A couple new (and old) photos have been added to the photo album! Updates to: It Affects Me 2007, I Want a Truce 2005, and Peer Educator Training 2005… Check it out!
[ View original Daily Nexus article ]
In preparation for what they have declared as a rape and sexual assault-free weekend, members of Students Stopping Rape will table in front of the Women’s Center this week to educate passersby on how they can help.
The fourth annual “I Want a Truce” campaign builds off feminist and writer Andrea Dworkin’s idea of a 24-hour “truce” in which no rape or sexual assaults occur. While the SSR expands the truce to last the full weekend, the concept that sexual assault is like a war against women remains the same.
“It’s less trying to stop rape for a weekend, but for the rest of our lives,” Katie Mahon, SSR coordinator and fourth-year sociology and communication major, said. “It starts by getting a conversation started.”
In addition to tabling this week, SSR, which is part of UCSB’s Rape Prevention Education Program, will walk along Del Playa Drive and Sabado Tarde Road in Isla Vista on Friday night, handing out candy and condoms as part of their campaign for safe and consensual sex.
To create this assault-free weekend, students will be asked to sign an “I Want a Truce” pledge in exchange for a free T-shirt. The pledge states that the signer will not sexually assault, harass or participate in rape culture by objectifying, catcalling or harassing anyone during the weekend.
“We’re not going to stop it in one day,” Rachel Turner, SSR educator and second-year psychology major, said. “But it really is an eye opener and hopefully it will get people to be less judgmental and more sensitive to the cause.”
Similar events are scheduled to take place in residence halls during the week, including a discussion about street harassment that occurred in Santa Cruz Hall yesterday, a movie night tonight at 8 in Francisco Torres, and an activity called “Guess the Rapist” tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. in Anacapa Hall. Tonight’s FT movie, “Speak,” is a Lifetime Original Movie about a high school girl who was raped and as a result of her trauma, stopped talking.
“We’re not going to get the job done by adding more blue lights on campus or increasing the amount of CSO officers, but through talking and educating people about it,” Mahon said.
According to statistics, Mahon said, one in four women at UCSB will be the victim of rape or sexual assault by the time they graduate; and according to another study, less than five percent of rape incidents are reported each year.
“Last year, we got a lot of support from both men and women alike,” Mahon said. “It’s really empowering.”
This month, SSR is putting on a campaign to create awareness and conversation about sexual assault and harassment within the Isla Vista/UCSB community. Unique to our community is that approximately 99% of the rapes that occur are committed by aquaintances of the survivors. This points to the widespread misconception that many rapes are by strangers. Because this crime is usually committed by a person one knows and is familiar with, many times it is unknown to the survivor that what happened was rape or one is shamed into thinking they could have done something to prevent it. In reality, a person does not bring rape upon themselves — not by the way they dress, act, or even if they are intoxicated. Rape is an act that the perpetrator decides to commit. Would you accuse the pedestrian victim of a hit-and-run driver of being reckless?
I Want A Truce is a campaign that we, at SSR, put on in which we ask for a weekend free of sexual assault and harassment. The project is inspired by a speech by Andrea Dworkin, in which she asks for a 24-hour period. The weekend for I Want a Truce is October 19 to October 22. During the week leading up to the weekend, SSR members will be distributing t-shirts to promote and create awareness for the campaign. They are free to the UCSB community!
[ View original Daily Nexus article ]
The article “Isla Vista Brothel to Curb Rapists” (Daily Nexus, Oct. 23) was quite offensive and not humorous at all. Zach Phillips clearly misunderstands the huge difference between sex and rape. Let me make it clear for you: rape is not sex. The fact that rape is caused by a man’s uncontrollable sexual drive is a complete myth and not a cause for joking. In case you did not already know, sexual assault is an act of physical and emotional violence, and not an act of sexual gratification. Men assault other women and men in order to dominate, humiliate, control, degrade, terrify, violate and make them feel inferior. So therefore, no, rape is not remotely close to sex.
Phillips obviously also misunderstood the whole purpose of “I Want a Truce.” We were not trying to “squelch the inner rapist in countless sex offenders,” but trying to spread awareness and educate people about such a big issue that unfortunately affects all of us in the community. When Phillips said that “the only real option for effectively preventing rapists is to divert them somewhere away from Isla Vista,” he was not taking into consideration the fact that 99 percent of rape cases are caused by someone the victim knows and even trusts, such as his or her boyfriend, friend, date or relative. We cannot distinguish a rapist-to-be among ourselves, since it could be anyone you or we know.
