This 12 months’s finish marks the shut of Mary Ellen Stone’s lengthy profession as a courageous and tenacious advocate for survivors of sexual abuse. Stone stepped down as CEO of the King County Sexual Assault Useful resource Middle in October and is now winding down her work as strategic adviser to the group.
KCSARC was known as King County Rape Aid when Stone joined the three-person workers in 1979. The group had launched three years earlier, and it aided about 100 individuals yearly.
It now has a workers of 70 and every year offers providers to five,000 victims of sexual violence. Stone guided the group by means of these a long time of progress. Her work leaves King County with a strong establishment for responding to sexual assault by preventing towards it, serving to its survivors, educating about it and striving to stop it.
The group advanced within the midst of increasing social consciousness about sexual violence. Stone and others pushed judges, police, lecturers, editors, mother and father, politicians and the general public towards a higher understanding of the prevalence of sexual assault, the trauma it causes and the necessity to help survivors.
Contemplate the language in a 1977 Seattle Instances story concerning the group Stone would quickly be a part of: Its function was to “assist … ladies dwelling within the space know what to do in the event that they grow to be one of many unfortunate victims.”
That kind of language would by no means seem at this time. They’re not simply victims; they’re survivors who need assistance and deserve justice. They’re not simply unfortunate; they’ve been wronged. They usually’re not simply ladies; half the survivors KCSARC assists are youngsters. Stone and others have modified the way in which individuals take into consideration and speak about sexual assault.
The battle is way from over, because the #MeToo motion made clear. Stone says there’s a lot work to be carried out to make sure that the authorized system responds extra shortly to sexual crimes. The Seattle Police Division’s sexual assault and little one abuse unit has been so depleted in recent times that it could possibly’t reply to the neighborhood adequately, she stated. And victim-blaming stays widespread.
Nonetheless, Stone leaves a robust document of feat. By means of a thousand each day battles, she helped transfer the difficulty of sexual assault into the mainstream. Survivors, and all whose lives are touched by them, owe her a terrific debt. King County will miss her management.
Survivors in King County can name KCSARC’s 24-hour Useful resource Line at 888-99-VOICE (888-998-6423) or go to kcsarc.org/gethelp.
