Begin your speech by directly addressing your audience in whichever of the following ways you find most inspiring

    1. some suggestions below
      1. “Convincing someone to have sex is the same as manipulation and does not actually count as getting consent.” ― Shahla Khan, Friends With Benefits: Rethinking Friendship, Dating & Violence
      2. “Oddly then, in our search for meaning, we often assign victims too much blame for their assaults, and offenders too little. Our inconsistencies do not seem to trouble us, but they are truly puzzling. After all, if the offender is not to blame for his behavior, why would the victim be, no matter what she did our didn’t do? Our views make sense, however, if you think that we are trying to reassure ourselves that we are not helpless and, that, in any case, no one is out to get us.” ― Anna C. Salter, Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists, And Other Sex Offenders
      3. “Unfortunately, there’s no surefire way to prevent sexual assault.” ― Jennifer Marsh (you might want to follow this one up with a more positive idea: “However, there are some places we can start working on this issue.”)
      4. “Incest, rape and abuse is rampant everywhere, even in our churches, but society is silent. It is a silent epidemic. One in three women will experience a sexual assault in her lifetime and one in six males, yet we don’t speak of it. ― Diane Chamberlain, Conduct Unbecoming: Rape, Torture, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from Military Commanders
      5. a statistic: some suggestions below
      6. 1.8 million adolescents in the United States have been the victim of sexual assault- United States Department of Justice
      7. Teens 16 to 19 years of age were 3 ½ times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault- United States Department of Justice
      8. Approximately 1 in 5 female high school students report being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner- United States Department of Justice
      9. In a given school year, 58 percent of 7th-12th graders experience sexual harassment- Al-Jazeera
      10. 1 in 5 high school girls say they’ve been sexually assaulted at school- Al-Jazeera
      11. 1 in 8 high school girls say they’ve been raped- Al-Jazeera
      12. a personal anecdote: about you, a friend, a member of the community, who has been personally affected by these issues
      13. appeal to them as members of your community, as in the examples below
      14. “Everyone has the right to feel safe in our community.”
      15. “We need to work together to solve these issues.”
      16. “Without your awareness and help, things won’t get better.”
      17. “As a school community, all of us are responsible for helping end the epidemic of sexual violence.”

III. introduce the “ask”: implementing a consent-education program for athletic coaches to foster a positive atmosphere free of sexual assault

      1. talk about why this is important to you personally- if you don’t feel comfortable sharing a personal experience, or don’t have one to share, maybe talk about the values that led you to want to speak about sexual violence in your community
      2. share a few ways this matters to everyone
      3. We can have better friendships/relationships with our peers if everyone feels safe.
      4. Our classroom environments will be better off with everyone feeling safe.
      5. 1 in 20 high school girls transfers schools every year because of sexual violence (Al-Jazeera). We need to keep these valued people in our community.
      6. explain what resources we have to work on the issue of sexual assault
      7. focus on educating everyone
      8. don’t teach people how to avoid being victims- rather, teach everyone how to make sure all their sexual encounters are healthy and consensual
      9. importance of proactive consent education for everyone
      10. teach that consent is necessary, for every sex act, every time
      11. lots of information on the importance of this method is already available, and there are many free curricula the school can adopt as a method of consent education, beginning with:

VII. discuss why educating coaches is the best way forward

      1. resources for educating coaches are already readily available online [name drop FWV]
      2. athletics are a great way to instill values into team members- let’s make sure they’re the right values
      3. and on the other hand, many high-profile sexual assault cases have involved student-athletes. our teams owe it to the school they’re representing to show they can do better.
      4. it’s an excellent place to start consent education- to test before applying to the whole community
      5. participation in athletics is a privilege and we should be able to expect our student-athletes to be willing to take this step to improve the safety of the whole student body

VIII. end on a positive note so your audience feels empowered, but make sure to repeat your “ask”

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