Love Young Love

When filling out your Christmas Cards this year...

2011-12-01T14:40:00.001-08:00

Take one card and send it to:
A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
8901 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20889-5600

Over It

2011-11-17T09:57:00.000-08:00

Over It

Eva Ensler

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler/over-it_b_1089013.html

Posted: 11/11/11 04:37 PM ET

I am over rape.

I am over rape culture, rape mentality, rape pages on Facebook.

I am over the thousands of people who signed those pages with their real names without shame.

I am over people demanding their right to rape pages, and calling it freedom of speech or justifying it as a joke.

I am over people not understanding that rape is not a joke and I am over being told I don't have a sense of humor, and women don't have a sense of humor, when most women I know (and I know a lot) are really fucking funny. We just don't think that uninvited penises up our anus, or our vagina is a laugh riot.

I am over how long it seems to take anyone to ever respond to rape.

I am over Facebook taking weeks to take down rape pages.

I am over the hundreds of thousands of women in Congo still waiting for the rapes to end and the rapists to be held accountable.

I am over the thousands of women in Bosnia, Burma, Pakistan, South Africa, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, Haiti, Afghanistan, Libya, you name a place, still waiting for justice.

I am over rape happening in broad daylight.

I am over the 207 clinics in Ecuador supported by the government that are capturing, raping, and torturing lesbians to make them straight.

I am over one in three women in the U.S military (Happy Veterans Day!) getting raped by their so-called "comrades."

I am over the forces that deny women who have been raped the right to have an abortion.

I am over the fact that after four women came forward with allegations that Herman Cain groped them and grabbed them and humiliated them, he is still running for the President of the United States.

And I'm over CNBC debate host Maria Bartiromo getting booed when she asked him about it. She was booed, not Herman Cain.

Which reminds me, I am so over the students at Penn State who protested the justice system instead of the alleged rapist pedophile of at least 8 boys, or his boss Joe Paterno, who did nothing to protect those children after knowing what was happening to them.

I am over rape victims becoming re-raped when they go public.

I am over starving Somalian women being raped at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, and I am over women getting raped at Occupy Wall Street and being quiet about it because they were protecting a movement which is fighting to end the pillaging and raping of the economy and the earth, as if the rape of their bodies was something separate.

I am over women still being silent about rape, because they are made to believe it's their fault or they did something to make it happen.

I am over violence against women not being a #1 international priority when one out of three women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime -- the destruction and muting and undermining of women is the destruction of life itself.

No women, no future, duh.

I am over this rape culture where the privileged with political and physical and economic might, take what and who they want, when they want it, as much as they want, any time they want it.

I am over the endless resurrection of the careers of rapists and sexual exploiters -- film directors, world leaders, corporate executives, movie stars, athletes -- while the lives of the women they violated are permanently destroyed, often forcing them to live in social and emotional exile.

I am over the passivity of good men. Where the hell are you?

You live with us, make love with us, father us, befriend us, brother us, get nurtured and mothered and eternally supported by us, so why aren't you standing with us? Why aren't you driven to the point of madness and action by the rape and humiliation of us?

I am over years and years of being over rape.

And thinking about rape every day of my life since I was 5-years-old.

And getting sick from rape, and depressed from rape, and enraged by rape.

And reading my insanely crowded inbox of rape horror stories every hour of every single day.

I am over being polite about rape. It's been too long now, we have been too understanding.

We need to OCCUPYRAPE in every school, park, radio, TV station, household, office, factory, refugee camp, military base, back room, night club, alleyway, courtroom, UN office. We need people to truly try and imagine -- once and for all -- what it feels like to have your body invaded, your mind splintered, your soul shattered. We need to let our rage and our compassion connect us so we can change the paradigm of global rape.

There are approximately one billion women on the planet who have been violated.

ONE BILLION WOMEN.

The time is now. Prepare for the escalation.

Today it begins, moving toward February 14, 2013, when one billion women will rise to end rape.

Because we are over it.

Follow Eve Ensler on Twitter: www.twitter.com/eveensler

New Film!

2011-10-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

Hi all, Just received the following email...if you check out the film, tell me what you think!

Dear Friends,

I am excited to announce that my new film, xoxosms will be premiering at the 22^nd annual New Orleans Film Festival on Sunday October 16^th. If you will be at the festival, it will be opening for the documentary (A)Sexual at 2:20 PM at the Theaters Canal Palace, 333 Canal Street in New Orleans.

If you can’t make the festival, the film will be streaming online all weekend, starting October 14th - 17th at www.xoxosmsfilm.org

xoxosms follows the story of Gus and Jiyun, two star crossed lovers in a digital age who meet, connect, and maintain their relationship predominantly over the Internet. It raises the questions of intimacy and love, and whether or not this is possible—or in some instances better—over a digital connection.

What are your thoughts? Is there such a thing as “digital intimacy”? Can online love work in real life? What is a connection? Go to our website, watch the film and let us know what you think on Twitter, @xoxosms—don’t forget to hashtag #xoxosms. Spread the word with our Facebook invite.

Thanks, and hope to see you at the theater or on twitter using #xoxosms!

Warmly,

Nancy
--
Nancy Schwartzman
Filmmaker: xoxosms, The Line
Founder: The Line Campaign
Filmmaker. Speaker. Activist.

Sexual Victimization of Teenage Girls

2011-06-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

From Shield Women's Self Defense-May 19, 2011

Beginning in high school environment where most physical forms of sexual violence are taking place, proactive immediate actions are needed to provide sufficient protective measures for teenage girls.

Consider the following facts:

In 2007, there were approximately 128,532 sexual assaults against girls under 18. That translate to every 4 minutes a teenage girl under 18 is sexually assaulted in the U.S.
[U.S. Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey]

Age range of sexual assault and rape victims
• 15% are under age 12
• 29% are age 12-17
• 44% are under age 18
• 80% are under age 30
• 12-28 are the highest risk years.
• Girls ages 16-19 are 4 times more likely than the general population to be victims of sexual assault.
[U.S. Department of Justice. 2004 National Crime Victimization Survey. 2004]

93% of juvenile sexual assault victims know their attacker.
• 34.2% of attackers were family members.
• 58.7% were acquaintances.
• Only 7% of the perpetrators were strangers to the victim.
[U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2000 Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement. 2000]

• 43% of girls experienced unwanted sexual attention
[The Impact of Bullying and Sexual Harassment on Middle and High School Girls VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN 2007; 13; 627]

• 1 in 5 high school girls have been physically and/or sexually assaulted by a dating partner, significantly increasing their risk of drug abuse, suicide and other harmful behavior.
[Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (2002) 5. Fact Sheet on Violence: Adolescents & Young Adults]

• 61% of 10th to 11th grader girls reported they had been physically/sexually harassed at school
[The Impact of Bullying and Sexual Harassment on Middle and High School Girls VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN 2007; 13; 627]

• 46% of teens who have experienced sexual or dating violence say the worst incident happened on school grounds or in the school building.
[KCSARC teens&adolecents updated 2007]

• Girls and women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rates of intimate partner violence and rape.
[Callie Marie Rennison (2001). Intimate partner violence and age of victim, 1993-1999. Washington, DC: U.S.]

