STOP RAPE
A working group dedicated to raising awareness about rape culture and sexual violence, promoting feminist sex education and consent, and fighting for justice and support for sexual violence survivors.
Join
Stop Rape Injustice national action:
"The first nationwide awareness event we would like to do is, sign to protect a woman from rape. A highly charged event, we are going to get groups of women, in as many towns and cities as possible, to head to night clubs, pubs and to the streets to ask men to sign their declaration that they would not rape a woman and would protect women from rape."
We would also like to note that women can also protect other women from rape, women can be empowered against rape attacks by learning self-defence skills (not just looking for male protection), and that people of all genders can be perpetrators/victims of rape.
We recognise the statistics on violence against women and the importance of this SRI event as a provocative consciousness-raising action. The acceptance of rape culture has gone on too long. No one should be victim to sexual assault. Please contact Stop Rape Injustice directly to take part in these actions, or take the lead and organise something yourself through the FAF stop rape group.
The SEX ED Project
The good folks at the F-Word are putting together a feminist Sex Education resource list. More details coming soon!
New Book: Rape Crisis - Responding to Sexual Violence
Take Action to support Rape Crisis Centres
'Asking For It' - a photography project by Alex Brew
'Asking For It' is a work in progress. The project involves the artist approaching men in public places – outside offices, pubs and gentlemen’s venues, often in London’s square mile. She confronts them with her camera and sometimes asks them to fully or partially undress in a more private space – in an alleyway, a car park, or back at their place or hers.
She follows her fear into these situations of potential male violence and disapproval: situations where passivity, acquiescence and submission feel safer or more appealing than taking control. She takes note. What happens if a woman leaves the realm of object to put the focus on men and is not deferential, submissive or flirtatious either?
The images show both domestic and public scenes. The nudity brings to mind a close relationship and sex and yet these are strangers or acquaintances. No sex is on offer. No money exchanged. The series confuses our understanding of what a stranger is and brings to mind domestic violence and rape. The images illuminate the risks women take everyday in a culture that believes that the stranger is more dangerous than the man by your side in spite of the statistics that show the opposite. Women (unlike men) are most likely to be attacked, raped or killed by a man known to her.
The project also deals with a culture that’s comfortable with women being exposed to those risks provided she refrains from challenging the man lying next to her. The woman has no power and yet is thought to be safer than a woman imposing her will. Women begin to believe submission is safer. It is used as a survival tactic. This leads to a spiral of violence against women but a violence that is pushed indoors. At least one in four women according to the domestic violence charity Refuge, a charity that runs the National Domestic Violence Helpline that I have spent a good amount of time volunteering on.
Some images show my anger at many men's collusion with sexism, their threatening stances and their posturing to show superiority or dominance. Others are quiet, reflective and show the trust and vulnerability of the man in the picture. But this project is risky in a country where any sign of sexual intent in the female is classed as asking for rape and where domestic violence does not carry as heavy a penalty as stranger violence.
Check out Alex's website
Read Alex's F-Word article "Walking on Eggshells" here
Links
Web-sites with anti-rape sticker designs:
Men Against Sexual Assault and Rape
Info for survivors of sexual violence, their friends, lovers, and family:
Rape Crisis Centres
A working group dedicated to raising awareness about rape culture and sexual violence, promoting feminist sex education and consent, and fighting for justice and support for sexual violence survivors.
Join
Stop Rape Injustice national action:
"The first nationwide awareness event we would like to do is, sign to protect a woman from rape. A highly charged event, we are going to get groups of women, in as many towns and cities as possible, to head to night clubs, pubs and to the streets to ask men to sign their declaration that they would not rape a woman and would protect women from rape."
We would also like to note that women can also protect other women from rape, women can be empowered against rape attacks by learning self-defence skills (not just looking for male protection), and that people of all genders can be perpetrators/victims of rape.
We recognise the statistics on violence against women and the importance of this SRI event as a provocative consciousness-raising action. The acceptance of rape culture has gone on too long. No one should be victim to sexual assault. Please contact Stop Rape Injustice directly to take part in these actions, or take the lead and organise something yourself through the FAF stop rape group.
The SEX ED Project
The good folks at the F-Word are putting together a feminist Sex Education resource list. More details coming soon!
New Book: Rape Crisis - Responding to Sexual Violence
 |
An important look at the history of UK and Ireland rape crisis centres and the fight still to come. All proceeds donated to Rape Crisis. More info here. By Helen Jones and Kate Cook ISBN:978-1-905541-27-0 Price: £18.95 |
Take Action to support Rape Crisis Centres
Info from the Women's Resource Centre: While it’s great news that the government has recently announced emergency funding of £1m for Rape Crisis centres, this is only enough to stop the imminent closure of centres at immediate risk. Now is the time to keep the pressure on, to ask for sustainable funding for the future, to safeguard these vital services, and meet the needs of women survivors.
Sign up to the New Statesman campaign for better funding for Rape Crisis centres.
Got five minutes? An hour? There are plenty of things you can do to make a difference (Action Sheet).
'Asking For It' - a photography project by Alex Brew
'Asking For It' is a work in progress. The project involves the artist approaching men in public places – outside offices, pubs and gentlemen’s venues, often in London’s square mile. She confronts them with her camera and sometimes asks them to fully or partially undress in a more private space – in an alleyway, a car park, or back at their place or hers.
She follows her fear into these situations of potential male violence and disapproval: situations where passivity, acquiescence and submission feel safer or more appealing than taking control. She takes note. What happens if a woman leaves the realm of object to put the focus on men and is not deferential, submissive or flirtatious either?
The images show both domestic and public scenes. The nudity brings to mind a close relationship and sex and yet these are strangers or acquaintances. No sex is on offer. No money exchanged. The series confuses our understanding of what a stranger is and brings to mind domestic violence and rape. The images illuminate the risks women take everyday in a culture that believes that the stranger is more dangerous than the man by your side in spite of the statistics that show the opposite. Women (unlike men) are most likely to be attacked, raped or killed by a man known to her.
The project also deals with a culture that’s comfortable with women being exposed to those risks provided she refrains from challenging the man lying next to her. The woman has no power and yet is thought to be safer than a woman imposing her will. Women begin to believe submission is safer. It is used as a survival tactic. This leads to a spiral of violence against women but a violence that is pushed indoors. At least one in four women according to the domestic violence charity Refuge, a charity that runs the National Domestic Violence Helpline that I have spent a good amount of time volunteering on.
Some images show my anger at many men's collusion with sexism, their threatening stances and their posturing to show superiority or dominance. Others are quiet, reflective and show the trust and vulnerability of the man in the picture. But this project is risky in a country where any sign of sexual intent in the female is classed as asking for rape and where domestic violence does not carry as heavy a penalty as stranger violence.
Check out Alex's website
Read Alex's F-Word article "Walking on Eggshells" here
Links
Web-sites with anti-rape sticker designs:
Men Against Sexual Assault and Rape
Info for survivors of sexual violence, their friends, lovers, and family:
Rape Crisis Centres