Sacramento State students filled the Hinde auditorium on Wednesday night at the “Let’s Talk About “IT'” lecture hosted by the Student Health Center.Sabrina Sadler, a Sac State alumna and sexual assault victim, began the event by explaining her story and how her fight against sexual assault has evolved.”Knowing that I can help other people in my situation is my motivation for doing this,” Sadler said. Other speakers at the event were Kelly Addington and Becca Tieder, co-founders of “United for Change,” an organization that promotes sexual assault education and awareness of sexual assault on college campuses. “I have never been more excited to come to a campus and talk to students, and that’s because of Sabrina and her amazing strength,” Addington said. According to Addington, one in four women will be sexually assaulted, and 85% of those attacks will involve drugs or alcohol. Addington and Tieder said they hope to raise awareness of sexual assault in order to eliminate it. “If you choose to, every single student has the ability to go out and change the world we live in,” Tieder said. Addington described to students how she was sexually assaulted during her senior year of college and she how dealt with, and is still dealing with, the horrible experience.Addington also described how her strong friendship with Tieder helped her through the hardest situation in her life. “Everyone has that one person that doesn’t judge you and you are able to tell them anything,” Addington said. “Becca is that person for me.”Tieder described three steps that everyone should take in order to help eliminate sexual assault in the college community. First, get educated about the subject so you can inform. Many programs are available, such as No Women Left Behind, which was established at Sac State, and United for Change.Secondly, the community needs to think about sex in a positive way. Tieder recommended avoiding the use of sexual terminology in social situations; doing so is creating an association between sex and derogatory terms.

The last step students should take is to empower themselves and others by looking out for their friends and to make better choices when at social events where alcohol is involved. Tieder explained that sexual assault does not always involve a male attacking a female. Many men get sexually assaulted as well, Tieder said. “It is a huge problem to have these gender stereotypes in sexual situations, and its important to recognize the men who are affected just as much as the women who are sexually assaulted,” Tieder said.

Addington ended the lecture by leaving the audience with the words in which she lives her life by. “Life is best lived without fear, but with awareness,” Addington said. “And we cannot do that until we start talking about sex and respecting ourselves and others.”