Apps that help to protect against sexual assault

Author: Ivanhoe Newswire
Published: Updated:

According to the CDC, 8 out of 10 people who have been sexually assaulted knew the person who assaulted them. With April marking Sexual Assault Awareness Month, here are some apps that aim to protect you.

Rape, sexual assault, abuse… 1 in 5 women in the United States will experience at least one of these in her lifetime. The first six weeks of their first semester on campus are known as the “red zone,” the period where they are most vulnerable to sexual assault. So what do you do to protect yourself?

With an app called Circle of Six, a text message goes out to a preset group of six friends to give you a ride home or to even call you to fake an interruption. For college campuses, people can sign up for the LiveSafe app, which allows students, employees and campus visitors to report suspicious activity and summon help from emergency officials.

Florida Gulf Coast University Police Department offers a free app for students, faculty and staff called Guardian Eagle. With the app you can contact the University Police or 911 with the click of one button, send the University Police tips & photo content via text messaging, use a safety timer and select Guardians to make sure you reach your destination.

Students at Loyola University in Chicago have created the Here for You app, that connects victims of sexual assault to various support groups around the country.

A sad fact about sexual assault: for both men and women, links were found between a history of nonconsensual sex and high cholesterol, stroke and heart disease. For more tips about safety go to rainn.org. Rainn stands for Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network.

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