Students Stopping Rape

Anti-Rape Rally To Affect UCSB

posted by Admin (Our Press, It Affects Me)

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UCSB students will gather today in an effort to bring an end to sexual assault against women.

Students Stopping Rape, a UCSB student-sponsored group, will host its second annual anti-rape rally, “It Affects Me,” from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Storke Plaza. Activities will include discussions about the organization and their various accomplishments and a musical performance by the UCSB a cappella group Naked Voices. There will also be a series of speeches from representatives of various anti-rape organizations on campus, and the event will end with an open mike session where audience members can speak their minds about the subject of rape.

“We want to raise awareness about the effects of rape. Everyone is affected, whether directly or indirectly,” said Sarah Crowley, student coordinator for Students Stopping Rape. “We want to let everyone know that rape is not just about the victim. Rape culture and sexual assault is an issue for both men and women and is prevalent on this college campus.”

Based on the logic that rape affects men as well as women, Men Against Rape is a student group that works to decrease sexual assaults in the community by educating male students about what defines sexual assault and what they can do to prevent it.

“We live in a culture that doesn’t champion rape and yet allows it to happen,” said Dustin Fujikawa, co-coordinator of Men Against Rape and second-year global studies major. “It allows actions that are derogatory to women, such as the sexual objectification of women that is so ingrained in us, that it perpetuates the violence we see toward women everyday.”

Students Stopping Rape has handed out 300 T-shirts with the words “It Affects Me” printed on them. People can wear the T-shirts to show support for those working to end sexual assault and to demonstrate their disapproval of sexual assault.

“Our ultimate goal is to end sexual violence on this campus, as well as in the community,” Rape Prevention Education Program Coordinator Carol Mosely said. “This is the second year for the ‘It Affects Me’ rally, and we will continue to put it on, as long as the title continues to raise questions.”

You May Not Know It, But It Affects Us All

posted by Admin (Our Press, It Affects Me)

By Kimberly Stiner-Zercoe and Sarah Crowley
[ View original Daily Nexus article ]

The UCSB Rape Prevention Education Program houses the student group Students Stopping Rape. Our second annual “It Affects Me” rally will be part of a larger collective in raising awareness during April - Sexual Violence Awareness Month. Our goal with this specific program is to bring consciousness to our community about rape and sexual assault and how it affects everyone on a college campus, directly or indirectly.

We are also working to show how language, media and behavior contribute to the perpetuation of a culture that justifies rape and sexual assault.

Our focus has shifted to combating rape culture by asking other students, organizations and community members to take a stand and express how rape culture has affected their community. We are building a coalition of all peoples to take a stand against violence and a culture that perpetuates racism, sexism, homophobia and hyper-masculinity through its words, actions, dress, behavior, attitudes, thoughts, emotions and stereotypes.

Our solidarity within groups, students and our community will be shown during the “It Affects Me” rally Thursday, April 10 from 11 to 2 p.m. in Storke Plaza. Our coalition to help end rape, sexual assault and rape culture is growing and already includes the following groups and organizations: Queer Student Union, Tropicana Student Association, Asian Resource Center, Asian American Studies Dept., Planned Parenthood’s Breakthrough Theatre, Habitat for Humanity-UCSB, San Miguel, Santa Rosa and San Nicholas Residence Halls, Chicano Studies Dept., A.S. Women’s Commission, Take Back the Night, Men Against Rape, Women’s Center Governance Board, Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, UCSB Women’s Center, Women’s Ensemble Theater Troupe, Women’s Studies Dept., Black Studies Dept., Alpha Kappa Delta Phi, Residence Hall Association, Tappers Anonymous, Surfrider Foundation, Pre-Veterinary Medical Association, Merhaba Folk Dance Club, Iaorona Te Otea, Naked Voices and the Vietnamese Student Association.

Please show your solidarity in raising awareness about sexual assault within our campus community and taking a personal responsibility to be conscious about what we each can do to end violence and abuse in our society. We are passing out bright blue T-shirts that state “It Affects Me,” along with flyers that explain what are our goals in wearing these shirts and provide a breakdown of how sexual assault and violence affect everyone. Show your support by coming by the Women’s Center (located between CLAS and Storke Tower) and picking up a shirt and wearing it throughout the week of April 7-11.

These T-shirts seek to ignite a dialogue among folks on this campus to talk about the epidemic problem of sexual assault and rape and what action we can take to end it.

Awareness is the first step.

The rally on Thursday will conclude our week and provide additional tools, resources and information about these issues and how to get involved. Take a unified stance against sexual assault and raise our campus’ consciousness concerning how this issue affects all of us, individually and socially and what we can do to end rape culture.

Kimberly Stiner-Zercoe is the Rape Prevention Education Program media intern and Sarah Crowley is a Students Stopping Rape coordinator.

April Brings Sexual Assault Focus

posted by Admin (Our Press, It Affects Me)

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According to a study by the National Victim Center, 1.3 women aged 18 and over are raped every minute in the United States, which calculates to more than 683,000 per year.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). During the next few weeks, activists around the country are planning events that will teach assault victims about the assistance available to them and encourage people to work to prevent rape and sexual assault.

SAAM has been in effect nationally for about 30 years; the Santa Barbara area has recognized it for the past 15 years.

Silvia Urive, a coordinator at the Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center, said the vast majority of sexual assault cases in the county go undocumented. She said that although 500 new clients for rape and sexual assault came to the Rape Crisis Center last year, law enforcement only saw 63 cases - just over 10 percent. Urive said this disparity demonstrates just how underreported this type of violence currently goes.

“One in three women has been a victim of sexual assault.” Urive said. “One in nine men has been a victim, which means that all of us know at least one person who has been sexually assaulted.”

Urive said this month is dedicated to the victims of sexual assault crimes and is intended to help stamp out such violence.

Part of the observance of SAAM is wearing a purple ribbon to support assault victims and oppose sexual assault. Ribbons are available at Montecito Bank and Trust, Santa Barbara Bank and Trust, YMCA, Santa Barbara County Public Health Department Clinics, Toyota of Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara City College.

Student groups at UCSB are also participating in this nationwide event and have a variety of activities planned. Instead of purple ribbons, however, groups have decided to promote sexual assault awareness through blue T-shirts and buttons bearing the slogan “It Affects Me.” Students are asked to wear their shirts as often as possible during the month to increase visibility of their cause.

“We want the whole campus to realize that sexual assault affects everybody either directly or indirectly,” Sarah Crowley, coordinator for Students Stopping Rape (SSR), said.

SSR will be in the Arbor from April 7-10, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. with T-shirts, buttons and answers to questions about sexual assault.

A rally will be held Tuesday in Storke Plaza from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to share information about the ways sexual assault and rape culture transforms and affects the lives of everyone.

“It’s all about raising consciousness that sexual assault is every person’s issue because we live under the same systems of oppressions,” said Kim Stiner, member of Take Back the Night (TBTN), another student organization that is participating in this month’s activities.

TBTN will be holding events from April 14 through April 18, starting with an opening rally at noon in Storke Plaza, and ending with a rally and march in Anisq’ Oyo’ Park on Thursday, April 17 at 5 p.m. The rally will include bands, dancers, self-defense demonstrations and keynote speaker Margarita Alcantara-Tan - editor of the Asian women’s magazine Bamboo Girl.

For more information on the weeklong affairs including open-mic night, workshops and an art night, stop by the Women’s Center to pick up a schedule.