Local Specials
(2011-11-27)
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Justine Johnson
The new position is that of Interpersonal Violence Prevention Coordinator. The person hired for the job is Justine Johnson. She works with other departments, agencies, and organizations to help reduce cases of sexual assault, stalking, and domestic and dating violence.
Johnson believes there are at least a couple reasons why people don't want to talk about the issue.
"One: we don't want to admit it's a problem," Johnson said. "Second: historically it's been seen as a private matter to be dealt with in the home."
She said advocates have been working for years to make it a public issue.
Johnson and Diane Mayfield both believe part of the job is to be proactive rather than reactive. Mayfield, who is the Victim Services Director for the Western Illinois Regional Council Community Action Agency, said it's important to educate by-standers. Those are people who witness something bad happening -- whether it be an action or a conversation about plans to do something wrong.
"I had a young man come to me once and say 'I feel really bad because I knew this guy had come to this party specifically to get a girl drunk and take advantage of her,'" Mayfield said. "I told him he didn't just take advantage of her, he broke the law because by legal definition anybody who is under the influence of alcohol cannot give consent for sexual activity."
Mayfield said if you don't speak up, you're complicit with the person breaking the law.
Johnson said she wants to bring the issue of sexual violence to light by giving survivors and victims a chance to tell their story.
"Usually they're so ashamed of what happened to them that they bury this issue," Johnson said. "It could cause a lot of mental health issues and it effects their school work."
Johnson comes to the job well prepared to deal with these tough issues. She worked with at-risk youth while in AmeriCorps. She worked with victims of sexual violence while serving for the Peace Corps in Kyrgyzstan.
Johnson has a Master's degree in Gender and Women's Studies from Minnesota State University and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse.
Johnson said she first volunteered at a domestic violence shelter while in LaCrosse. She was required to do so for a class.
Johnson said she was anxious about it before her first day at the shelter. She was in love with what she was doing by the second day.
"A lot of the people who seek these services have horrifying stories. They have been through terrifying things," Johnson said.
"So when they leave your office an hour or three hours later and they feel better, they feel relieved -- that's why I do this job."
Johnson's latest project is raise local awareness of an international movement called The 16 Days of Activism to End Gender Violence. It began November 25 and ends December 10. A calendar of events can be found on WIU's web page for its Interpersonal Violence Prevention Initiative.
Johnson considers sexual violence to be a social injustice and a violation of human rights. She is prepared to talk about it every day if that is what it takes to bring the issue to light at WIU.
She said WIU falls in line with national statistics that indicate one in every six women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime and such assaults will happen to one in every 33 men.
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