• 45% of teen girls know someone who has been pressured or forced into having intercourse or oral sex.
[Liz Claiborne Inc. Teen Dating Violence Survey, 2005.]

• Pregnancies Resulting from Rape. In 2004-2005, 64,080 women were raped. According to medical reports, the incidence of pregnancy for one-time unprotected sexual intercourse is 5%. By applying the pregnancy rate to 64,080 women, RAINN estimates that there were 3,204 pregnancies as a result of rape during that period.

RAINN (Rape Abuse National Network); U.S. Department of Justice. 2005 National Crime Victimization Survey. 2005

While other protective measures such as better school policies on sexual assault, improving campus safety, or educating boys on dating violence are necessary, empowering the young women with actual self-defense training has no substitute.

SHIELD has been partnering with various high schools and women's groups in providing self-defense training for teenage girls. We have provided self-defense workshops in an assembly format, took over PE classes period 1-6, provided moms/daughters training workshops, and conducted on-going after school programs to empower the young women in various high schools.

Would Your Rape Count?

2011-06-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

Borrowed from the Public Insight Network...

"Each year, tens of thousands of rapes occur in the U.S. each year that are never counted by the FBI's yearly crime report. There are many reasons rapes go unrecorded. Sometimes survivors are actively discouraged from reporting--even by authorities who should know better, such as police or college administrators. Some cases are excluded by the FBI's narrow "forcible rape," which doesn't include male victims, anal or oral rape.

Furthermore, women frequently don't recognize that they were raped, often because of societal messages that say that only a very specific, and rare, type of scenario constitutes rape."

AAUW Action Network

2011-06-09T14:51:00.000-07:00

Help Stop Sexual Violence on Campus!

Take Action!

At their best, institutions of higher education are academic oases where the collective contributions of students, professors, and administrators support a healthy community aimed at the pursuit of knowledge. Students (and their parents) invest in higher education because they know college is a well-trodden and successful path to a meaningful career. For women, access to educational opportunities helps lead to financial security and economic independence.
Yet college can only be these things if it is a safe environment. Far too often, college women are the target of sexual violence or assault that shakes or shatters their college experience in a profound way.

A 2007 campus sexual-assault study by the U.S. Department of Justice found that around 28 percent of women are targets of attempted or completed sexual assault while they are college students. The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) reports that college-age women are four times more likely than any other age group to face sexual assault. There is an epidemic of sexual violence on campuses, and we must take steps to stop it.

The Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (SaVE) Act (S. 834) would help to end sexual assault and violence on campus by requiring schools to spell out their policies, conduct prevention activities, and ensure necessary assistance for victims. It would constitute a step toward ending the sort of violence which prevents women from attaining their educational dreams.
Ask your senators to cosponsor and support this important piece of legislation!

To send a message, click on the "Take Action" link in the upper right hand corner of the email.
Follow AAUW on Twitter, and read our award-winning AAUW Dialog Blog for discussion, information, and advocacy for women and girls!

General AAUW questions? Please contact connect@aauw.org or call 800/326-2289 between 10 am and 5 pm Eastern, Monday through Friday.

tell somebody.

2011-05-04T19:14:00.000-07:00

Image from Glamour.

Relationship Violence: The Secret That Kills 4 Women a Day

2011-05-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

Check out the June issue of Glamour...

"Why is this still happening in 2011? After all, as women, we’re clearly no longer second-class citizens, so dependent on men’s earnings and support that we must put up with brutal relationships simply because we have no choices. We have more choices than ever—and men are surely more enlightened. So why are women more likely to be killed by their boyfriend than they were 35 years ago? And what can we do to reverse the trend?"

V-DAY AND SAFER’S CAMPUS ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT

2010-12-01T18:40:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Erin Burrows,
Campus Accountability Project Coordinator,
SAFER
(347) 465-7233, contact@safercampus.org

Susan Celia Swan
Managing Director, Communications,
V-Day
(917) 865-6603, susan@vday.org

V-DAY AND SAFER’S CAMPUS ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT
EMPOWERS COLLEGE STUDENTS ACROSS THE NATION
TO HOLD SCHOOLS ACCOUNTABLE

FOR ADDRESSING SEXUAL VIOLENCE

Project Celebrates One Year Anniversary on December 1^st;

Launches Winter Break Challenge

New York, NY, December 1, 2010—College students are taking action to hold their schools accountable for making their campus communities safer. Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER) and V-Day are proud to announce the success of the first year of student submissions to our online database of sexual assault policies from schools across the country. In an effort to publish 400 policies by May 2011, SAFER and V-Day are launching the Winter Break Challenge to further build the Campus Accountability Project (CAP) Policies Database as a tool for student-led movements to reform sexual assault policies. Currently, the CAP database houses 130 policies in an online, public and searchable database which details what colleges and universities are doing to prevent, reduce and respond to sexual violence on campus.

CAP publicly recognizes the successes of some schools’ sexual assault policies while also identifying gaps in others. Preliminary results show that an overwhelming majority (75%) of schools in the database provide 24-hour crisis services to survivors as well as security measures like campus blue lights and escort services. Policies are also largely inclusive of a diverse community—92% use gender neutral language and ensure access to resources for all students, regardless of sexual orientation, race or ethnicity. However, while 72% of the schools offer primary prevention programs to address the root causes of sexual violence, only 9% mandate student participation in such programs. Also, a mere 7% of schools in the database include a drug and alcohol amnesty clause for survivors of sexual assault and only 62% allow for anonymous reporting. Because fears of retaliation and feelings of shame and guilt are often barriers to reporting an assault, it is crucial that more schools adopt amnesty clauses and provide confidential and anonymous reporting options for survivors.

