Because April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Miranda Wumkes, a senior visual communication major, decided to use her senior project as a way to express her views on rape and the consequences that follow.

“I chose rape as my topic because I think that it is a problem in our society and on campus that people really look over,” Wumkes said. “We all have choices that we can make, and when an individual is stripped of that choice, it is a crime. No one has the right to take away that choice.”

Sexual Assault Awareness Month is a way to increase awareness and educate people about such issues as rape and sexual assault.

Various activities will be planned at NIU to increase knowledge about sexual assaults.

In her visual communication class, Wumkes was asked to pick a topic on something that could benefit society. She was told to research the project and develop a way to communicate visually the idea.

“For my project, I will be taking photographs around town and around campus that will help further rape awareness,” Wumkes said. “With these photographs, I will devise a series of posters that will form an awareness campaign.”

Wumkes took pictures of women in bathrooms in front of a mirror to help them understand that rape could happen to them.

For the project, Wumkes also took pictures of women in revealing clothing. She said she did this because she was trying to tell people that just because a women is wearing something that may be revealing, it does not give anyone the right to rape her.

“People think that it will never happen to them,” Wumkes said. “The truth is that it could happen and it does. Certain behaviors are learned at an early age, and that must change. We must educate people to prevent it.”