More and more people are joining the conversation about campus sexual assault in response to the CPI investigation, and while most of the stories popping up just rehash CPI’s findings, it’s in the comments that the real news is. I was really struck by the comments on the Jezebel post about the story, where multiple women told their personal stories about rape on campus, or who had friends with similar experiences. It’s amazing what comes out of the woodwork when we actually talk about the issue—the statistics get names and stories; they gain meaning. And more importantly, folks can feel like they’re not alone. I’m hoping that this report prompts some real reform on both the administrative and federal level, but I’m also just happy that it’s getting people talking.
Monthly Archives: February 2010
Rape Survivors Aren’t Guinea Pigs
It is an understatement to say that being a anti-sexual violence activist can be incredibly disheartening and infuriating. With the recent release of the second phase of investigation findings by the Center for Public Integrity about campus sexual assault, I realized I’ve noticed a disturbing trend. Schools are overwhelmingly ‘learning’ what should be done properly in regard to sexual assault at the cost of the lives of survivors. As one of us tweeted yesterday “thought of the day: the idea that a college admin. would frame a student’s rape as a “teachable moment” for the rapist makes me sick.”
Rape is NOT a “teachable moment.” I don’t know why society continues to make light of sexual violence in all its forms. The New England Center for Investigative Reporting covered a story where a student raped a recent graduate at UMASS Amherst and got a “deferred suspension” –meaning the rapist still got to finish classes and stay on campus. If you go to the story on Boston.com there is a video of an administrator of the school who spoke to them about it on camera. The administrator’s demeanor gave me an impression of near-apathy. When asked about the mistake of the rapist not getting punished, she sort of shrugs and just says nothing can be done to fix it.
Too often campus organizing to change campus sexual violence policies initiates from the wronging of a survivor. And even when administrators realize that they’ve further hurt victims and deeply impact their lives, they are STILL resistant to making quick, comprehensive change. This is why organizations like SAFER needs to exist and why the Campus Accountability Project is so important. While yes, change is good, the new rules cannot fix the wrongs that were done against those who suffered under the inadequate rules.
Sexual Violence policies aren’t something to experiment with. This is not something where trial-and-error is harmless and if a school fucks up they can just be like “Ooops! Well, I’m glad that we learned a lot of this!” NO. RAPE IS NOT A LEARNING TOOL.
Campus Sexual Assault: Big News Round-Up
As part of, and in response to, CPI’s report, the news is bursting with stories on campus assault and how student survivors are being failed by their schools and by the government. I am in the process of writing my own response, and haven’t had the time to read all of them but I wanted to try and collect a bunch here for your reading (dis?)pleasure. Also, I want to take this opportunity to remind folks to become a part of V-Day and SAFER’s Campus Accountability Project to add your voice to the conversation.
The Center for Public Integrity keeps it going with “Lax Enforcement of Title IX in Campus Sexual Assault Cases.”
NPR has already put up two stories on the CPI report and there is more to come tomorrow and next week.
Investigate West, the New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University, and the Rocky Mountain Investigative News Network are all currently doing series on campus sexual assault.The Boston Globe got on board as well.
And there is sure to be more in the coming days!
“A Lack of Consequences for Sexual Assault” Part Two in an Investigative Report
Part two in the Center for Public Integrity’s investigative report on campus sexual assault launches today! Part two of the report highlights the “culture of indifference” that surround sexual assault on campus, and specifically focuses on the lack of consequences for perpetrators. They also look at a case out of Holy Cross where a student actually was expelled for raping another student—a rare consequence on a campus. CPI is going to be releasing more stories on the culture of indifference tomorrow and Friday, so check back at their website for more and check back here for commentary when it’s all up!
Know Your Power: UNH’s Awesome Bystander Social Marketing Campaign
University of New Hampshire has long been home to Bringing In the Bystander, a “prevention program emphasizes a bystander intervention approach and assumes that everyone has a role to play in ending violence against women.” Run by Prevention Innovations, a “research and training unit [made up of UNH faculty and staff] that develops, implements and evaluates cutting-edge programs, policies and practices that will end violence against women on campus,” Bringing in the Bystander is nationally recognized as a successful prevention program. Also, it’s just pretty badass.
