'Sex Signals' presentation begins Sexual Assault Awareness Month

  • Published
  • By Kevin Chandler
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  The Air Force has designated April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Altus Airmen began discussing and learning about the topic early with the presentation of "Sex Signals" March 30.

The largely improvisational program solicits audience participation and tries to address sensitive and awkward topics in an unconventional manner. 

Following the presentations here, the "Sex Signals" team travels to installations in Texas and Kansas and then heads overseas to perform throughout Europe.

According to Cheryl Jones, 97th Air Mobility Wing sexual assault response coordinator, one of the benefits of this style is it makes people pay attention to the subject matter. 

"Most of the time, people tune out PowerPoints," she said.

Col. David Allvin, 97th Air Mobility Wing commander, echoed these sentiments during his opening speech to the audience. The colonel stated the complex issue of sexual assault is difficult to discuss with PowerPoint presentations. Colonel Allvin also drew from an address from Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, Air Force chief of staff, and called sexual assault a "blue on blue kill."

The issue, however, affects more than just those in uniform. Ms. Jones stated that "the United States has a sexual assault every two to three minutes, so bringing things like this to Altus Air Force Base helps to keep us involved and keep it in the forefront of our minds." 

Ben Murrie, one of the presenters, said his six years of experience and the data the group has collected show "it's immeasurably more effective than a PowerPoint presentation. You break down a few barriers that way, that are put up normally when you have to go into some kind of training like this.

"It lets them (audience members) answer questions, it lets them ask questions," he continued, "when people are part of their own education or people are part of their own discovery, there's a lot more credibility to that and there's a lot more sustained improvement over the long term with that."

Prior to presenting the "Sex Signals" program, Mr. Murrie worked as an educational counselor who pursued theater as a hobby. 

"As I've done it, I've gradually learned more about the issue and kind of gone from 'I'm an actor doing this job that has to do with education' to 'I'm an educator who likes to act,"' he explained.

When asked how the program was received by the audience, Ms. Jones replied, "I feel like there was a good response to the program. It seemed like people thought about what was being asked and had some interesting revelations about the information."