Beginning December 1, 2010, V-Day and SAFER are encouraging students to participate in the Campus Accountability Project during their winter break.The Winter Break Challenge asks students to register at www.safercampus.org and submit their school using CAP’s easy, step-by-step policy review form. We’re also asking students to encourage their friends and fellow activists at other schools to submit to CAP. The database is utilized by student activists looking to make positive change on their campus, and also provides us with a wealth of information on the best and worst practices in sexual assault prevention and response at schools across the country. Only students can submit to CAP, but anyone can access the database by registering for free. You can help kick-start real change on campuses nationwide by sharing this information and posting the Facebook event and Why Policy video on your wall and blog today!

About SAFER

SAFER is a volunteer-run organization that has been training and supporting student activists for a decade. We offer comprehensive programming to support student-led movements for campus sexual assault policy reform. In addition to the CAP policies database, our website houses the Activist Resource Center, an online library of tools for organizers. We also run a national, in-person trainings program to help students kick-start policy reform campaigns and offer ongoing mentoring via the Activist Mentoring Program, (AMP!).

About V-Day

V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works. In 2010, over 5400 V-Day benefit events took place produced by volunteer activists in the U.S. and around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $75 million and educated over 300 million people about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, reopened shelters, and funded over 12,000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Democratic Republic Of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. In 2001, V-Day was named one of Worth Magazine's "100 Best Charities" and in 2006 one of Marie Claire Magazine's Top Ten Charities.

A Letter from a Prosecutor to a Young Woman

2010-12-01T18:36:00.000-08:00

This article was originally published here

A Letter from a Prosecutor to a Young Woman

Share1166

Dear Elizabeth:

I don’t see what more you could have done.

As you well know, reporting sexual assault is a remarkably difficult act. It is deeply emotional, terrifying for many reasons, unpredictable and often thankless. You may not have known while you were alive that the great majority of sexual violence is simply never reported to authorities. But you did report it, quickly and comprehensively. I’m in awe of your courage.

I can only imagine how difficult it was for you in particular, Lizzy. You were a 19 year-old college freshman who had struggled with depression; a lovely young woman who had just started studies again after a difficult first year. But you made it to St. Mary’s, an excellent, close-knit school and one situated along with Notre Dame in the heartland of Catholic education. Arriving in this environment from a strong Catholic background must have been an incredible and hard-won joy for you.

But I’m sure it also made it infinitely more difficult to come forward and report what happened on the night of August 31. Being sexually assaulted at a place like Notre Dame and by a member of its football team- the very beating heart of the school for many- is an act that would have silenced most. Few things are more difficult to come to terms with than being attacked in a dorm room by a football player on one of the most venerated sports campuses in the world. The idea of telling anyone must have been horrific, especially as you were just settling into a new school, a new semester, a new season of hope. I’ve spent a career learning how hopes like that can be destroyed in the space of moments, and it never gets easier to hear.

Still, you faced down your fears and took action. You told your friends and wrote down what happened that very night. You went to campus police the next day. Despite the fear of being portrayed as God-knows-what and the fury that might rain down on you for reporting against a football player, you reported anyway. Despite the discomfort of an invasive physical examination, you endured one. Despite the fear and exhaustion that comes with entering counseling in order to fully recover from such an attack, you did that, too. You did everything that could possibly have been asked of you.

That’s why I’m trying to understand why Notre Dame, the world-class, excellent institution where you were attacked, has reacted the way it has. I don’t know why campus police didn’t turn over a case file to the St. Joseph’s County prosecutor’s office until just several days ago- after your case became national news and your hometown paper began demanding answers. Nor do I understand what’s behind the school’s refusal to release police records regarding what they know about what happened to you- even to your parents.

Finally, and most disturbingly, I don’t know why the man you reported against has played an entire season of football. While it’s true that he is and should be considered innocent until proven otherwise, his privilege to play football isn’t in any way related to his legal rights as a citizen. The fact is, you reported swiftly and completely a serious crime to the proper authorities that control his ability to play, and you followed through with evidence collection, counseling and cooperation. Yet still they have chosen to refuse to even acknowledge your complaint, let alone bar him from playing at least until the investigation is completed. This despite your death. Coach Kelly won’t state whether he’s even spoken to the player you identified. He’s quick to remind us that he stresses respect for women in his program, is a father himself, and wants “the right kind of guys” on his team. Well, the player hasn’t been benched in three months; from this we can fairly deduce that Coach Kelly supports him as someone who is “the right kind of guy” and worthy of wearing the uniform. If that’s so, why won’t he give his reasons?

The sad fact is there’s an ocean of ignorance out there regarding what happened to you, Lizzy. Many who are watching the case unfold are repeating over and over again the meaningless mantra that that we must all “Remember Duke Lacrosse.” It’s because many believe, with nothing to back it up, that women regularly accuse men falsely of sexual assault, and especially athletes. They’re happy to extrapolate one example of a false accusation to every possible situation, despite the mountain of evidence suggesting that women just like you endure what you endured day in and day out, usually in numbed silence.

Even worse, some just don’t think that sexual assault is nearly as important as college athletics, and they’ll sacrifice the vindication of a budding, brilliant life like yours in a flurry of nonsense that will trivialize your suffering and ruthlessly twist reality. They’ll call it regret. They’ll call it a misunderstanding. They’ll call it anything but what it is, and they’ll ensconce and defend the man who did it so he can simply do it again. So even the prompt, thorough complaint you made and the investigation you participated in until your death wasn’t enough to bench a football player for a few games until some evidence came to light, one way or another.

But as you know, there are also wonderful people both at Notre Dame and at St. Mary’s. Both are beloved, respected schools for a reason, and I know you felt and still feel that. To the heroic staff from St. Mary’s Belles Against Violence who worked with you and actually found you before you died, I hope you smile on them from where you are and bless their work.

I believe in a loving God, Lizzy. Although I’m a Catholic as you are I don’t believe He punishes those tortured enough to take their own lives, and I’m confident that you’ve reached a plane of existence that will give you not only blessed relief but also infinite understanding. So I guess this letter is more for me than for you; you have the answers now.

Still, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t know you in this life, and for what it’s worth l would have been honored to work with you to see the case against your attacker proven. I would have had much to go on, given the dedication you showed to pursuing justice and the courage you summoned to do what most of us wouldn’t have dared. Thank you.

