 |
Resistance to violent
behavior requires work on three levels:
- The individual: both women and men must
engage in resisting violence, albeit in different ways oftentimes.
- The local community: Most true social change
only occurs when an entire community is committed to making that change,
even if it takes a long time. The community might be a small group
of people who have connections to a survivor, or an athletic team,
a fraternity house, a neighborhood, a university campus, or even a
whole city. If you want to get directly involved, there are several
avenues available:
- Sexual
Assault Resource Agency and Shelter
for Help in Emergency both depend on volunteers to staff the
24-hour hotline. They also have Community Education programs the
rely on volunteers. The UVA
Women's Center's Young Women Leaders Program gives UVA women
students an opportunity to empower middle-school girls. And the
Sexual Assault Education
Office has programs that students can get involved with as
well.
- UVa students can join peer education groups:
- SAFE:
(Sexual Assault Facts & Education): a coed peer education
group that offers basic awareness training, bystander (ally)
intervention workshops (Mentors in Violence Prevention), and
assertiveness for women). Reach them at safe-mvp@virginia.edu.
- One
in Four: an all-male student group that trains other
University men on awareness, empathy for victims, and how
to help survivors. Trains members at the end of fall and in
early spring. Membership by nomination only. Reach them at
owner-oneinfour@virginia.edu.
- Peer
Health Educators: coordinated
through the Health Promotion Dept. of Student Health, this
group focuses on education students about health sexuality,
and a variety of other health-related issues.
- The world: Individual and community-level
work has a ripple-effect, and can ultimately improve the lives of
all human beings. Global change can happen in small ways: by writing
a letter of complaint to an advertising agency, by lobbying your Congressional
and state elected officials, working through the internet or by forming
coalitions with groups around the world. Join organizations such as
NOW, the Feminist
Majority Foundation, Amnesty
International, or locally, groups such as the Virginia Organizing
Project, that link sexism and violence with other forms of oppression.
Back to Top
|
