This Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we at Equality Now reaffirm our commitment to a world where no woman or girl has to experience gender-based violence, including sexual violence. For over 30 years, we have worked to strengthen legal protections, hold perpetrators accountable, and ensure survivors have access to justice.
This month, we are honoring sexual violence survivors who sought justice even in the face of extreme adversity and oppression. Their resiliency and bravery have fueled change for survivors around the world and their courage reminds us that progress is possible. Equality Now is committed to standing beside survivors every step of the way.
Five Changemakers to Know
Amanda Nguyen
Amanda Nguyen is an activist and astronaut. She advocated for changes in the criminal justice system to ensure survivors have access to rape kits and rape kit preservation and helped spur the passage of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act in the United States in 2016. Her memoir Saving Five is a New York Times bestseller. Nguyen is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and received recognition as a TIME 100 Most Influential Person. She founded the civil rights organization Rise
Evelyn Amony
Evelyn Amony is the author of I Am Evelyn Amony, which recounts her experiences as a survivor of abduction, child marriage, and rape. Her words shed light on sexual violence in conflict and she used her experiences to inform her work with the Women’s Advocacy Network, becoming a leading advocate for women and girls affected by war. She works to ensure that women formerly associated with armed groups are included in peacebuilding and justice efforts.
Shiori Ito
Shiori Ito is a journalist and filmmaker who directed the Oscar-nominated documentary Black Box Diaries based on her memoir of the same name. In both pieces, she delves into her personal experience as a survivor and her pursuit of justice. She gained international attention after accusing a well-known journalist of rape and becoming a prominent leader in Japan’s #MeToo movement. Her work toward justice raised awareness around discriminatory rape laws in Japan and her landmark lawsuit set precedent for other survivors seeking justice in Japan.
Tarana Burke
Tarana Burke is an activist and the founder of the ‘Me Too’ Movement. She has long advocated for Black women and girls who have experienced sexual violence, and has pushed for an intersectional approach to justice. Through her work, she helps combat sexual violence and often speaks on consent and bodily autonomy. She is the author of Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement. Burke’s Movement brought international attention to how common sexual violence is and how many people it affects around the world, and she has reshaped the global conversation on sexual violence. She turned survivors’ stories into a movement that has made lasting change in the legal system and has changed the cultural norms on how we treat survivors and perpetrators of sexual violence.
Bamby Salcedo
Bamby Salcedo is the CEO of the TransLatin@ Coalition, which serves the trans Latina community in part by providing support for survivors of sexual violence. She is the subject of the documentary Transvisible: The Bamby Salcedo Story. Salcedo is a survivor of sexual violence, homelessness, and incarceration, and she has dedicated her life to fighting for the safety of trans people. Her activism has brought more awareness to the extreme violence trans people experience, particularly trans people of color. Her work has been crucial in including trans survivors in conversations about sexual violence and changing cultural norms on how we treat trans people.
What to Watch: To Kill A Tiger
To Kill a Tiger is a survivor-centered story about a family in India fighting for justice for their 13 year old daughter who remains anonymous in the film. Despite the cultural norm of forcing a girl to marry her rapist, this girl and her family fight to get her justice, even while members of their family and community threaten to kill them for their choice to bring the case to court.
The documentary highlights the intense societal pressure in regions around the world to silence survivors of sexual violence and the continued threat of violence survivors face if they choose to speak out. The film also depicts male allyship and how men can stand up against patriarchal systems that perpetuate violence. The 13-year-old survivor’s refusal to back down, despite threats of violence, results in her court case demonstrates how legal systems can change minds and traditional attitudes on sexual violence. Equality Now is grateful to have had the opportunity to partner with the creators of To Kill A Tiger in telling such an important story about the strength and resilience of survivors in spite of extreme obstacles.
What to Read: Gisèle Pelicot and her daughter Caroline Darian turn pain into power
Caroline Darian, the daughter of Gisèle Pelicot, released a book last month titled I’ll Never Call Him Dad Again: Turning our Family Trauma of Sexual Assault and Chemical Submission into a Collective Fight. This memoir focuses on Darian’s experience as the daughter of an abuser, highlighting the complexities of domestic violence and the resilience of survivors.
At the end of March, Equality Now held a launch event with Caroline, during which she read excerpts of her memoir, shared her experience of supporting her mother’s quest for justice, and highlighted the need to believe survivors and shift cultural attitudes about sexual violence. The conversation also explored the importance of challenging outdated legal definitions of rape, demanding regulation of online platforms that enable abuse, and centering consent in every conversation about justice.
Gisèle Pelicot, a survivor of intimate partner sexual violence, wrote a book titled A Hymn of Life, which is anticipated for release in January 2026. Pelicot’s case gained international attention after she publicly testified against her husband and dozens of others who were then convicted of drugging and raping her for over a decade. Her choice to reveal her identity in a public trial sparked conversation about sexual violence in France. Her memoir is anticipated to provide profound insights into her experiences as a survivor and contribute to ongoing discussions about sexual violence and survivor empowerment.
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We hope you are able to take care of yourself this Sexual Assault Awareness Month, set boundaries, and seek support. Healing and courage go hand in hand, so please prioritize your mental health. Together, we can break the cycle of violence and create lasting change. We are so grateful for all of our supporters’ help along the way.
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