Roger

Minimize, Deny, and Blame

2010-09-25T17:18:00.000-07:00

This post was originally written by Ashley in Media published on the SAFER blog...but it was so good we decided to repost it here!

I worked for a year as the facilitator of a group intended to create a sense of accountability in guys who had abused their partners. We talked about a lot of things with the men: male privilege, the importance of consent in sexual relationships, and the definition of abuse among them. But more than probably anything else, we talked about the universal trinity of rationalizations for abusive behavior. Any abuser will use these three behaviors in some combination. The behaviors are: minimizing, denial, and blame. So, we would begin every group by going around the room and asking the guys to describe how they had come to be court ordered to attend the group. They would tell their stories, which would go something like this: “What I did wasn’t really that bad, and I didn’t do it. Besides, she asked for it.” With luck, by the end of their sessions with us, they could describe what they did more accurately, and take responsibility for their behavior. Every time one of the guys tried to minimize or deny his abusiveness, or claim that he was provoked into it by either his partner or some combination of outside influences beyond his control, we would call him out on what he was doing and ask him to correct his statement.

When I hear the song “Love The Way You Lie,” it brings me right back.

Now remember, Rihanna sings the chorus, but Eminem wrote it. That means that the chorus is also from the perspective of an admitted abuser. So let’s try a little experiment. Let’s see how many times we can find the abuser’s trinity in this song:

[Chorus - Rihanna:]
Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
But that’s alright because I like the way it hurts
(Minimizing and Blame: “It’s not really that bad, and besides, she likes it.”)
Just gonna stand there and hear me cry
But that’s alright because I love the way you lie
(Minimizing and Blame)
I love the way you lie
(Minimizing and Blame with emphasis and a catchy hook)

[Eminem]
I can’t tell you what it really is
(Denial: I am intentionally obfuscating how abusive I am.)
I can only tell you what it feels like
(Blame: My uncontrollable feelings caused by other people did it, not me!)
And right now it’s a steel knife in my windpipe
(Blame: My anger! If only I had the ability to express it in a healthy manner. Alas, I am an automaton whose actions are dictated by biologically uncontrollable supertough manliness. Look at my biceps.)
I can’t breathe but I still fight while I can fight
(Blame: While I have no self-awareness on this subject, patriarchal masculinity dictates that I should always be in control, and that I should have no feelings other than anger. Therefore, when I feel vulnerability of any kind in my relationship, I must express it by attempting to gain control over my partner through abusive behavior. This is in fact a complex series of emotions, but I experience them only as rage. I then blame my partner for inciting my rage, despite the fact that it is my own insecurity that created it. I claim to be ashamed of my anger, but actually I am a little proud of it, because it shows how manly and in control I am. Look at my biceps.)
As long as the wrong feels right it’s like I’m in flight
High off of love, drunk from my hate,
(Blame: Anger! Biceps!)
It’s like I’m huffing paint and I love it the more I suffer, I suffocate
And right before I’m about to drown, she resuscitates me
(Cycle of abuse honeymoon crap)
She fucking hates me and I love it.
(Blame: She provokes me.)
Wait! Where you going?
“I’m leaving you”
No you ain’t. Come back we’re running right back.
(Blame: I abuse her because she won’t leave me. She won’t leave me because she enjoys the abuse. Her fear that I might kill her has nothing to do with it.)
Here we go again
(Blame, and interesting pronoun use.)
It’s so insane cause when it’s going good, it’s going great
I’m Superman with the wind at his back, she’s Lois Lane
(Minimizing: But I treat her very well when I am not beating her up.)
But when it’s bad it’s awful, I feel so ashamed I snapped
(Minimizing: I am again not telling you exactly what I did, because if I clearly explained what my abusive actions were, you might say, “Wow, that is messed up.” Plus Blame: I “snapped,” and had no control over my actions.)
Who’s that dude? I don’t even know his name
(Blame with a capital B)
I laid hands on her, I’ll never stoop so low again
(More cycle of abuse honeymoon crap)
I guess I don’t know my own strength
(Minimizing, Denial)

[Chorus - Rihanna:]
(Blame Blame Blame
Blame Blame Blame
Blame.)

[Eminem]
You ever love somebody so much you can barely breathe
When you’re with ‘em
You meet and neither one of you even know what hit ‘em
Got that warm fuzzy feeling
(Look, I got you flowers!)
Yeah, them those chills you used to get ‘em
Now you’re getting fucking sick of looking at ‘em
(This is an abusive statement. It is actual abuse of my partner, in a song about abuse. Meta!)
You swore you’d never hit ‘em; never do nothing to hurt ‘em
Now you’re in each other’s face spewing venom in your words when you spit them
You push pull each other’s hair, scratch claw hit ‘em
(Denial and Blame: The abuse has become a “fight,” in which both partners are equally aggressive. In fact, the majority of abuse does lead to self-defensive violence from victims. This is not the same as a “fight.”)
Throw ‘em down pin ‘em
(Rare moment of honesty)
So lost in the moments when you’re in them
It’s the rage that took over it controls you both
(And we are back to Blame.)
So they say you’re best to go your separate ways
Guess if they don’t know you ’cause today that was yesterday
Yesterday is over, it’s a different day
Sound like broken records playing over but you promised her
Next time you show restraint
You don’t get another chance
Life is no Nintendo game
But you lied again
Now you get to watch her leave out the window
Guess that’s why they call it window pane
(I appear to take responsibility, but instantly return to narcissism rather than true contemplation of the damage I have done to another human being. This reveals that I am again engaging in false contrition/honeymoon behavior rather than expressing meaningful self-awareness.)

[Chorus - Rihanna:]
(Blame. Also, I would like to imply that rape is sometimes enjoyed by the victim without directly making such a reprehensible statement.)

