Harris Ligon: Fighting sexual assault
one step at a time

By Scott Nicholson

To promote awareness of sexual assault victims, Harris Ligon did more than walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. He walked 24 hours straight, for a total of 75 miles.

Harris Ligon recently walked 24 hours straight to raise money and awareness for OASIS. Photo by Scott Nicholson

Ligon is a graduate student at Appalachian State University who is turning his interest in education to a broader effort to fight sexual assault. On Friday, he launched his around-the-clock walk to benefit OASIS (Opposing Abuse with Services, Information and Shelter), a local sexual assault and domestic-violence agency.

He raised $300 for the organization, but it’s just the first step on his personal journey to prevent sexual assault.

Ligon is developing an ASU chapter of the national organization One In Four, a nonprofit organization that derives its name from the ratio of women who have been the victims of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault. During his undergraduate stint at The Citadel in South Carolina, he found he was medically disqualified from serving in the military, so he explored other career options. In doing so, he began working with younger students and teaching them about social issues.

Upon graduating, he was one of a small group selected to participate in a One In Four education project. Ligon traveled the country in a recreational vehicle during the last school year, visiting various college campuses and talking about sexual assault. What’s a little different about One in Four is that it doesn’t focus primarily on victims, but rather on the men whose gender commits 99 percent of all sexual assaults.

“One in Four is a national nonprofit that spreads awareness and education through thoughtful application of theory and research to lower the likelihood that an individual will experience or commit sexual violence,” Ligon said. “We predominately engage in conversation with college men and engage them as helpers and not potential rapists. Most men don’t like to be thought of as potential rapists. They want to help survivors and are real receptive to taking up the cause.”

Ligon conducted his fund-raising walk for OASIS even though it is not formally connected to One in Four. Ligon said while the university has some efforts geared toward sexual assault and domestic violence awareness, it could benefit from a One in Four presence, which has 32 chapters around the country.

Ligon said there are generally three types of men approached by the program: those who are supportive, those in the middle who think the issue doesn’t affect them, and those who have the potential for violence but might not realize it. “We hope to reach those middle groups who can intervene and be advocates for change,” Ligon said.

“We all know good guys,” he added. “The few that engage in negative behavior ruin it for the rest of us. We all have a responsibility to step up and do something about it. I don’t think it’s fair to complain we’re getting a bad rap if we’re not doing something about it.”

Ligon also believes the town and ASU can strengthen ties over the issue. “A strong bond can be made,” he said. “Obviously it doesn’t affect just the community or just the university. It’s important to reach out to both sides. As (a representative of) a university and an individual, I support OASIS. We need to focus on this all of the time, not just a week. The more events, the better.”

One in Four programs are conversational, beginning with presentations designed to get the participants to open up and relax. “We’re not here to blame or accuse, “ Ligon said. “We’re here to talk about things. Research of the last 15 years shows that guys talking to other guys is the best way to approach this issue.”

Other topics include consent and trust, societal norms, and the use of words or phrases that might subconsciously accept sexual violence. “We have to be careful about derogatory terms because we can create a society where we allow it to occur,” Ligon said. “We close the program out with ways to intervene if a situation is building up to an assault.”

Ligon’s initial brush with the program came when he attended a program at a conference on social issues and he was impressed with the way it engaged men in the dialogue. While women are welcome to provide support and information to the group, Ligon said it’s primarily just men talking and relating to one another.

“We’re all exposed to this issue in different ways, and this program gave me a chance to think about it and take action,” he said.

Now he’s pursuing a degree in Student Development and hopes to continue working with college students. In this way, he can carry a message he believes has been voluntarily repressed by media and society and involuntarily repressed by the victims. “People tend to think it’s not something that will affect their lives,” he said. The media is very representative of society and the victims are silent. It’s an unfortunate trend in our society to pretend it doesn’t exist. But there’s a lot of receptive people at ASU and it’s a time of a lot of change.”

Ligon acknowledged that it would be hard to ever quantify the effects of his work. There is no way to count the number of rapes the program prevents. In fact, reports of rape may even increase if the program is successful in lifting the veil of secrecy.

“At the end of the day, across this community we have people who have had experiences they feel they can’t talk about, and it’s frustrating,” he said. “That’s something we can change.”

On Ligon’s overnight walk Friday, he said the biggest benefitwas being joined by 20 people during various parts of his route and he got to see the community at different hours and phases of the day. He was also able to talk with other people about his efforts. “If that’s any measure of success, that’s good,” Ligon said.