This month, Prevention Innovations is taking it to the next level with their new social marketing campaign, Know Your Power. [Click that link, you should see the images, they're pretty great.] The grant-funded campaign will use media spread around campus and in the local area to bring home the message that everyone has power in intervening and preventing violence against women. The eight primary images have the following themes: Intimate Partner Violence; Disclosure; College Party Scene; Cultures that Support Sexual Violence; and Stalking. Here’s how they are doing it:
The Know Your Power social marketing campaign is running on the UNH campus from February 16 through March 30, 2009…The images and the campaign logo appear in a variety of media around the UNH campus. Components of the campaign include:
- Series of 8 poster images appear as a full screen “pop up message” when students log on to all 456 computers in the all the computer clusters at the university;
See poster images- Four of the 8 the Know Your Power posters are hung together in all the UNH residence halls. Posters have also been hung in all the academic and other campus buildings (e.g., the student center and the recreation center, downtown Durham businesses, and recognized fraternity and sorority houses);
- Four poster images appear on “table tents” in all university dining hall facilities;
See table tent images- All first-year students receive a “Know Your Power” product package during the first week of the campaign. Products include a water bottle with the Know Your Power logo, bookmark with one of the Know Your Power poster images, and Know Your Power button pin and flashlight/carabineer displaying the Know Your Power website;
See product package components- The first-year portal on the university Blackboard site displays the Know Your Power button image and a link to the campaign’s website;
See button image- Six of the 8 poster images are appear on the side of the UNH shuttles and off campus buses so they are visible to both passing drivers and pedestrians;
See bus wrap images- Two of the poster images are on book marks that are distributed to the main UNH and 4 branch libraries, as well as the campus and off campus book stores. All patrons/customers will be given a book mark during the campaign period;
See bookmark images- A public service announcement is presented during all UNH home athletic events. Additionally, athletic events held in the arena with a scrolling scoreboard will display the message as well; and
- The development of the Know Your Power web site www.know-your-power.org. The website address is printed on all campaign images and product posted and distributed campus wide.
Comprehensive! And super exciting. Prevention Innovations consults with and does workshops at other colleges, so add them to your resource list. They are also selling the Know Your Power posters, which might make a good addition to your campus. I’m looking forward to see the outcomes of the evaluation surrounding this campaign, and highly recommend folks check it out and learn more about the programs.
Consent is Sexy
The idea of consent as sexy is an accessible and fun way to approach sexual violence prevention. For students looking to mobilize their campus, this is an easy and memorable way to leave positive messaging that plants seeds without using scare tactics. Here are a few resources for students looking for inspiration to rock out their own media campaign on campus. Couple the posters with a meeting time and place for more discussion and see where it takes you!
Sarah M. found this list of the basics via the University of Georgia which is a great place to start.
Columbia University’s The Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Program (SVPRP) has a badass consent poster campaign that was formed as a student contest. Check out their visuals here.
The Consent is Sexy Campaign counters date rape and sexual abuse in relationships by promoting the practice of Consent and Respect, and is available resource for high schools, colleges, universities and organizations around the world. It contains great dialogue and posters about consent. The posters bring up great talking points that could lead to a more in-depth conversation. See posters from Consent is Sexy on their website.
Or go with the basics and skip the fancy graphic design like these students at Carleton. (More here)
And finally, for those energic bodies in the house – you could always come up with your own version of this amazing Consent is Sexy cheer!
Have fun, get creative and keep up the good work! If you get inspired please share your work with us so we can add it to the Activist Resource Center. E-mail your goodies to contact_at_safercampus.org
Call for Submissions: Racism, Resegregation, Decolonization—Race & Organizing in Education
Reclamations, a new journal out of California that aims to “address the need for critical reflection and debate on the new political front forming to fight the privatization of public education,” is looking for submissions.
We are preparing a special issue of Reclamations focusing on issues of
race, decolonization, and campus organizing, with an emphasis on the
volatility of race as a political signifier among individuals and
groups working on the ground. Reclamations welcomes articles, reports,
interviews, personal stories, photography, or any combination of the
above. There is no question that decolonizing our struggle must
address the systematic erasure, the continuous exclusion and
exploitation of communities of color on campus. For students and
workers deeply committed to racial justice, the current crisis of
education poses difficult questions about how much or how little
racial politics have changed since the last mass upsurge of antiracist
activism in the late 60s.
The full call for submissions is after the jump. Go to their website for contact info. Continue reading
Campus News Bytes: Racism at UCSD, Activist Art at UPenn
Shall we start with the good? Today marks the opening of a new art exhibit at the University of Pennsylvania’s Fox Gallery: This Is Not an Invitation to Rape Me.
The multimedia exhibit explores female body types, intimacy, relationships, fashion, attitudes, psychology, behavior, vulnerability, alternative lifestyles and more through art. Featuring photographs, illustrations, paintings, film, sound and music, the exhibit will be at the Fox Art Gallery in Cohen Hall and The Forum at Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through March 5…
Charles Hall, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Brandcenter in Richmond, Va., launched “This is Not an Invitation to Rape Me” as an artistic response to the sexual assault of a close friend in 1993.
Check out some of the included work at the exhibit’s website. It looks like there will be some cool student participation. Wish I could see it.
On to the bad news. (h/t Amanda Marcotte’s twitter) A a bunch of students at UC San Diego thought it would be really funny to throw a “ghetto-themed” party for Black History Month.
The so-called Compton Cookout event urged all participants to wear chains, don cheap clothes and speak very loudly, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Female participants were encouraged to be “ghetto chicks.”
The invitation read, “For those of you who are unfamiliar with ghetto chicks — Ghetto chicks usually have gold teeth, start fights and drama, and wear cheap clothes …,” the Union-Tribune reported.
Although the administration is upset about the party, no students will be penalized because the “event wasn’t sanctioned by the university or run by a student organization.” Members of a particular frat seem to have been involved in the planning, but it wasn’t explicitly a frat-sponsored party. (The president of the frat issued a statement condemning the party).
