Mike DomitrzPresident, Author, and Speaker on Respect, The Center for Respect, Inc. · Author & Speaker on Respect for Schools, Corporations, & the Military since 1990 (has reached

Call It What It Is—Truth Has Power

4 May 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:44

In this segment of the YouTube presentation, the speaker highlights how high‑school culture routinely downplays or euphemizes incidents that may be sexual assault, referring to them as “drunk hookups” or “taking advantage.” The speaker argues that consistently labeling such incidents as sexual assault or rape is crucial because it validates survivors and signals to bystanders that intervention is needed. By explicitly naming the threat, the audience would be more likely to intervene and help prevent assault. The speaker uses rhetorical questions and audience polling to emphasize agreement and to drive home the call to call incidents what they truly are.

Chapters

But in high school, when you hear about scenes that could have been sexual assault, nobody calls it sexual assault. They call it drunk hookups. They call it taking advantage. How many agree they almost sometimes try to make it sound positive? Does that happen in high school? Yes or no? Yes. If you called it sexual assault every time you heard a potential sexual assault, you'd be comfortable yelling sexual assault or rape. Why is that important? Because when you don't call it what it is, every survivor thinks you don't get it. Second of all, if at a party you went up to somebody and said, I think somebody is trying to set someone up for rape or sexual assault, People would intervene. How many agree if I came up to you and said, hey, I think someone's trying to sexually assault someone, you'd be like, where? What? You agree you'd want to help in that situation? Yes or no? Yes. Yes. So we got to call it what it actually is.