Dear Editor,
I read a recent article in Samoa News regarding “Police investigate alleged sex abuse,” posted 1/15/2025. This article although challenging to read, provides a glimpse of the life of a sexual assault victim in our community. The article presents a pathway to address misunderstood aspect of survivors’ experiences, particularly how do victims have sexual relationships after an assault. It may be confusing to the community, but it is important to stress the complex psychological and emotional response to trauma.
In the work we do here at the American Samoa Alliance against Domestic & Sexual Violence we are taught to change the way we perceive victims. Victims who are sexually assaulted alter the way they realize and engage in relationships, intimacy and control over their bodies. Sexual assault victims can enter sexual relationships post-assault, which can come from the need to reclaim power, to normalize what was violently taken, or even to comes from a deep-seated need to “prove” their worth. Women in our community have shared how they engage in unhealthy relationships because the assault changed how they saw their self-worth, or importance.
There are many times I am asked how bad is sexual assault here in American Samoa? I can report a 2019 study by UN Women revealed that many Pacific Island nations report up to 60% of women experiencing physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Another study states 2 out of 3 Samoan women have been sexually assaulted.
The next time that you sit with active community members, ensure you create a safe space for participants. With their heads bowed down, where no one else can see, ask participants to raise their hands if they have been sexually assaulted. Sexual assault is defined as any unwanted sexual act or behavior that is imposed without their consent.
Sexual assault can be touching, sexual coercion (pressuring, blackmailing, or intimidating someone), child sexual abuse, sexual harassment, non-physical forms of sexual assault, such as verbal threats, advances, or comments that are supported by hostile environment.
As a community, we need to work with survivors to show empathy, not judgement. Healing is not linear, the process of recovering from trauma, and pain doesn’t follow a straight path. Healing has many hills and valleys. There are days where setbacks may be the common theme, but there are other days, where victims find progress, healing and wins. Here are some things that we can do to support healing:
1) Therapeutic Support: Encourage survivors to seek counseling or therapy to process their trauma and its impact on their relationships. Trauma informed therapy has been successful in unpacking the complexities of sexual assault.
2) Community Empowerment Programs: Developing safe spaces, for survivors to be safe, and encouraged to share their stories, or connect with others who may have faced similar challenges. This can be done thru our natural cultural practices of storytelling, music, or art, using our Fa’aSamoa traditions to create safe spaces can be powerful.
3) Education & Awareness: Learn more about sexual assault and have the desire to really delve as well as unpack the harmful stereotypes about sexual assault. As a community we should work towards creating spaces of understanding to encourage our people to stop blaming the victim, and foster environments where survivors feel supported.
Sexual assault in American Samoa and across the Pacific is a crisis we cannot ignore. It will take a collective culture and systemic effort to stop sexual assault. I ask that you honor the strength of our survivors and work within the community to change the future for our women.
Let’s work towards a community that supports safety, empowers women thru healing, and engages in change.
If you would like to learn more visit us at as alliance.co (website), follow our facebook page at American Samoa Alliance Against Domestic & Sexual Violence, or contact our office at: 684-699-0272 and ask to speak to our Training Coordinator, Judy Matautia for community events.
In Community,
Jennifer T. Tofaeono, MBA Executive Director
— American Samoa Alliance against Domestic & Sexual Violence
Section: OpinionTags: SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMS
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