The next seven days will give survivors of sexual violence and their supporters a chance to become more educated about the issue of assault.
The University’s May 2001 Sexual Assault Awareness Week, sponsored by the Alliance for Sexual Assault Prevention, in coalition with both community and campus groups, begins today to support survivors of sexual assault and to hold perpetrators accountable.
“Talking about abuse can help a survivor in her healing,” Sexual Assault Support Services community education coordinator Katie Antos said.
SASS is offering a drop-in support group Monday at 7 p.m. at 591 W. 19th Ave. for female survivors of sexual assault, abuse or harassment. Antos also said the on-going group, which provides a safe forum for survivors, is available to participants at no cost throughout the year.
Antos said “The Clothesline Project T-shirt Generation,” scheduled for Tuesday at the Craft Center Studio in the EMU from 4 to 8 p.m., is an opportunity for survivors of sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse, violence against lesbians and racial violence to design T-shirts. The shirts, which demonstrate healing and strength, express the feelings of the survivors. Antos said the T-shirts will be publicly displayed Thursday in the Alsea Room and the EMU Amphitheater to “air society’s dirty laundry” and break the silence of sexual violence in the community.
“The T-shirt project provides an amazing method for survivors to tell their story in a society that often still blames survivors for the abuse,” Antos said.
In a society where 85 percent of sexual assault victims know their perpetrator, Antos said once people accept that statistic, change will start to occur in society when responsibility is put on the offender.
“It tells the victims that it is not their fault,” Antos said.
Kristin Dean, the Panhellenic Council chairperson for Greeks Against Rape, said GAR delegates from each chapter are promoting events that will occur during Greek Week, which coincides with Sexual Assault Awareness Week.
Dean, a sophomore business major and member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, stressed the importance of not tolerating sexual assault and supporting survivors throughout the week.
Lori Brown, the office coordinator with the University’s Women’s Center, said the events this week are intended to show community support for survivors while providing an opportunity to start creating social change. The signature event this week is the 23rd annual Take Back the Night rally, march and speak-out Thursday which begins at 6:30 p.m. in the EMU Amphitheater.
She also said events such as “Tough Guise,” a movie and facilitated discussion sponsored by Men Against Sexism, will raise issues about gender roles and masculinity.
“It’s a different way of looking at the world that I don’t think people have access to any other month of the year,” Brown said.
Men Against Sexism is a group formed out of 1999’s Take Back the Night to provide a supportive environment for men, to promote dialogue in the community and to advocate for an end to all forms of oppression.
A workshop this Friday, “Men Discuss Take Back the Night,” will offer men a chance to discuss their experiences at the event and provide an open forum toward ending sexual assault, Brown said.
“We’ve got to start creating norms especially among men because they simply don’t exist right now,” Brown said.
For more information about the schedule of events for the week, contact the Office of Student Life at 346-1103.