Advocates urge safety this Halloween and warn of spike in attacks around the holidays – InForum

Editor’s note: If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, help is available. The National Sexual Assault Hotline offers confidential 24/7 support at 800-656-HOPE (4673).

FARGO – While many people look forward to Halloween fun on Thursday nights or over the weekend, sexual assault prevention advocates are speaking out about the dark side of the holidays.

A line in the 2004 film “Mean Girls” notes that Halloween is a night when people can dress however they want, and “no one can say anything about it.”

However, a 2019 survey by The Independent found that 55% of men believe that “the more revealing the clothing, the more likely she (a woman) is to be harassed or assaulted.”

“When people are dressed a certain way, the public likes to say that they are asking for it or that they are consenting to it because of what they are wearing, and that is absolutely not the case,” said Barbara Huewe, an advocacy group. for the Rape and Abuse Crisis Center in Fargo.

She said someone in the Fargo-Moorhead community is sexually assaulted every day. But additional concerns can arise during Halloween celebrations, she said, and it’s especially important that partygoers are aware of what’s happening around them.

“If you see something strange, like if you get a strange feeling, we always say to trust that,” Huewe said. “We have those instincts for a reason, and we just have to take care of each other sometimes.”

She said intervening when someone feels uncomfortable is the best thing you can do. She advised people to follow the buddy system, making sure they are out with people they trust and not going home with someone they just met.

She emphasized that the blame for any incident, regardless of one’s costume or outfit, always lies with the person committing the violence.

That goes for Halloween or any other day of the year.

In the past week and a half, eight sexual assaults have been reported to Fargo police.

Huewe said there will likely be more sexual violence on Halloween night and on the weekend around Halloween celebrations.

Campus police also ask that you be alert during Halloween parties at the university.

According to the American Psychological Association, more than 50% of all sexual assaults on college campuses occur between August and November.

It is known as the ‘red zone’ because freshmen are the most vulnerable as many of them are using drugs or alcohol for the first time.

University of North Dakota police say they see a similar amount of illegal activity as during football or hockey games.

They won’t have extra enforcement on Halloween or this weekend, but they do have four people working nights and several on-call workers as needed.

“Halloween tends to invite parties, sometimes in colleges parties can tend to invite drinking behavior, so anytime you have that combination of things you know you’re a little bit more at risk,” says Rodney Clark , chief of police at UND. .