Author Archives: Selena

Check out an upcoming screening at the Undesirable Elements Festival from Ping Chong + Company

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Check out Secret Survivors: Using Theatre to Break the Silence, part of the Undesirable Elements Festival led by Ping Chong + Company. More details are available below and online at: pingchong.org/uefest

It is almost time for the opening of Secret Survivors on October 25th-28th and the premiere of our documentary Secret Survivors: Using Theatre to Break the Silence, followed by a panel discussion on October 26th. Both of these events will be held at La Mama ETC in the Ellen Stewart Theatre.

Tickets are now on sale for performances of Secret Survivors. You can reserve tickets by calling 212.475.7710 or visiting https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/917297. You can also make reservations for the free documentary screening and panel discussion through the above link. All screening and panel attendees may attend that evening’s performance of Secret Survivors at the discounted rate. Please use code PANEL to apply the discount when reserving tickets.

Secret Survivors: Using Theatre to Break the Silence
A screening of the documentary, Secret Survivors: Using Theatre to Break the Silence, followed by a panel discussion focused on the use of art as an agent of change in the movement to end child sexual abuse.

Secret Survivors
An interview-based theater project featuring adult survivors of child sexual abuse telling their true stories of survival and healing on stage. This piece is part of our larger Undesirable Elements Festival: Real People. Real Lives. Real Theater, at La Mama ETC October 18th – November 4th. The festival will also include two other shows from the acclaimed series: Cry for Peace: Voices from the Congo on October 18-21 and Inside/Out…voices from the disability community on November 1-4.  Please find more information here: pingchong.org/uefest. And for more frequent updates, follow us on Twitter @pingchongco and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pingchongco.

SAFER is looking for a New York-based Communications Coordinator! Interested? Apply today!

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Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER) is devoted to empowering college students to change how their schools prevent and respond to sexual violence by providing them with resources to help build successful grassroots sexual assault policy reform campaigns. SAFER trains students in effective organizing tactics and encourage them to examine the overlapping links between sexual assault and all forms of individual and institutional violence. Our goal is to ensure that every college puts in place prevention programs, crisis services, disciplinary procedures, and community outreach programs that challenge the oppressions that ultimately cause sexual violence.

SAFER is operated and governed by a diverse Board of Directors. The Board of Directors works as a volunteer collective, determining the policies and overall strategy of this nationally recognized nonprofit, largely operating by consensus. This intimate connection to the work and the field provides each member of the Board with an opportunity to actively create social change while gaining professional nonprofit management experience in a non-hierarchical setting. Our approach to running the organization provides a platform to strengthen one’s personal and professional skills while connecting to a greater network of like-minded advocates and activists.

Our volunteer board members work hard to contribute to the organization’s mission, but we also understand that as volunteers, our board members have other commitments in their lives. Ideally, we hope that the Communications Coordinator will contribute in many of the following areas:

  • Manage the development, distribution, and maintenance of print and electronic collateral including, but not limited to, SAFER’s website, newsletters, blog, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, and promotional materials.
  • Write and distribute press releases as needed. Assist with writing and editing of documents and materials as needed.
  • Manage and respond to media requests; assist or serve as a spokesperson and point person on media interactions that help promote and/or impact the organization.
  • Actively engage, cultivate, and manage media relationships to ensure coverage surrounding SAFER’s programs, special events, announcements, and other projects.
  • Add, update and maintain SAFER contact list, including, but not limited to, media contacts, student groups and journalists, and women’s centers.
  • Submit a project report and any proposed agenda items to the Chair a week prior to the monthly Board meeting.

Meetings & Commitment

Minimum of one year, with an average commitment of three to five hours per week. Board members must reside in the New York Metro Area and are responsible for a $500 Give/Get contribution. SAFER holds monthly board meetings, which are currently scheduled for the second Tuesday of the month, 7:00p.m – 9:00p.m at SAFER’s downtown Manhattan office. (Dates are subject to change)

Board members are active participants in the organization’s overall planning and fundraising efforts and communicate frequently via email.

Interested applicants should send a cover letter, resume, and writing sample (no more than two pages, public relations or blog-style writing preferred) to davinia@safercampus.org by August 31, 2012. SAFER is committed to maintaining a diverse organization and we will actively recruit people of color, people with disabilities, and people with diverse gender and sexual identities.

Quick Hit: American University administration refuses sexual assault campus grant

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American University students are being given the run around by Vice President of Campus Life, Gail Hanson, as reported by Amanda Hess at TBD. Three days before the application deadline for a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to fund anti-violence campaigns, Hanson asked the student grant committee to “craft an alternate solution.”

Each year, the U.S. Department of Justice shells out $300,000 grants to help colleges and universities fund initiatives to reduce violence against women on their campuses over a three-year period. Last June, a committee of American University administrators, faculty, and students set to work on drafting an application for the grant, hoping to secure funds for a full-time victims advocate, increased training of school officials, a dedicated student group to involve men in sexual assault prevention—and a “mandatory education program for all new students.”

But Hanson’s refusal of the grant is not due to any lack of concern by the students. In fact, at the beginning of the school year, the student senate voted unanimously to make sexual assault education modules mandatory in order to register for spring classes. As a condition of the grant itself, the DoJ requires the funds be allocated to programs with a “hard mandate” in order to ensure every student be engaged with and affected by the program.

