I have worked in the field of anti-sexual violence in some capacity or another for the past six years.  Some of that has been doing direct services work: hotline, medical advocacy, case management and other portions of my work have been more focused on prevention and awareness and community outreach.  Regardless of the role that I am filling, survivors routinely disclose to me about the experiences they had and the different methods and skills they used on the road to healing.   Hearing these stories of both individual and collective strength is really inspiring to me as an advocate in this field. 

Some of the most impactful things I have seen and heard throughout the years is not necessarily an account of someone’s story but rather creative expression through poetry, song, music, art, or any other medium.  I think that the ability to express one’s emotions or experience through art is something that is important and integral to so many survivors at some point.  For some, it is a life-long interaction with a creative medium as a way to express emotions, feelings, and thoughts that reflect the immediate impacts of the assault but also the long-term effects as well. 

One of the more ubiquitous forms of creative expression about sexual violence is through the Clothesline Project.  Many communities, schools, and rape crisis centers have collections of t-shirts that they hand on an annual basis to raise awareness of sexual violence.  This is a great example of collective expression because we see tshirts from a multitude of survivors and their significant others.  The tshirts also represent a wide variety of what happened, who the perpetrator was, and the reactions.  Some focus on how the survivor was feeling right after and some offer messages of hope, healing, and support. 

Another great opportunity for female-identified survivors in the Boston or Northampton area looking to use creative mediums and connect with other survivors is the Survivor’s Theatre Project.  This is a performing arts program for survivors of sexual assault that is run entirely by survivors.  Typically workshops run a few weeks and build upon each other both in developing relationships between participants and to develop a final piece of work. 

There are also a variety of individual expressions that survivors put into public forum, be it physically or through the internet.  Turning experiences into art is both constructive and cathartic for the individual survivor and it can be useful at raising awareness about the issues.  Communities can use the expressions to learn about sexual violence, its impacts, and start the very important conversations about how to address it and become involved with prevention efforts.  Other survivors can also connect to these public creative expressions, incorporate it into their own healing, and learn that they aren’t alone in experience or reactions.

Below is a list of a variety of the work that survivors have done.  It is in no means comprehensive but merely the tip of the iceberg of what is out there.  I encourage you to add other websites or displays that you have seen to further round out our list.  As this is the creative expression of survivors, some of it can be very triggering so please practice self-care while browsing.  Some of the sites come with explanations of how the author or artist was feeling and where the inspiration came from and others simply let the art speak for itself.

 
Artwork:
Sav’s Art
Tini’s Art
End the Silence Campaign

Music:
Angel Haze – Cleaning out my closet
In Your Skin
Broken Dreams
Healing

Poetry:
I Will Survive
Janet’s Socks
A Question
Who Am I
At The Verdict
Victim or Survivor

Photography
This is Not an Invitation to Rape Me

Stories:
Victim Impact Statement
Sexual Violence in Lesbian Communities: Marginalized and Silenced
Journey to Forgiveness, Hope, and Healing 

Yesterday, Angie Epifano wrote an account of her experiences with her school following her sexual assault at Amherst College, a small, elite liberal arts college in Western Massachusetts.

Thank you to Angie for the power and weight of your words, and sharing the truth of your experience. Thank you also to our colleagues at the rape crisis center that serves the Five College area, the Center for Women and Community and the Victim Rights Law Center, both of whom Angie mentions briefly in her story. 

Angie's story has circulated in and around my social and social media circles today. Less so the circles of folks who've found their calling in the trenches of sexual violence work. We feel Angie's experience in the way we feel the experiences of other survivors: with the heaviness that comes from hearing a story that is neither new nor singular, but that nonetheless deserves to be well and truly heard, and held, and acted upon.

Rather, her story is making its way through my alumni community. I'm an alum of Williams College, a peer institution and the historical rival of Amherst College. This rivalry is fierce, and old, but at its core is something real: there are generations of current and former students who love these places powerfully. And so the tone of these emails, and Facebook messages and tweets has not been, "Oh, look how bad Amherst turns out to be," but instead, profound sadness mixed with deep trepidation.