[Eminem]
Now I know we said things, did things that we didn’t mean
(Minimizing and Denial)
And we fall back into the same patterns, same routine
(Blame)
But your temper’s just as bad as mine is
(BLAME!)
You’re the same as me
(BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMME)
But when it comes to love you’re just as blinded
(Blame.)
Baby, please come back
It wasn’t you, baby it was me
(Aren’t the flowers pretty?)
Maybe our relationship isn’t as crazy as it seems
(Minimizing)
Maybe that’s what happens when a tornado meets a volcano
(Minimizing and Blame)
All I know is I love you too much to walk away though
(Veiled threat)
Come inside, pick up your bags off the sidewalk
Don’t you hear sincerity in my voice when I talk
I told you this is my fault
Look me in the eyeball
Next time I’m pissed, I’ll aim my fist at the drywall
Next time. There won’t be no next time
I apologize even though I know its lies
I’m tired of the games I just want her back
I know I’m a liar
If she ever tries to fucking leave again
Im’a tie her to the bed and set this house on fire
I’m just gonna
(Overt threat)

[Chorus - Rihanna:]
(Blame: Considering that a direct threat was just made on the victim’s life, it is interesting that I am ending this song by emphasizing her unwillingness to leave. And by “interesting,” I mean, “blaming the victim.”)

You may also notice that the video has a theme. The theme is: “she started it, I only hit her because of the alcohol, and abuse is very sexy.”

If Eminem were in my group, I’d ask him to start his story again, this time taking responsibility for his actions. Unfortunately, Eminem is not in my group. He is a multi-platinum recording artist who won multiple MTV Video Music Awards tonight. That this implies something important about our culture should be obvious.

Check out the video here...

2010-09-09T16:44:00.000-07:00

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others. - Audrey Hepburn

Fighting Sexual Violence on Your Campus: Why Your School’s Sexual Assault Policy Matters

2010-05-05T16:52:00.000-07:00

This guest post was written by Sarah Martino from Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER).

Making waves can seem intimidating. Although a lot of students recognize the need for change in regards to sexual assault on the campuses, many don’t know where to start, how to make the biggest difference, or don’t consider themselves to be activists and shy away from getting involved. For the past ten years, Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER) has been making the case for campus sexual assault policy reform as an important and accessible way for students to change how their schools prevent and respond to sexual violence. We work with students to organize policy reform campaigns on their campus, offering them guidance as they attack the issue at the institutional level and make sustainable change that will help future classes of students.

But let’s back up and talk policies—what’s in them, and why do they need to be changed in the first place? All colleges and universities (who receive federal funding) are required by the Clery Act to have a written policy on sexual misconduct that is available to all students. At SAFER we believe that sexual assault policies should be thorough enough that any student could pick one up and know exactly how a school defines consent and sexual assault; what their options would if they wanted to report an incident of sexual assault; what services would be offered to them and how to access them; and how a disciplinary procedure would work if they chose to pursue one/were accused of sexual misconduct.

Not many schools have policies that live up to our list of what makes a better sexual assault policy, however. Consequently, students don’t receive comprehensive sexual assault prevention education; victims of rape and sexual assault are not given the support they need; and disciplinary procedures are handled poorly by untrained staff, lack due process, and students found responsible for rape aren’t appropriately sanctioned. The Center for Public Integrity’s recent report on campus sexual assault highlighted a lot of these issues, with distressing findings.

I’d like to encourage students, at the very least, to find their school’s sexual assault policy—which should be on the school’s website and/or in the student handbook—and see what’s in it. And then I ask that you take the extra step of becoming part of SAFER and V-Day’s Campus Accountability Project (CAP). The CAP asks students to review their school’s policy using our student review form that asks a series of yes/no/and fill-in questions meant to assess the policy’s strengths and weaknesses. Once submitted, your policy analysis will be reviewed by SAFER staff and included in our Campus Sexual Assault Policies Database, a collection of policies from across the country meant to be a resource for student activists and an important tool for holding school’s accountable for supporting their students and keeping them safe. If you are unhappy with your school’s policy, you can check out our Activist Resource Center for more ideas on how to make change or bring a SAFER training to your campus. (Note: to access the database and resource center, you’ll need to register for our website. But it’s free!)

Your school’s sexual assault policy not only governs how sexual assault is dealt with on campus, it is also the only constant guidance on the issue—students graduate, and even though one year there may be a lot of sexual assault related activism, it might not last, and with each new class comes the need for education and discussion. This is why we place so much value on student activism around policy. You have the opportunity to ensure that future classes of students will enter more supportive and responsive environment. Go for it, and let us know if you need help.

3 years later....

2010-04-25T17:22:00.000-07:00

This month marks the three year anniversary of GASA's creation at UC Davis!

Since then so many great things have happened and there will be more to come.

Stay tuned...

Date Rape is a Crime, not an "Incoherent Concept"

2010-04-03T20:46:00.000-07:00

This guest post was written by GASA Advisory Board Member Joseph Vess.

Date Rape is a Crime, not an "Incoherent Concept"

American U. article and its media coverage distort, confuse the issue

The recent opinion column in the American University student newspaper and its ensuing media coverage fail to accurately represent the reality of sexual assault on college and university campuses. Rape is not an “incoherent concept” for the estimated one in four college women who will be raped by classmates, boyfriends, friends or dormmates during their college career. Many of the college and university men that Men Can Stop Rape works with in Men Creating Change chapters nationwide are engaged around the issue precisely because they have seen firsthand the devastating effects of sexual assault on women they care about.

Sexual assault is the fault of the perpetrator—no one else. A woman who drinks too much at a party, or goes to a certain party, or goes home with a certain guy is never to blame because that guy made the deliberate choice to rape. Rape is still a felony, and it is never the fault of the survivor. In nearly every state, someone who is intoxicated cannot even legally consent to sex. Blaming women for bringing it on themselves and overblown claims about women who “cry rape” the next morning are time-worn concepts, used the world over to legitimize rape by men who benefit from its impact on women. The line of consent is never blurry, except for those who distort it to condone sexual assault.

Sexual assault prevention efforts must focus on those who commit sexual assault, and the vast majority of those perpetrators are men. They are still a minority among men however, leaving many more men who are opposed to rape, who speak out against it, and who challenge other men to end violence against women. Rather than focus on the tiny percentage of false reports (estimated by credible studies to be between 2-8 percent, similar to other violent crimes), these men focus on the real problem—the millions of women who are our mothers, sisters and daughters; our wives, girlfriends and friends; our classmates, co-workers and fellow service members—who are sexually assaulted every year.

But clearly, not enough men are speaking up as lies, misrepresentations and victim-blaming continue to be the norm in popular coverage of sexual assault. Yesterday, April 1, marked the beginning of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. There is no better time for individuals, especially men, to learn how they can stand up, be strong and take action to prevent sexual violence.

