Two professors at the University of Windsor will further their work in sexual assault resistance education thanks to a large investment.
The Public Health Agency of Canada has provided a $2.5-million investment which will help to expand the Girls - Flip the Script with EAAA program.
The Flip the Script program is an initiative designed for girls aged 14-years and older across Canada to help empower girls with the knowledge and skills to trust their own judgement and effectively resist sexual assault.
Speaking on AM800's The Shift, one of the professors involved - Dr. Charlene Senn - who teaches Psychology and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Windsor, says young women in university who participate in the program are significantly less likely to experience sexual assault.
Dr. Senn says the trial program showed success.
"Involvement in this program actually decreased sexual assaults that occurred - both completed and attempted rape - afterwards and for at least a year, and even up to two years, by 50 per cent."
She says it's important for women to know the dangers from men they know, and men they don't know.
"It shows girls what the real risk cues are in situations, which things actually do elevate the risk of sexual assault, and also what kinds of things in boys and men's behaviour are actually red flags for someone who is more likely to be coercive."
Dr. Senn says women may face obstacles of recognizing danger with men that are known to them.
"Often there's a delay in our acknowledging that danger, and one of the things the program does is reveals this so that girls and young women can really see that, and practice for themselves, and think about what are my emotional obstacles?"
The Public Health Agency of Canada's investment will fund this project over the next five years to support the development of new delivery models and testing of the program in community settings.
The initiative will also assess how to best deliver the program in community settings and evaluate the program's effects on 1,000 adolescent girls in communities throughout Ontario and British Columbia
