Students Stopping Rape

Coalition Calls for Rape Truce, Assault-Free Day

posted by Admin (Our Press, I Want a Truce)

[ 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.”

You Want a Truce and so Do We!

posted by Admin (I Want a Truce)

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!

Welcome back for Fall 2006!

posted by Admin (Meetings)

First Meeting for Fall 2006
Our first meeting of the year is today, 5:00pm at the Women’s Center, near Storke Tower. We will talk a little about SSR and where we are headed this year and then we will start planning I Want a Truce. Because Halloween falls so funny this year, IWAT is right around the corner; the dates for the weekend are October 19-22. At meeting, we will plan the events of the weekend and the week leading up to it.

Become not just a member, but a peer educator!
If you are a new member, this is a great opportunity to get involved in a campus organization. Members of SSR are not just members, who simply sit attend meetings — from the start, they are involved actively within the group as peer educators. SSR starts right away with providing you with the skills necessary to become a peer educator, so come by this meeting to learn about and begin training!