The University of Western Ontario is taking a new approach to address sexual violence on campus by empowering both men and women to assume a role in ending sexual violence.
The University Students’ Council at The University of Western Ontario, in collaboration with the Sexual Assault Centre London (SACL) and Changing Ways, an organization helping men end violence against women and children, launched the “I Know Someone … A Campus Sexual Violence Awareness and Education Campaign” on Nov. 9.
“It’s incredibly important that Western has this campaign because sexual violence exists on campus and in our community, in ways that we are often unaware of,” says Laura Beaulne-Stuebing, Western’s Women’s Issues Network Co-ordinator for 2010-11.
The campaign tag line points to the fact everyone knows a victim of and/or someone engaging in abusive behaviour and, as such, every person has a role to play in ending sexual violence.
“Think of any dorm party or night out on Richmond Row. Partying and alcohol are parts of university life, or expected to be, and combined with hypersexualized expectations in this stage of our lives, can foster an environment where it’s ‘okay’ for sexual violence to take place,” Beaulne-Stuebing notes. “It’s important that we know about this sort of environment, and that we know sexual violence – something that isn’t out in the open or talked about all that much – happens in our community.”
The USC, along with the Sexual Assault Centre London and Changing Ways, was granted $118,000 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation for the campaign. The funding supports a two-year pilot project that includes an educational component and a social marketing campaign.
“The biggest goal with this campaign is to end sexual violence. This will take time. But educating and raising awareness can do so much to ending these problems,” Beaulne-Stuebing says. “An awareness campaign is a huge step – the first step – to ending violence on campus. I have no doubt that an effective campaign will reduce incidents of sexual violence at Western. It’s about creating a supportive culture and community – one that is open and accepting, and that doesn’t tolerate sexism and homophobia.”
Sexual violence public education campaigns traditionally focus on providing women with information on keeping themselves safe from sexual assault and sexual violence. Often men are not engaged in these campaigns. But this initiative challenges male and female students to increase their awareness and involvement in reducing incidents of sexual violence.
Some of the posters created for the campaign read: “I know someone … who keeps hitting on their student” or “I know someone … who thinks it’s funny to call her friend a slut.”
While conducting focus groups to find out which direction to take the project, Louise Pitre, Sexual Assault Centre London executive director, was surprised to hear the lack of understanding among students about the continuum of sexual violence, which can include anything from name calling to rape, and what is considered consent.
“What we have here is a campaign that can be replicated on other campuses,” she says.
Supporting materials, including posters, rave cards, bookmarks and other marketing tools, will be distributed across campus. Recently, 700 sophs (upper-year student volunteers helping first-year students) were trained on the principles of the campaign.
“There was a real desire to know more about this issue,” says Scott Kerr, USC vice-president campus issues. “By bringing this issue to the forefront , we hope to create a welcoming environment where people aren’t afraid to come to campus.”
“When sexual violence takes place (from physical violence to homophobic slurs and other inappropriate language), it is important to speak up, say no, report it, etc. If it’s a really unsafe situation, if someone is in significant danger if s/he does report something, there are safe venues to go through,” says Beaulne-Stuebing. “There are resources on campus for students and the Women’s Issues Network is here to help students find those resources.”
To find out more about the “I know someone …” campaign, visit iknowsomeoneuwo.ca or e-mail usc.iknowsomeone@uwo.ca.