April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month

According to the Department of Justice, 1 in 6 women will face some type of sexual violence in their lifetime. One of the ways to work to eliminate this violence is to raise awareness.
Don't know how to raise awareness for sexual assault on your campus?

The blog Stop Street Harrassment has a list of great ideas for events you can have on campus and ways you can help out.

Included on the list are some of the events my school's Women's Initiative is putting on in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month:

• From April 5-11, the campus will be hosting a Clothesline Project. We will hang t-shirts decorated with statistics, personal stories, and statements against sexual assault around one of our buildings on campus.

• On April 12th, we are holding our 7th annual Take Back The Night. The event gives advocates and survivors of sexual and domestic violence a voice to speak out against violence against women. Students will march around campus and convene in a safe space to share their stories. Thousands of marches are held around the world every year, click here to find an event near you.

Use this month to make a difference in your campus community.


photo courtesy of bex011087 via flickr

Starting an FMLA

Starting a feminist group on your campus can be easier than you think! Check out Alexis Gardner's account of starting a new group at her school, Cal State Los Angeles:

"So we just started up the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance up again at Cal State LA! We had an awesome turn out for it being only the first meeting, about 10 new faces on top of our established 6 officers! Everyone seems really excited and eager to get involved! Who knew starting a feminist club on campus could be so easy?!

We have recruitment tabling scheduled, planning an equality bake sale, looking into doing community service at a women's and children's shelter, and we are collaborating with the Gender & Sexuality Resource Center on campus to do various events such as the clothesline project and the Womyn of Color Conference!

This experience to learn and grow with fellow feminists is going to be awesome! I couldn't think of anything better than bonding and making life long connections with fellow sisters for the cause! Any suggestions for future meeting topics and activities?"

You too can be a leader of a group on your campus. Let the campus organizers be a resource to you. We can even make a visit to your campus to help you launch a group. Contact us at campusteam@feminist.org!