Much of the sadness is empathy. Angie's story is hard to read because she so clearly puts words to the struggles of many survivors: the single action step that took a hundred silent pep talks and the effort of a marathon to take, only to be told that it was the wrong move, or the one that discredited them. The other piece of that sadness, though, is the feeling of loss, and that loss is the sister emotion of fear. "Here is a campus just like ours," my circles said. "Could someone really be treated that way here?" If it did, said one email, "I would be so ashamed to be an alum."

The fear here is that our communities--people with whom we share at least a fellowship, if not an identity--could fail us spectacularly. I think all of us would like to believe that, presented with a person like Angie, we would do something differently: Be more compassionate, produce the right words, or make exactly the right referral. Plainly, though, there are plenty of decent, compassionate, articulate people in positions at colleges, K-12 schools, hospitals, health care centers, and faith communities, and they don't know how.

Back in September, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a New Yorker column about Jerry Sandusky and Penn State, which, for those of us from outside of Happy Valley, has become the looking glass we use to explore what sexual abuse does to our ideas of loyalty and betrayal. Gladwell tells a story about Joe Paterno toward the end of the piece that is really an aside to the larger article but, for me, turns out to be the heart. He writes of a conversation between Paterno and his biographer Joe Posnanski:

Posnanski, in one of his final interviews with Paterno, asked him if he had considered calling the police. “To be honest with you, I didn’t,” Paterno said. “This isn’t my field. I didn’t know what to do. I had not seen anything. Jerry didn’t work for me anymore. I didn’t have anything to do with him. I tried to look through the Penn State guidelines to see what I was supposed to do. It said I was supposed to call Tim [Curley]. So I called him.”

I believe that Joe Paterno, along with many other people who've been entrusted with the details of information about sexual abuse, have been left utterly bereft of ideas about what to do, or say, or think next. Sometimes, we are simply struck dumb by the horror that one person, through their actions, can visit on another. Sometimes, we have had the privilege of never experiencing the sort of anguish, or numbness, that the person in front of us has had, and so we're skeptical of the things they've thought, and said, and done in the haze of it. Sometimes, that privilege is also bound and tangled with the privilege that comes with skin color, gender, or sexuality, ability, or status. So we act with the best intentions, and more often than not, that's when we learn that good intentions take us almost nowhere.

When we love a place--like a college, or a K-12 school, or a congregation--my contention is that we should love it enough to demand thoughtfully considered policies about sexual violence be in place before someone is sitting in an office asking for help. Whose offices could someone go to, and what knowledge do we expect them to have? What protocols exist to ensure that someone who has been sexually abused in that place can continue to feel safe and participate meaningfully as a part of the community while the process of accountability moves forward? What culture do we, as a community, need to intentionally create to make this place safe?

In some relationships there is always the point where you have to sit down and have the “the talk.”

We all have different feelings about “the talk,” but it’s when you sit down and DTR: define the relationship, or who you want to be. Are we just friends? Are we more than friends? Where is this relationship going? What do we expect from one another?

This post is not a “how to” on romantic relationships; it is a post about the different types of relationships I am invested in as a member of our Community Engagement and Development team at BARCC.  I see some similarities to dating: we set up a time to meet; we want to discuss common interests (in this case, sexual violence prevention work);we get to know each other; and then the real clincher: what type of professional partnership do we both have in mind?  Can we call this a partnership? How much time do we want to invest? Do we do workshops about sexual violence or something else? Do we want to discuss what we both have in mind for capacity?  Doing prevention work is awesome, fun, rewarding and sometimes hard. That’s why all the questions are necessary, right? I mean, if we think that we’re both talking about prevention, but then at the end realize we’re somewhere else… that could be a problem. Which begs the question, what is prevention? Is it stickers and brochures that say, “Don’t rape?” In my mind it’s a lot more than that.

