abuse, discrimination, and oppression starts and ends with us. Below are some suggestions and strategies for ways you can get involved in bringing attention to and preventing sexual violence:
Learn about the widespread prevalence of IPV, its impact on individuals and communities, what it consists of and how to recognize warning signs, the historic and current landscape of this issue, who is disproportionately affected by violence, what SV looks like here at UNH, and more.
You can do this by:
- Attending upcoming SHARPP events and programs
- Watching documentaries or tuning into a podcast series that focuses on IPV
- Reading books, articles, blogs, and content by survivors and those who have experienced violence. Check out our
- Registering for a UNH course that dives into the topic of IPV, oppression, power, and abuse. Women & Gender Studies, Social Work, Sociology, and Justice Studies are great academic departments that would offer this
- Following SHARPP on social media | @UNHSHARPP
- Signing up for our SHARPP Leaders Institute summit
- Staying up to date on local, state, and federal policies/laws that relate back to IPV, survivors, and violence prevention
- Learning about common myths and misconceptions related to sexual violence (and strategies on myth busting for those around us)
- Educating yourself on ways to support a friend and necessary skills for being an active bystander
Share what you've learned with your peers, and find ways to create additional learning opportunities in the spaces you occupy.
You can do this by:
- Beginning discussions with your friends, classmates, roommates, colleagues, and family members about how sexual violence affects our communities
- Scheduling a prevention education program for your res hall, athletic team, student organization, office, FSL chapter, department, classroom, etc
- Becoming a volunteer with SHARPP
- Sharing our social media content on your personal or student organization accounts
- Hosting and planning a collaborative event for your respective community (whether that be an awareness raising initiative or an educational event)
- Modeling and promoting active bystander intervention skills within your peer groups.
- Disseminating accurate facts and figures around sexual violence and speaking up when myths and misinformation surface
Commit to signing petitions or letter writing, call your local legislators, participate in community organizing initiatives, and more!
You can do this by:
- Writing letters to (or contacting) your local newspapers about the importance of raising awareness around sexual violence on college campuses
- Partnering with social change organizations such as; , , , and so many more
- Signing or creating petitions to further allocate resources to IPV response and prevention
- Calling your respective senators and representatives to share your thoughts + opinions around sexual violence, college campuses, and the student experience
- Donating time, money, and resources to organizations that are survivor-centered and working to not only bring awareness to IPV but prevent it from happening in the first place. This might look like helping an organization launch a fundraising campaign or sharing an already existing fundraising opportunity on your social media profiles
- Advocating for additional violence prevention educational opportunities (whether for you academic department, student organization, chapter, team, or classroom)
- Holding people within your respective communities accountable for their words and actions
- Hosting and/or attending marches, observances, vigils, rallys, etc.
This is not an exhaustive list of suggestions & strategies, but rather should be viewed as potential starting points in your own personal involvement journey!
SAAM Guest Speaker Aredvi Azad with UNH students
Additional SAAM Resources
Relationship Abuse Awareness Month | October
October is Relationship Abuse Awareness Month (RAAM)
October is honored nationally as Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM). At UNH, we refer to the month as Relationship Abuse Awareness Month, as we recognize that terminology like domestic violence doesn't always resonate with college students or align with the ways in which interpersonal violence may surface within their relationships. The SHARPP Center recognizes that relationship abuse can include physical, emotional, verbal, and/or sexual violence and can occur within a wide array of relationships (whether that be romantic, professional, familial, etc.).
Roots of the Movement
Nationally,, first celebrated in October 1981. This was put on by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and was established to connect advocates working with survivors across the nation. Later, this day transformed into a week-long initiative focused on creating change at the local, state, and national levels. By October 1987, the awareness initiative had spread throughout the month and by 1989 the U.S. began to formally observe October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Each year, the "Day of Unity" is still honored and celebrated on the first Monday in October.
Relationship Abuse Awareness Month at UNH
Each year The SHARPP Center recognizes the month of October with various violence prevention programs and awareness events focused on healthy relationships, bystander intervention, and more! We encourage students, staff, and faculty to wear a purple ribbon as a unifying symbol of courage, survival, honor, and dedication to ending relationship abuse. Every October The SHARPP Center supports students on campus in hosting a Take Back The Night event, bringing UNH community members together in support of and solidarity with survivors. Check out our upcoming events webpage to learn more about Take Back The Night!
