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.