April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
In San Joaquin County, the Women's Center is speaking to groups and businesses to raise awareness of the problem.
Kate Macek with the Women's Center says the crime often goes unreported.
In San Joaquin County, Macek says, the number of official cases has ranged from 135 to 175 per year over the last couple years. But last year the Women’s Center received calls from about 1300 sexual assault victims.
“We know there are more people out there who aren't talking about what happened to them because of their shame, their fear, the stigma that's still attached to these crimes," Macek says
Macek says Sexual Assault Awareness Month is about breaking down barriers so victims report the crime, about giving victims support, and changing behavior toward women.
"It's most often that it's someone the person knows.” Macek says, “and I think that's also what makes it hard because it's not only an assault, it's also a betrayal by that person that they care about."
Macek says the center will take part in Denim Day on April 27. It encourages people to wear jeans to work in a worldwide protest against blaming victims of sexual assault.
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