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Men Can Stop Rape’s Men Creating Change program mobilizes college and university men across the United States to challenge sexual assault and other forms of violence against women on their campus and in their community. For more information, please contact Joseph Vess, Director of Training and Technical Assistance, at jvess@mencanstoprape.org or Joe Samalin, Campus Strength Coordinator, at jsamalin@mencanstoprape.org.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month – One Thing Men Can Do

2010-04-02T12:59:00.000-07:00

Guest post by Ben Atherton-Zeman. Ben is a feminist, actor and husband living in Maynard, MA in the United States. He is the author of the one-man play, “Voices of Men” and can be reached through his website, http://www.voicesofmen.org/.

April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Every two minutes in the United States, a man rapes a woman – and it’s usually a woman he knows. Those of us who know victim/survivors of sexual violence know the toll it takes on them - yet there continue to be numerous examples in our popular culture of blaming rape victims, glorifying rape culture and apologizing for rapists’ behavior.

This year, Sexual Assault Awareness Month seems to be starting with two such examples. An American University article newspaper column berates women who "cry date rape after you sober up the next morning..." http://www.awolau.org/2010/03/30/why-is-the-eagle-so-hostile-to-feminists/. A video game profiled on CNN puts the gamer in the position of rapist - the gamer gropes, molests and then rapes a teen girl in a subway station in order to win the game: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/30/japan.video.game.rape/index.html.

No, this is not an April Fool’s joke. Anti-rape activists won’t be surprised by these latest examples of rape culture, nor by their tired justifications (“it’s just a game, feminists are anti-sex and have no sense of humor”, etc.). Neither the game nor the victim-blaming column are unique – both basically are a restating of traditional misogyny and male supremacist beliefs.

What is exciting to me is the immediate, almost universal anger and condemnation of both by the online feminist community. Videos can go “viral” and so can activism – Facebook status updates and emails from across the world are condemning both. Women are writing with boldness and outrage – men are writing that this is not just a “woman’s issue,” calling for men of conscience to speak out against rape and rape culture. And even though the CNN article states that it’s only “women’s groups” that oppose the rape game, it turns out that men are (finally) speaking out in greater numbers – speaking out against rape and rape culture.

One example is the new Facebook group, “Ten Thousand Men Supporting Women’s Anti-Violence Groups.” Inspired by Pat Eng of the Ms. Foundation for Women, this Facebook group encourages men to donate money or time to their local rape crisis center, domestic violence program, or national anti-violence group.

Ms. Eng delivered a keynote address at the first National Conference for Men’s Anti-Sexist Groups last year – during her keynote, she encouraged male aspiring allies to “show, not tell” their commitment to ending gender-based violence by making a financial donation to such groups. Most of these groups, Eng argued, are facing budgetary emergencies because of the economy – men can help by making a simple donation. The concept made sense to some male attendees, who contacted Eng and started the group. So far, it has just over 1000 members, at least some of whom have made donations to both their local groups and the Ms. Foundation.

My friend Matt belongs to our Boston chapter of the National Organization for Men Against Sexism http://www.nomasboston.org/. He told me, “if women make 78 cents to every man’s dollar, shouldn’t we men tithe 22 cents for every dollar we make?” Agreed – and what better place to send that money than our local rape crisis center!

Another good reason for men to donate is the fact that most rapists are men. But most men are not rapists - those of us who oppose rape and rape culture can no longer remain silent. And money, even a small donation, is a wonderful way for us to support our local rape crisis center.

Facebook users of all genders are encouraged to join the Ten Thousand Men group at http://www.causes.com/tenkmen. Then invite your Facebook friends – specifically, those male friends who don’t normally do this kind of work. Even if they can give $5 or $10, it helps – and it may be the first step in what becomes a lifetime involvement.

Outrage and organizing against sexism and rape culture is also not new – whether face to face or on the Internet. But I’m impressed and hopeful about the use of the Internet and social networking to organize an articulate response to these latest outrages. Perhaps if people of all genders raise our voices in this manner, some day rape will not happen every two minutes – it’ll happen hardly at all.

2010-03-27T15:43:00.000-07:00

“I believe in pink, I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles.” — Audrey Hepburn

Here's the interview I had with Chick Speak!

2010-03-04T20:29:00.000-08:00

Battling Sexual Assault: Spotlight on Kingsley Grafft, GASA Founder

March 4, 2010 by Lindsay Tigar

She was eighteen and accepted into the college she always wanted to attend. She arrived on campus as a bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed freshman, ready to embark on a new journey and start a new adult life.

But something was off.

She didn’t fit in. She didn’t feel like she could make friends. She felt alone and trapped. She didn’t like her classes, her roommate was difficult to get along with, and she felt like she had made a huge mistake in choosing a college. In a desperate attempt to make friends, she traveled to a different university nearby to visit a high school friend.

After a few drinks, she joined her friend at a fraternity party where she was greeted with a warm welcome, and more alcohol then she had ever imagined. After guzzling down a few more cheap-labeled beers, making chit-chat and new friends, things started to become hazy. She vaguely remembers being led up a flight of stairs, but her memory goes blank in an instant.

The next morning, she woke up next to a naked man she didn’t know who he was; she was without panties and without a recollection of what happened the night before. With tears and fear both streaming inside and outside her body, she made her way back to her friend’s dorm room. Back to a friend who left her at the party with a man she doesn’t even remember his name.

She would later visit the emergency room without her family’s support, end a relationship with a boyfriend who promised to stand by her side through anything, and switch schools to get away from panic attacks and uncomfortable confrontations.

Her whole life changed in an evening.

What happened to one of my closest friends is not uncommon. In fact, it happens all the time and especially on college campuses. While it’s terribly sad, sexual assault and rape statistics are only growing, and women are primarily the victims.

Efforts to end sexual assault crimes are however, on an upward trend. Organizations like Greeks Against Sexual Assault (GASA) are trying to raise awareness and help women to become more educated on what sexual assault is and how they can prevent it from happening to them or to someone they love.

Kingsley Grafft, founder of GASA, took some time to sit down with ChickSpeak and share some valuable insight into what sexual assault is, how to team up with GASA and how to protect yourself and every chick you know:

ChickSpeak: What is Greeks Against Sexual Assault (GASA)?

Kingsley Grafft: Greeks Against Sexual Assault is a national organization that words towards increasing awareness, educating, and eliminating sexual assault and dating violence from the Greek community through peer education and activism amongst sororities and fraternities.