So why all the resistance from Hanson?

Since news of Hanson’s derailment of the initiative, student activists have been speaking out to convince administration to pass the grant application before tomorrow’s deadline.

In a letter published in American University campus newspaper the Eagle, Undergraduate Senator Brett Atanasio boosted the campaign. Atanasio called out the administration for enforcing mandatory alcohol awareness training, but refusing to institute similar trainings around sexual assault. “The rationale behind AlcoholEdu is that alcohol is an intractable part of college life, and because of that students must be educated in order to understand how to handle alcohol and protect themselves,” Atanasio wrote. “Unfortunately, sexual assault and rape are also a part of college life, even here at American University. If American University were to receive over $300,000 to provide help and services to victims of sexual assault and violence, it could go that much farther empowering students with the knowledge they need to understand consensual sex and ways they can protect themselves from rape.

Tomorrow at 11 a.m. AU students will stage a protest for the sexual assault prevention funds that they deserve.

Take It All Off: How Rape Culture Lets Clothing Conceal Crime

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Hi SAFER family! Megan introduced herself earlier and I thought I would follow suit before delving into some ruminations…

My name is Selena and I’m SAFER’s other Co-Communications Coordinator along with Megan. I recently graduated from New York University with a bachelor’s in Media, Culture, and Communication. I currently work at a corporate public relations firm in Murray Hill where I coordinate day-to-day media relations strategies. When I’m not developing social media and digital outreach plans, I can most likely be found knitting ugly scarves, taking too many photographs, or eating endlessly.

I thought I’d take a minute to talk about clothing. When it comes to the issue of sexual assault, I am sick and tired of talking about clothing. For a while now, there has been talk of the term “Skinny Jeans Defense” that reemerged after an Australian jury voted to acquit a man of rape arguing that the victim’s tight-fitting pants could not have been removed without collaboration, and therefore, consent.

The sad truth is that variations of this “argument” have used for over a decade now and yet it is still being thrown around as an actual reason for acquittal of a rapist. How is this possible? Let’s take a look.

In the recent gang rape of an 11-year-old girl in Texas, the media has repeatedly been guilty of placing the blame on the victim. A recent article in the Huffington Post calls out the coverage not only as victim-blaming but victim-silencing:

The New York Times reported on the community’s response to the girl’s dress and appearance, implying that she asked for it. The Daily Beast focused on how this crime has divided the town of Cleveland, TX and has affected the reputation of this nice and hospitable place. A Fox News piece is centered on the difficult defense of the suspects and on the fact that they all knew the girl was 11. Another article from Fox News Houston brings to light the perspective of Quanell X, the new Black Panther Leader, who stands up for the suspects, all black males.

A few days later, the Wall Street Journal published an article by author Jennifer Moses asking mothers why they let their daughters, and pay for them to, dress like “prostitutes” with “plunging necklines, built-in push-up bras, spangles [P.S. what the hell are spangles], feathers, slits and peek-a-boos.”

Moses theorizes that mothers are funding their daughters’ mini dresses and heels because they are conflicted about their own past.

We are the first moms in history to have grown up with widely available birth control, the first who didn’t have to worry about getting knocked up. We were also the first not only to be free of old-fashioned fears about our reputations but actually pressured by our peers and the wider culture to find our true womanhood in the bedroom.

While Moses’ effort is relatively innocent in nature, it is precisely this kind of conversation that contributes to the quickly evolving but ever present rape culture in our country and abroad. She is addressing the parents who are looking to their children as reflections of themselves, and wanting to relive their glorious youth through their children. But she is also inadvertently telling existing and potential assailants that their crime is excusable in the face of dark eyeshadow and lipgloss. She bridges the gap between clothing and promiscuity with the threat of violence.

We wouldn’t dream of dropping our daughters off at college and saying: “Study hard and floss every night, honey—and for heaven’s sake, get laid!” But that’s essentially what we’re saying by allowing them to dress the way they do while they’re still living under our own roofs.

As Moses describes her own generations’ regrets and battle for clarity in the messaging surrounding female sexuality, it becomes increasingly evident that the same line of uncertainty is still not only prevalent but prevailing in today’s society. Although today’s generation of young women have been fortunate to inherit the benefits of the birth control pill, less fortunately, it has inherited the message that women are to feel guilty about having sex. And in order not to feel that guilt, ditch the Spanx and put on a turtleneck.

I wouldn’t want us to return to the age of the corset or even of the double standard, because a double standard that lets the promiscuous male off the hook while condemning his female counterpart is both stupid and destructive.

In 1999, the outrage caused by the first successful use of the “Skinny Jeans Defense” in Italy launched a global movement that is now known as Denim Day. Immediately following the disgraceful verdict,  the women in the Italian Parliament protested by wearing jeans to work. With a hop, skip and a jump, the protest spread to the California Senate and Assembly, and with that, Denim Day LA was established. By asking communities to make a statement through fashion choices, Denim Day recasts the role of clothing as means of protest against misconceptions that surround sexual assault. This year, Denim Day LA and USA is April 27, 2011.

The longer we reprimand our daughters or their makeup but do not reprimand our sons for their crude college Halloween party invitations, the longer we perpetuate the double standard, and the longer we let the clothing conceal the crime.