10A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuI8d2qaoC0

9A

Who: My app was designed around helping those struggling with their experience with sexual violence. However, therapy and a sense of community are tools everyone can use. Whatever the case maybe like anxiety disorders, physical illness, just a sense of loneliness, an app catered around a positive environment and being able to speak freely is beneficial to the human mind and soul. They fall outside my original boundary because my app was designed for those dealing with sexual violence. One of the people I interviewed said he could not relate to being sexually violated. However, sometimes he does wish he could talk to someone, but does not want to go to the lengths of a therapist for multiple reasons: time consuming, cost, and the stigma. Another interviewee really liked the idea of having an inclusive community. He said “it is easy to feel alone, the app would be a place where people could just talk about real issues. Apps like Instagram and Twitter, it’s all fake.” Another person I interviewed, freshman, indicated it maybe beneficial at a high school level. However, I am a tad bit hesitant on expanding to minors even though they do suffer from similar issues.

What: My fifth interviewee did mention this app is not a licensed therapist, which is completely true. So the different in needs is those who want a community versus those who truly do need to see a therapist to get better.

Why: No, the underlying cause is still the same as my original targets. While the causation, sexual violence, may not be. People just want to have a connection- a community in a big world where it is so easy to feel isolated, a big point one of my interviewees mentioned.

	Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
WHO	Those who experienced sexual violence	Those who are struggling with mental illness, are lonely, struggling with life that are non-sexual violence related
WHAT	A community that supports one another	Those who need to see a licensed therapist
WHY	To help victims manage PTSD, their feelings, and to heal from the violence	To help anyone really needing a friend

8A

Problem: those who experience sexual violence often do not have an outlet to speak about their experience. Sexual violence is not spoken about very much as it is seen as a taboo topic. This is due to many root causes whether it is because of society’s need to victim blame, victim guilt, the legal system letting victims down, relationship pressures, just to name a few.

Other than therapy, I have not really seen many outlets for people who experience sexual violence. Even then many do not seek a licensed therapist to heal. Sexual violence is a widespread issue. Here are some statistics to prove how widespread this issue is purely just in the United Stated:

·       1 in 5 females, 1 in 71 males will be raped

·       51% females reported rape was with a partner

·       81% of women, 35% males some form PTSD

·       90% of campus sexual assault victims do not report

·       66% of college students experience some form of sexual harassment

Source: https://www.nsvrc.org/node/4737

My product is a smartphone app that is a community for those victims- think Reddit or Facebook but for those assaulted or raped. Whether it is from relationships, their childhood, campus violence etc., since the topic is not widely discussed as much as it should be, being a victim is often lonely because you do not know who the other victims are. If there is a community for movie lovers, sports enthusiast, health addicts, there should be a community for those impacted by sexual violence. It makes the world a bit less lonely and scary knowing there are others like yourself.

The app itself will be free. However, just like Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, and FaceBook will run ads to generate revenue. I want this app to be free because not everyone is as financially stable as others and everyone deserves a safe place like my app to openly discuss, socialize with people just like themselves. I want this app to impact lives and not purely just be a money maker.

7A

An online community/social media platform for those sexually assaulted and/or raped 

• Opportunity:
• 1 in 6 people in the United States will face some form of sexual violence in their life; On University of Florida campus, it is 1 in 5. It is often hard for those to speak about what occurred, report the crime, and often struggle with mental illness.
• The Who: Those sexually assaulted or raped who are active on social media or have a smartphone 
• The What: They have experienced sexual violence  
• The Why: Multiple reasons- rape drugs, manipulation, control, societal views, lack of understanding what consent is  
• Testing the Who: I believe the Who I covered are the ones who mainly need this opportunity. Every one, any gender, any sexuality can experience sexual violence. Therefore, I want to cover as much of a large population as possible. 
• Testing the What: All forms of sexual violence and causes are issues. Whether it is within a relationship, rape drug, there are many whats to this cause. There are no boundaries when it comes to sexual violence- either sexual relations are consentual or they are not. 
• Testing the Why: There are many whys to the reasoning behind sexual violence. The main reasons include desire for power, society’s views on what is and what is not consent, lack of respect for women, and lack of morals. While my main targets for this project is to allow those who experienced sexual violence have an outlet, my main target is female college students. I hope this will bring a sense of community in an often taboo topic. 
• Interview #1
• This person, female college student, experienced rape within a relationship. She said she felt as if she could not discuss about what happened verbally because he was her boyfriend at the time. He guilted her by saying “Well if you loved me, you would do it.” She feels as though, yes stranger sexual violence is a big issue to discuss, relationship sexual violence is often forgotten. She continued on by saying victims of relationship sexual violence feel the need to keep quiet, especially if they are still with the person. She liked the idea of having an outlet to help her deal with her emotions relating to the incident, but is worried for those still with their partner, and their partner discovered the social media app, it could potentially cause more issues. 
• Interview #2
• Male college student, in general he felt uncomfortable about the topic and questions I asked. While he claims he did not experience sexual violence or have done it to someone else, he knows it’s a relatively big issues. He says he sees articles on the Independent Alligator about various rapes, or sometimes on the national news like the Brock Turner case. He sympathizes for the victims and wishes sexual violence was not an issue. He said it is hard for him to gage how successful this app could be just because he does not know anyone personally, or who have at least openly spoke about it to him, about sexual violence. However, he thinks it is a good idea even if it helps a few people. 
• Interview #3 
• Female college student- openly speaks out her previous experiences with sexual violence on public social media like FaceBook and Instagram. She said “It is hard for some people to be as open about their past experiences. Since I was so vocal about my experiences, people would private message me asking for help on how to report it, who to see, their emotions… It is not easy for everyone to be open about it. I think an app like this could really help people process their emotions. Not everyone is willing to go into therapy.” 
• Interview #4
• Middle-aged woman. While she was not in my target group, I thought it was important to include outside opinions as well. She said while she does have a smartphone, she does not use random apps too much unless it is like FaceBook. She says it is amazing how people are able to connect now-a-days, even in sad ways like sexual violence. She encourages everyone to seek help. However, understands it is a hard topic to discuss. She likes the idea of having the profiles anonymous if people would like to use that option. 
• Interview #5 
• Female college student loved this idea! While she personally has not experienced sexual violence, she says she has friends who have. She says in the age of technology, it is a great idea since it is such a common issue both in Gainesville and worldwide. She thinks it would be best targeted in areas where people use social media, besides FaceBook (according to her, FaceBook is out-dated). She claims it will be like Reddit but for sexual violence. 

Reflection: 

            The people I interviewed brought up points I did not think about. For example, the first interviewee mentioned that a partner may see the app or posts on the other’s phone and it could cause further issues. Often times, people associated sexual violence between strangers, but it could happen even in a relationship. 

            Interviewee 2 mentioned not everyone is comfortable going to therapy. Sometimes it is hard for people to discuss “taboo” topics like this to other people, especially face-to-face. This supports my opportunity to generate this app because sometimes it is easier to talk about hard topics anonymously. 

            Overall, everyone seemed supportive of the social media platform. They all agreed it is a common issue plaguing the world. While we did not discuss how we could change sexual violence, they all mentioned how important it is for vicimts to talk about emotions whether it is to friends or to an app. There are potential issues the app could experience like lack of popularity, potential exposure etc., but everyone claimed to be on-board.