CS: Where did you come up with idea and inspiration for GASA?

KG: As an intern with the University of California, Davis’ Campus Violence Prevention Program in the spring of 2007 I was given one task: find a way to get sororities and fraternities involved with sexual assault and domestic violence prevention on campus.

One thing led to another and I came up with the idea of GASA as a quarter long class. After doing some research I found that Colorado State University had a similar program and contacted them for more information. In the fall of 2007, GASA was taught for the first time and was a huge success. Things seemed to just spiraled from there and eventually I was able to transform GASA into a national organization with the help of some amazing individuals.

CS: What are the top three things college women should be aware of about sexual assault?

KG: 1. It can happen to anyone and if it happens to you it is never your fault. Be compassionate to the survivors you know.
2. College women are most likely to be assaulted by someone they know.
3. Always look out for your friends. You will never regret or think ‘what if’ after speaking up if you see a potentially dangerous situation.

CS: What is your goal with GASA?

KG: My goal with GASA continues to be to educate and provide resources to as many people as possible. If I can make a positive impact in the life of one other person, then GASA will have been a success.

CS: How can college women become involved with GASA?

KG: If college students are interested in becoming involved with GASA they can visit our website. There they will find our syllabus and curriculum. Also, on our website are a variety of options for how to create GASA on their individual campuses.

CS: How can young women personally raise awareness about sexual assault?

KG: Speak up. Talk about the issue with your friends, talk about what it means to have a healthy relationship. Rape and sexual assault are such depressing issues and too often people avoid bringing them up in conversation.

But, in order to eliminate these problems we have to speak up. Talk to your parents, siblings, classmates, friends, sorority sisters, fraternity brothers, girlfriends, boyfriends, professors, and anyone else who will listen. This issue has impacted so many people on a variety of levels. By speaking about the issue we can work together to raise awareness and come up with innovative prevention techniques.

While speaking up, we can also learn to be excellent listeners. Sometimes people just want someone to listen while they tell their own story. As listeners, it is important to remember that we do not have to have all the answers, but it is our responsibility to help that person find the resources he or she needs.

CS: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

KG: Over the next several years I hope to become a middle school or high school English teacher in California. Eventually I want to get married and have a family of my own. GASA will continue to exist as long as it is making a positive difference and people are benefiting from the organization. Where GASA will go, and how it will continue to grow is still up in the air.

CS: What other organizations do you work with to help with sexual assault awareness?

KG: The members of my Advisory Board are involved with a variety of companies, organizations, and universities. We all work together to promote sexual assault awareness. While I was in middle school and high school, and since I’ve been home from college I’ve been volunteering with STAND! Against Domestic Violence in Northern California.

CS: At ChickSpeak, we’re always looking for new music and movies to fall in love with. What books can’t you put down right now? What’s the last song you downloaded on iTunes?

KG: I love Jodi Picoult books and cannot wait for her new book to be released in March! And I just downloaded Breakeven by The Script.

Lindsay Tigar is the Editor-at-Large for ChickSpeak and hopes every chick will all she can do to raise awareness and protect herself and other chicks against sexual assault.

Guest Post: Lessons from Greek Days

2010-02-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

This guest post was written by Spenser Tang-Smith. Spenser is in charge of operations at WebGreek and writes for WebGreek's blog, discussing issues in the Greek community.

This weekend, the WebGreek team participated in not one, but two “good causes.” I’m not telling the world about this because we’re super-mega-awesome and you should love us (although we are and you should). I’m telling the world because I was impressed by how much can get done by a few dedicated volunteers, and how enjoyable it can be.

As Greeks and as college students, we learned that service is a necessary part of belonging to a community. Everyone belongs to a number of different communities, from family to social group to school to geographic region and even up to the global community. No matter which communities one identifies with, it is important that they serve those communities. At some point, everyone has benefited from the actions of others, be it Mom, or the study group, or the fraternity. It is only fair that we help when we can.

On Saturday, we volunteered at the Greater Bay Area Make-a-Wish Foundation’s largest annual fundraising event, Wine and Wishes on Treasure Island. The food and wine tastings were provided by the top restaurants and wineries in the Bay region, showcasing some of the highlights of our amazing local culinary culture. The evening took place in what used to be a Pan Am hangar on what used to be a naval base, and the whole room was transformed into a beautiful hall full of food, wine, and people 18 years old to 80 years old in their celebratory finery.

The amount of work it takes to convert a hangar into a venue to put on this event is staggering, but a handful of industrious helpers were able to clean up the entire place in under an hour. I was particularly impressed by how well-organized the event was, but even more by the sincere desire of every volunteer to make a difference. People assigned to parking helped to empty trashcans; auction helpers cleaned the volunteer area; and everyone helped haul trash and leftover ice out the back door. All the while we had fun doing it, shooting the breeze with other volunteers and playing the “who can throw the trash bag into the dumpster from the farthest away” game.

The lesson here is that fun and service are not mutually exclusive. This was proven again on Sunday, when we helped set up the 1st Annual Jog for Jill to benefit the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. It was a beautiful day, and the turnout was fantastic! Over 900 Greeks, parents, friends and children ran, jogged, or walked the course as it wound around UC Berkeley’s campus. The number of people who came out and supported on the weekend was fantastic, and the event has helped raise over $37,000 so far, with many more events scheduled for this year.

We had a great day. We met many of the ladies from KKG, and had a blast schmoozing with our fellow joggers during the leisurely run through campus. The race finished at the Bear’s Lair campus brew pub, where 10% of the proceeds from the after party also benefited the Foundation. Needless to say, it was also fun to help the cause by watching the Super Bowl and eating hot dogs!

There is much that needs to be done, and all it takes is to look around and decide to make a difference. Every little bit helps. For every Martin Luther King Jr., there are thousands of people marching, going door to door, or advocating behind the scenes. Even if you’re not an organizer-type, you still have something to offer: you can paint signs, you can print flyers, you can march and speak and tell your friends. You don’t have to be famous to make a difference.

In many ways, community service is like being an entrepreneur: you must first find a problem to solve, and then you must go about solving it. Kingsley found a way to address the problem of awareness of sexual assault in the Greek system, and GASA now has chapters on several campuses. She’ll tell you it was hard work, but she’ll also tell you that it was more rewarding than it was difficult.

