"According to Department of Justice statistics, 86 percent of sexual assaults reported by Native American or Alaska Native women are perpetrated by non-Native men. That statistic contrasts sharply with reports of sexual assault by American women of other races, who usually are attacked by a man of their same race.

“There's a history of Native people not wanting to prosecute non-Native people who come on the reservation,” said Tawna Sanchez, director of Native American Youth Family Center, who has helped develop a sexual violence education plan aimed at Native youth that takes that imbalance into account.

The curriculum – an eight-week course designed to be taught in high schools – was created because organizers couldn't find any other sexual health programs for Native youth that addressed sexual violence specifically. Sexual violence prevention programs also tend to be geared toward the general population, and don't take into account the historical and cultural factors that lead to both the high rate of assault on reservations, and the fact that rapes are likely to go unreported."

Get the Story:
New Health Curriculum Seeks to Educate Native Americans about Sexual Violence (The Lund Report 7/5)

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