Sexual violence continues to affect individuals across Trinidad and Tobago, often perpetrated by someone known to the victim. This underscores an urgent need for prevention and awareness.

President of the Sexual Assault Survivors Stand, Soleil Marie Collins, outlined several key indicators that can help individuals recognise behaviours and traits commonly associated with sexual offences, stressing the importance of awareness and early identification.

“Under the Sexual Offences Act, sexual assault is understood as assault – something done onto a person without someone’s consent, whether it be that they force it onto you or if it is that it’s done through threats, intimidation, coercion. It can be in the forms of harassment, intimate touching, non-consensual intimate images, and it is unfortunately a cultural norm where persons dismiss it because it is so normal in today’s society.”