I bring this story up as a reminder about campus organizing and intersectionality. You may be working explicitly on the issue of sexual assault on your campus, but consider examples of racism like this one—it bears noting that apparently less than 2% of UCSD’s undergraduates are black, so already there is the possibility of a very palpable possibility of feeling underrepresented and unsupported. Add in an incident like this, and I can’t even begin to imagine how hostile an environment that campus might feel like right now for a black student. Would it be a different experience for a black student who was sexually assaulted on this campus to go through the process of reporting and charging an assailant than for a white student? Very possibly—s/he would not only have to deal with the trauma associated with assault, but also wonder if s/he is operating within a system that cares less about the accusation/is skeptical of it because of her/his race. I know nothing of the reality of racial tension or sexual assault at UCSD, and this isn’t meant to assume anything about the school or it’s policies or procedures. But I wanted to make the connection, as I think it’s really important to remember that even within a campus community that seems homogeneous, people are bound to be influenced by different experiences—personal experiences, but also the tone and reality of campus life.
Fourteenth Carnival of Feminists: Social Justice Organizing
Welcome to the Fourteenth Carnival of Feminists! For background on the feminist carnival and links to past carnivals, go here. Thanks to everyone who submitted and to SAFER Board member Twe who got this all together in the first place.
We chose a theme for this month’s carnival: social justice organizing. SAFER is, first and foremost, an organization that supports activists who working to change how their colleges and universities prevent and respond to sexual violence. But we encourage students to use a social justice framework in all of their organizing, and come to understand how fighting sexual violence should include fighting multiple oppressions. We’re really excited by this group of posts, which includes beautiful examples of social justice organizing in action; reflections on sometimes over-looked aspects of organizing, like allies and self-care; taking feminist activism into classrooms and governing bodies; and expressions of frustration with the state of activism that help us think about how to grow. Happy reading.
In light of the recent media attention of aid for Haiti, Renee of Womanist Musings shares her frustration and disillusionment in the capacity for society as a whole to make change in “Activism Round Here.”
Marcella from Abyss2hope responds to common claims of frustration that some hold about the lack of people who care about sexual violence in “Mobilizing Anti-Violence Inactivists.” She explains why she thinks this is wrong and suggests how to get inactivists to join the movement to fight sexual violence.
At Cripchick’s blog, “thinking beyond strategic shortcuts” reflects on how community-builders—who organize folks who identify as part of one community but come from many different experiences—sometimes forget the importance and comfort of connecting with those who share very similar experiences (in this case, someone with the same disability).
In “Practicing What I Preach: Taking Care of Self in a World That Ain’t Gonna,” Problem Chylde reflects on the need to step back and engage in some serious self-care in order to be capable of responding to the need for “Rapid Action Now.”
In “Omg Ur So MEEN!” PseudoAlly Tears And Why We Don’t Care” Genderbitch sounds off on what it means to be a good ally and a pseudo-ally when it comes to anti-oppression activism.
After beginning an internship at a prison abolition organization, the Jaded Hippy wonders aloud about how to reconcile her politics and values with the limitations presented by working within a corporate structure in “The Further Adventures in Education.”
In “In our satin tights, fighting for our rights! But are women really natural campaigners?”at the f word, Mhairi Guild writes about how depictions of successful female activists, advocates, and organizers, can still reinforce gender norms (and dismiss the importance of employment and wage inequality) even when presented positively.
At Muslimah Media Watch, Nicole highlights the work of activists fighting domestic violence in Muslim communities in “Muslims are Speaking Out Against Domestic Violence…But is Anybody Listening?”
At the Women’s Rights section of Change.org, Ruth calls for readers to “Boycott American Apparel and its Best Butt Contest.” She includes links to a petition against the campaign, the homepage of the ‘girlcott’, and info about a guerrilla-style protest being organized.
At Imagine Today, Jill reminds us that “One Note (Can Change the World)” and promotes a simple way to spread positivity.
Happy Bodies is a blog out of Carleton College. “C’mon get Happy: Food” highlights the some of the ways these awesome body activists advertise and get people interested on campus.
PreventConnect out of CALCASA introduces new tools for their “That’s Not Cool” Campaign against teen dating violence.
At Living Peacefully with Children, boheime comes across “the frenchwoman in war-time,” an old propaganda poster depicting solidarity between women.
In “Ninth Circuit Supports Women Wrestlers,” Holly at the AAUW blog celebrates the victory of a number of women wrestlers who recently won their sex discrimination case against the University of California, Davis.
In “Where Did That Lettuce Come From?” at this ain’t livin’, Meloukhia writes how farm workers have little to no labour protection and that reform is important because it is about getting cheap produce at the heavy cost of the human rights of many.
“A Feminist Teacher Revolution” over at from the rib? (and cross-posted at Women’s Glib) Discusses the necessity of replicating women’s studies curricula and discussions of intersectionality that occur in the bubbles of expensive colleges and universities and implement them in K-12 classrooms.
In “Why Having Women Making Law Matters” f/law gives us a great discussion of why it’s important to have more women in (Canadian) Parliament, and breaks down the National Post article claiming that there aren’t more female law-makers because voters don’t want to vote for them.