Sexual violence prevention, as I have come to understand it, has its roots in the early 1970’s. An article in the Prevention Researcher reports that this was a time “where education was an important component.” It goes on to list the reasons: education raises awareness about sexual violence, and it supports survivors. From my experience with BARCC, I like to also note that the educational piece engages attitudes and beliefs about sex, rape culture and community involvement. Yet this article also expounds on the idea that education is a part of a much larger picture of prevention. Prevention has many dimensions. In fact, the spectrum of prevention, developed by Larry Cohen, ranges from: influencing policy and legislation, to changing organizational practices, to fostering coalitions and networks, educating providers, promoting community education, to strengthening individual knowledge and skills.

This creates a broader strategy for sexual violence prevention and these are all levels that BARCC staff and volunteers have engaged. Our relationships matter and help us so much in our mission. We are truly grateful. One example is how we work with young people, especially in school settings.  Current research shows that when working with adolescents in class rooms, workshops are not enough. Nan Stein and Bruce Taylor, researcher at the Wellesley Centers for Women, have done studies in Ohio and New York covering 2700 students that show that classroom workshops alone do not reduce sexual violence.

However, class room workshops along with building-level interventions reduced sexual harassment 32 to 47% (in the category of peer-to-peer sexual violence). The building interventions alone reduced physical and sexual dating violence by about 50% up to six months after the study was done. When you cover various points on the spectrum of prevention it leads to a wider impact. Working with students is awesome and I have learned so much from them about their schools. Ideally, this work has impact in mind, with the goal of involving more of the community.

So meeting with potential partners carries a lot of hope for changing the community and planning for long term solutions. The DTR is important to maximize everyone’s efforts. Seeking out our mutual goals while planning as much as possible to be involved in other levels of prevention, reaps a reward for all those involved especially those benefiting from the community. They also produce more consistent messages for youth that interact with other students and teachers. That’s why sitting across the table from someone who is interested in prevention is more than just chitchat. Sometimes it’s the building blocks to a more healthier vision. It can open the door to even greater possibilities

WRITTEN BY: Claudia, Educator at BARCC

October is here! That means fall, foliage, pumpkins, candy, costumes, brisk temperatures, races, and of course…domestic violence awareness and prevention programs!! 

Domestic violence is very prevalent within every community and society overall.  It can take a variety of different forms including physical, emotional, verbal, financial, and sexual.  These forms of abuse can happen in isolation or in conjunction with one another. 

The prevalence of domestic violence is staggeringly high.  About 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men report experiencing severe physical violence by an intimate partner, according to the NISVIS study released by the CDC in Dec of 2011.  When we look at how this violence breaks down, most times people are experiencing physical violence (of varying degrees) in isolation.  The most common co-occurring types of violence is physical combined with stalking. 

With the increase in technology, stalking has taken on many new forms.  Now it can come across with incessant texting or calls to one’s cell phone.  It can include monitoring a person’s facebook or where they ‘check in’ on four square.   Other forms can be installing video cameras into a person’s home or apartment to watch what they do when they are home by themselves.  Stalking no longer requires physical proximity to another individual.   The CDC NISVS study reported that 1 in 6 women and 1 in 19 men have experienced stalking in their lifetime.

There will be many different events happening this month to raise awareness about the prevalence of domestic violence, talk about warning signs, discuss prevention methods, and to recognize the people who have been impacted.  There are other events happening all around the city and in the neighboring towns.  Many colleges and universities put on their own Take Back the Nights, DV Vigils, speakers, and lecturers that are open to the community.  Take a moment and find one that is happening in your community or at your school and make the time to attend.  Some options include:

- Oct 3 6:00-8:00pm DV Vigil at Cambridge City Hall
- Oct 3 6:00-7:30 pm DV Vigil in Union Square in Somerville in front of  the Police Academy (220 Washington Street)
- Oct 10 6:00-9:00pm Movie and Discussion: Gaslighting  at Hingham Public Library
- Oct 11, 2012 4:00-8:00pm Open House at Mass Aliance of Portugese Speakers and Brazilian Women’s Group
- Oct 13 9:30am -12:00pm Walk to Break the Silence at Downtown Framingham Common
- Oct 13 12:00-3:00pm Feminists for Liberation presents a March to End Rape Culture and Gender  Inequality at the Boston Common Bandstand
- Oct 15 10:00-11:30am Discussion facilitated by MA Survivors Outreach at Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy MA
- Oct 27 10:00am-3:30pm REACH PAVE Summit for teen student leaders at Simmons College

Domestic and sexual violence have extremely high prevalence rates within our communities.  Although how they present and the effects they have can be different, there are many similarities.  It is important to recognize how all forms of violence impacts both ourselves and our communities in order to create paths to prevention for the future.

