During Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we at The Daily Eastern News would like to emphasize the importance of supporting sexual assault victims who are not typically represented.

According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, a traditional college student falls into the most likely to be sexually assaulted age range (18-34).

However, when sexual assault is talked about, men are often left out of the conversation.

According to RAINN, approximately 2.78 million men have been assaulted since 1998 and three percent of men have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

College should be a place where you grow as a person and transition into “the real world,” but unfortunately, it is also a place where men are 78 percent more likely to be assaulted than men of the same age group who are not assaulted.

As the amount of support is appearing to go up for sexual assault victims, do not forget to support male victims as well.

This list of things, what you can do to help support men who have been sexual assault victims is endless, but here are just a few things you can do to support them:

1. Point them in the direction of counseling and other available resources.

Eastern has a counseling center students can utilize, and the Sexual Assault Counseling and Information Service on 18th Street can help them build a case if they want to report the assault.

2. Check in on them.

Sexual assault can be extremely damaging for a person’s mental health, but they may not want to or be ready for counseling, so make sure they know they can talk to you.

3. Do not undermine what they have experienced.

Often times when men are assaulted they are told they should be grateful they “got some action” or that somehow it was not assault because only women can be assaulted. That is absurd. Let the men in your life know that they are not alone and that they deserve to be believed as much as any other victims.

We at The Daily Eastern News believe in supporting victims of sexual assault and encourage others at Eastern to do their part to support all victims regardless of age, circumstance or gender.

The Editorial Staff can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].