new wave feminism

The holiday season is upon us, which means it’s time for SAFER and V-Day’s second annual Winter Break Challenge. We know what student activists are against. Now we want to know what you’re for.

This winter break, SAFER and V-Day are asking you to participate in the Campus Accountability Project (CAP) to hold your school accountable for preventing and responding to sexual violence on your campus. Register at www.safercampus.org and submit your school’s sexual assault policy to the CAP database using an easy, step-by-step policy review form. CAP helps you identify the gaps in your school’s policy and inspires concrete ideas for action on your campus.

Currently, the CAP database houses 233 policies in an online, public and searchable database, which details what colleges and universities are doing to prevent, reduce and respond to sexual violence. The database publicly recognizes the successes of some schools’ sexual assault policies while also highlighting flaws. For the Winter Break Challenge, SAFER and V-Day are asking current students and recent alums to submit their schools into the CAP database to reach a goal of 300 published policies. Soon we’ll be able to look at all of the schools in the database and report back on trends across the country—your participation is key part of this national conversation. 

Spread the word =)

SAFER, a great non-profit based out of NYC, is nearing the end of their online fundraising campaign with about $1,500 shy of reaching their goal. Check out the campaign, visit their website, and spread the word!

Students Active For Ending Rape (SAFER) began in 2000 as a group of students at Columbia University who led the campus in a grassroots campaign to reform the school’s sexual assault policy. More than ten years later, SAFER is a national nonprofit organization that empowers students across the country to change how their colleges prevent and respond to sexual assault. A volunteer-led organization, SAFER facilitates student organizing through a comprehensive training manual (PDF); in-person workshops and trainings; free follow-up mentoring; our SAFER/V-Day Campus Accountability Project Database; and a growing online resource library for student organizers.

Visit our website to read more about SAFER and its history.

What We Need & What You Get

With your help, we can raise $7,000. By helping us expand our capacity, your donation will help pay for:

• mentors that provide FREE one-on-one guidance to student activists;
• bringing trainers to the schools of student activists across the country;
• educating college staff and students about the unique dynamics of sexual assault on college campuses;
• allowing student groups of ANY budget to bring SAFER to campus.

by Jessica Valenti

Excerpt - 

Despite decades of work by feminists, the myth that women somehow deserve sexual harassment and assault hasn’t died. When graduate student Imette St. Guillen was found raped and beaten to death in New York City in 2006, for example, the Wall Street Journal ran an article headlined, Ladies, You Should Know Better, referring to the fact that St. Guillen had been at a bar before she was attacked. When Julian Assange was accused of rape in 2010, even progressive “heroes” like Michael Moore and iconic feminist Naomi Wolf rushed to his defense. Wolf wrote a series of mocking pieces for the Huffington Post claiming that Assange’s accusers were simply women scorned and also claimed, outrageously, that starting to have sex with someone while they are asleep and unable to consent is not rape. Perhaps most disgusting was conservative blogger Robert McCain’s response: “Listen up, sweetheart: You buy the ticket, you take the ride.”

Despite the onslaught of victim-blaming and the downright apathy that surrounds the harassment and violence still done to women, I feel (dare I say it?) optimistic once more. I’m fortunate to be part of a generation of activists—men and women alike—who are fighting back in new and innovative ways. When Moore and Wolf took to the airwaves to defend Assange, Twitter erupted with campaigns to hold them accountable. Now when newspapers run victim-blaming headlines, there are thousands of feminist blogs to hold their feet to the fire. Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER), an organization run mostly by young women, puts pressure on college administrations to enact progressive and accountable sexual assault policies. Hollaback!, which started as a blog where women posted pictures of their harassers via cellphones, is now a flourishing anti-harassment organization with outposts all over the world.

Provided by @NSVRC [National Sexual Violence Resource Center]

via @theconsensual [the consensual project] & @safercampus the SAFER Campus twitter!

All interesting projects you should take a look at

A great article over at the SAFER Campus blog. An excerpt:

The bad news is, there isn’t one test to tell when someone is too intoxicated to consent to sex. (Well, maybe there is—one could make an argument about blood alcohol content perhaps, but college students don’t carry breathalyzers last time I checked so let’s move along). And so when we talk about alcohol and consent, it’s a conversation about open communication with your partner if they’ve been drinking—checking in with them, making sure they are enthusiastically, affirmatively consenting to whatever you’re doing together. Clearly people are sometimes going to get drunk and have sex. And the presence of alcohol in someone’s bloodstream does not automatically make it rape. But there’s a spectrum of intoxication. If someone is physically impaired by their drinking (or drug use), you can tell. They are getting sick, their body is limp, they’re not able to communicate clearly with you. It’s a common sense situation. If it’s less obvious, you know they have been drinking but you’re not sure how much and they seem OK, that’s where communication is key, and honestly—if it’s unclear how drunk your partner is and you feel conflicted, then maybe just play it safe and don’t do it. Instincts are there for a reason. You’ll have another chance to have sex, but sexual assault is permanent. 

Just wanted to pass this along!

From Safercampus.org:

Welcome to the Activist Resource Center!

This free online pool of resources will help you build your campaign, provide you with the tools you need to engage your community, and win change to policy and programming on campus!

New to activism? 
Awesome!  Get started with An Intro to Sexual Assault Activism.

Need to brush up on anti-oppression basics? 
Check out our new Intersectionality section.

A seasoned organizer with an established group? 
Right on! We’re so glad you’re invested in challenging your school to end rape culture.  Click here if you’re ready to take on aPolicy Reform Campaign.  Or check out our Support Campaigns for other ideas of action you can take on campus before or after a Policy Campaign.

Need some extra support?  
Check out our Troubleshooting section or request a Training at your school. For ideas on how to raise money to bring SAFER to your campus, click here.

SAFER Campus

is a great place to learn how to take an active role in reforming sexual assault policy on your campus as well as ending sexual assault in communities.

Visit the website for more resources and information

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