I typically find it really hard to keep up with a lot of what happens in the news.  I don’t have any form of cable or basic channels so I can’t have the news on in the background as I get ready for work.  I try to reduce the amount of paper I create in the world and therefore the Globe does not appear on my doorstep.  I bike to work so I miss the Express on the T.  Despite all these awesome excuses, the main reason I find it hard to keep up with the regular news outlets is because I don’t want to.  I find the way that many stories are represented are unfair, slanted,  leave more questions than I originally had, exploit stereotypes and biases that are rife within societies, and a whole host of other reasons.  I either come away confused, disheartened, or disappointed either because of the way the story was portrayed or the way that people respond.

I do keep up on the news as best I can though.  I often listen to NPR on my bike ride and catch up on my international news, the presidential race, and then other more random programs.  Last week, I listened to an entire show about the melting ice caps in the Arctic Ocean and how that could impact climate on a global level – interesting stuff!  However, to keep up with the news on the sexual violence front, I have had to set up Google Alerts for the terms ‘rape’ and ‘sexual assault’.  Cheerful right?  However, now I don’t have to go searching through endless columns in a billion different newspapers, Google brings everything to my Inbox in one neat e-mail and I can decide which ones I want to read more about.  Yay technology convenience!

I have noticed something though the past week that adds to my continued disgruntled attitude towards regular news outlets and commenters.  There are these stories that explode everywhere and everyone seems to have something to say.  One such story was where 20 men and boys were charged with raping an 11-year old girl.  Every news outlet from the NY Times and Globe to a small town Gazette reported about what happened.  Many had criticisms for the males, the community, and the girl’s parents.  Some, albeit fewer, even had criticisms for the way that the girl behaved in this situation.  People commenting on their story expressed their concern for the girl and outrage over what had happened.   Many people wrote that there was mutual responsibility for what happened, that the girl should have been more assertive, there should be no jumping to conclusions and we all must wait for the trials to find out what really happened.   Another example is what recently happened in Kentucky: a teenage girl tweeted the names of her two assailants because she was upset that their sentences were so light.  There was talk about how she could be brought up on charges for disobeying a court order not to release their names.  There was a lot of chatter about how she ruined their lives and future by exposing their identities and actions to the Twitterverse and that action should be taken.  Other people understood her outrage and supported her actions.  

There are already critiques of how news outlets covered these two stories and others and how to become more trauma-sensitive when making these reports.  While these are certainly problems that still need to be addressed and I could write an entire post about that, it is not what I want to focus on.  My current disgruntle is caused by the fact how stories like these become huge sensations and then all of a sudden drop from the news.  We rarely hear about the final outcomes of a trial (if there is one) or sanctions that someone faces from a school or employer.  Most of the time a complete investigation and trial takes years from start to finish.  Therefore people could forget about each individual case.  News outlets move onto more current news they can sensationalize.  The reports and updates about these cases are relegated to more local newspapers or may completely drop from view. 

Through my Google Alerts, I have recently seen updates about how some sentences for the males involved in the TX case are starting to come down.  Others are expected to enter pleas to avoid the stronger sentences a trial would bring.  However, the number of people reading this story is much fewer than when it originally came out as it is ‘old news’.  The comments on these stories are none to minimal in contrast to the tens to hundreds left on the earlier stories.  How are people supposed to move past the belief that we all need to wait until after a trial to pass judgment and believe the survivor if that news never comes? 

I am not a journalist by any means.  I didn’t go to school or take classes or learn the protocol that journalists use to write their stories and reports.  However, I am concerned about the lack of follow up that news sources use when reporting on sexual violence stories. It certainly doesn’t serve the survivors involved.  On top of that, it doesn’t serve communities or society to have the same conversations over and over again without pushing forwards to new and more accurate views to both responding to and preventing sexual violence.