As a victim of rape myself, and someone who has been working really hard to promote a sexual assault-free environment, I am sure I speak on behalf of other people as well when I suggest you think twice before you make such rude, ignorant and offensive comments. It just deeply saddens me to see that there are people in this world who are not aware of this rape culture and believe articles like this to be “funny.”
As a fellow Students Stopping Rape girl said in response to your article, “This does not in any way invalidate our work as a group of like-minded, multifaceted individuals, but it does add to our fire and gives us more to resolve.”
Just some food for thought. Thank you.
DEBORAH SVIDLER
[ View original Daily Nexus article ]
The Rape Prevention Education Program (RPEP) is asking for a truce this weekend.
The program is sponsoring the “I Want a Truce” campaign, which encourages students and community members to sign a pledge promising that they will “not caress, grab, hold, pinch, kiss or rape anyone who does not give their sober consent” over the Oct. 21 to Oct. 24 weekend. Participants received a free t-shirt when they signed the pledge. RPEP Media Outreach Intern Susan Landgraff said the campaign is part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month and stems from a speech delivered by Andrea Dworkin to 500 men at an antiviolence conference in 1983. The campaign is expected to draw at least 200 participants, Landgraff said.
“We have 200 shirts and are expecting 200 signatures, since we always run out of shirts,” she said.
Landgraff also said RPEP has placed several purple ribbons - a symbol of sexual assault awareness - around campus, and a kick-off party was held Oct. 20 at Woodstock’s Pizza in Isla Vista.
An anonymous survey showed an estimated 350 to 500 women on the UCSB campus are victims of sexual assault each year, Landgraff said. Men Against Rape member Carl Barnes said another survey reports that one in four women are victims of sexual assault before they graduate from college.
Barnes said the short length of the event is meant to draw people’s attention to the high rate of sexual assault in I.V.
“Isn’t it kind of ridiculous that it’s only for a weekend and we probably won’t even get that?” Barnes said.
Landgraff said the “I Want a Truce” campaign tries to fight “rape culture.”
“Rape culture means we live in a society where we are taught men need sex at all costs,” she said. “Women are afraid that people will say they are lying or that it was regretted sex.”
Barnes said Men Against Rape hopes the “I Want a Truce” campaign will also force men to acknowledge their responsibility.
“We allow men to get away with sexism,” he said. “Men have this problem and they need to address it. Men have certain privileges that women don’t, such as the wage discrepancy, and they shouldn’t.”
Vanessa Prell, a member of Students Stopping Rape, said she signed the pledge to prevent more people from getting hurt.
“I’ve never met a person who hasn’t been affected by sexual violence in some way,” Prell said. “I think it’s important to educate people about it.”
The campaign will be the first step in educating people about issues surrounding rape, Barnes said.
“We don’t expect that [sexual assault] will be eliminated,” he said. “I think [the campaign] does help get the issue floating around in people’s minds.”
“I Want a Truce” was created as a Fall Quarter event to complement RPEP’s spring campaign, “It Affects Me,” Barnes said. He said the spring campaign addresses the manner in which rape affects all members of the local community.
[ View original Daily Nexus article ]
Editor, Daily Nexus,
This week is the second annual “I Want A Truce” campaign, put on by Students Stopping Rape and Men Against Rape. The campaign is inspired by a speech by Andrea Dworkin. She likens rape and sexual assault to a war against women, and she demands there be at least one day where women are not forced to live in fear of being beaten or raped. We insist on a weekend free of sexual assault - Oct. 21 through 24. Our goal is an end to sexual assault.
By now, you may be thinking, “Geez, is this really that big of a problem? I haven’t heard about any rapes happening here in a while.” The reality is that sexual assault happens frequently in our community, especially around Halloween. Through anonymous surveys, it is estimated that there are between 350 and 500 sexual assaults each year in our community - roughly one assault every day. Most women do not report the crime because we live in a rape culture in which we are taught men need sex at any cost and women lie about rape. This must change.
To help support the campaign, come by the Women’s Center this week to sign a pledge and pick up a T-shirt and button. We are also having a party at Woodstock’s at 7 p.m. today. If you have questions or want to help, please call the Women’s Center at 893-3778.
Susan Landgraff
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