If sexual assault is an issue that speaks to you, then there are plenty of opportunities for yourself or your circle to get involved. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, so take a look here to see what opportunities are available for you to volunteer for. This year the theme is preventing sexual assault on higher education campuses…does that sound relevant? One of my close friends became a crisis counselor and has learned valuable skills, as well as having gotten a very poignant look at the human side of this issue.

Fundraisers and office volunteering are also great ways to help. Since the recession, state budgets have been drastically cut (don’t even get me started on California), and as a result, many shelters and counseling centers have had their funding reduced. They need help to be able to keep providing help, and if you can’t contribute money, most organizations can always use a little help around the office.

One thing college students have more than most people is free time. Finding a way to use that free time is easy. All you have to do is ask.

may this new year be a great year.

2010-01-29T19:01:00.000-08:00

My grandma forwarded me this email and I am going to try and do more of these this year...

Handbook 2010

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2009.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree...

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything..
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not the least:
40. Share this with the people you care about.

Guest Post for GreekForMe

2010-01-21T08:57:00.001-08:00

Check out the guest post I just wrote for GreekForMe:

Greeks Against Sexual Assault, by Kingsley Grafft

by greekforme on January 21, 2010

We recently had the pleasure of meeting Kingsley Grafft, Founder and National Director of Greeks Against Sexual Assault, and she wrote the following guest blog post for us. Sexual assault on college campuses is quickly becoming an epidemic, and with Kingsley’s passion and dedication to educating others about the issue, we can work to help prevent the growing number of sexual assault victims. Kingsley is an exemplary member of Kappa Alpha Theta, and we know her commitment to helping others will only further her future success!

Greeks Against Sexual Assault, by Kingsley Grafft

Becoming a member of the Greek community on your campus is an amazing opportunity. I know that my four years of college would have been far less exciting and entertaining without my sorority sisters, philanthropy events and fraternity parties. And certainly my wardrobe would have been much smaller without my letters, sweatpants, and t-shirts to accompany every event.

During my sophomore year I interned with University of California at Davis’ Campus Violence Prevention Program (CVPP). When I started, I was given one task: get Greeks involved and educate them about sexual assault and domestic violence.

So I began my research and was shocked at what I found.

• 1 out of 4 college women is sexually assaulted
• 50% of sorority women experience some form of sexual coercion
• 10.3% of college rapes happen in a fraternity house
• 90% of sorority women who are sexually assaulted know their assailants
Sources: Copenhaver & Grauerholz, 1991; Fisher, 2000; Warshaw, 1994.

I really believed that Greeks were simply unaware of these statistics; otherwise, they would be doing something to eliminate the problem and provide support to survivors. So in the spring of 2007 I founded Greeks Against Sexual Assault with the hope that I could pass along the information I had learned, and inspire others to make a difference on their own campuses.

The mission statement is this: Greeks Against Sexual Assault works towards increasing awareness, educating, and eliminating sexual assault and dating violence from the Greek community through peer education and activism amongst sororities and fraternities nationwide.

All it takes is a few Greeks to spread awareness and get their campus involved. I’ve been amazed by the programs Greeks have developed nationally and have seen the positive impact they can have. For more information visit us at www.gasanow.org or check out our blog at http://www.loveyounglove.blogspot.com.

Check out their blog at http://blog.greekforme.com/

What are you doing for others?

2010-01-19T13:42:00.000-08:00

Hopefully you got to enjoy having yesterday off from work and/or school. I enjoyed sleeping in, catching up with old friends, and even plowing through some school work. Last week in the class I am student teaching we read an article about Martin Luther King Jr. as we were gearing up for the holiday. The article was from SCOPE magazine which is published by Scholastic and is an amazing resource for helping improve literacy skills. I was struck by this quote on the back cover:
How do we speak up about the things that matter in our lives? What could we all be doing more of?

Yesterday my calendar had the following quote from Martin Luther King Jr: "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"

So I ask you, What are you doing for others? Find what you're passionate about and do that.

New Year, New Look, New Feel...

2010-01-09T18:53:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

With the start of 2010, I decided it was time for the blog to have a little face-lift along with my twitter site (www.twitter.com/kegrafft).

This year there will be lots more blog posts: mostly written by me, but some of my friends will be making guest appearances as well.

The content will be changing slightly. Although the focus will remain Greeks Against Sexual Assault, sexual assault, domestic violence, and healthy vs. unhealthy relationships, there will be an added personal flair to my writing. Since Greeks Against Sexual Assault is only one of my passions, a few of my others might pop up from time to time as well.

Hope you enjoy...

Guest Post: Be a Gentleman.

2009-12-09T12:40:00.000-08:00

This guest post was written by Spenser Tang-Smith. Spenser is in charge of operations at WebGreek and writes for WebGreek's blog, discussing issues in the Greek community.

Kingsley’s guest post on our blog about party themes brought me back to my very first college party. I was still in high school at the time, visiting a freshman friend living in the dorms. After a couple of beers, we hit the town so that I could catch a glimpse of the party scene.

Yes, we were underage…now that I’m a bit older, I promise I will never underage-drink again. Or, to put it less cynically, isn’t it scary how easy it is for youngsters to get booze? Anyway, back to the party.

I was completely blown away by what I saw when we went out that night. My high school was small, and the parties weren’t exactly wild. Everyone knew everyone, so the dress and behavior were pretty conservative. Well, this particular night saw us sneaking into a fraternity party (which apparently needed better security), and my young mind spun wildly from the pounding music, the lights, the hot and sweaty dance floor, and above all else, the girls.

I had never seen so many girls in my life! At least it felt that way. And what sent me into sensory overload was what little clothing some of them were wearing. Fueled by hormones and alcohol, I went over to the first girl I saw, who looked like she was dressed for the beach, and started dancing how I thought she wanted to be danced with. I was very very wrong, and let’s just say that my consolation prize was a drink without a cup, if you know what I mean.

Let me be clear: I’m not trying to excuse myself. I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that what I was doing was wrong the moment I sauntered over. Acting on that impulse instead of taking a breath and listening to my conscience was not a good feeling, because I was selling myself short.

Let this story be a parable, a warning if you will. Guessing what a girl wants by her appearance, and acting on that assumption without clarifying, is at best dangerous and at worst it is illegal. I understood very clearly right then that exposed skin does not equal a hands-on exhibit. I absolutely regret my actions, but in retrospect, I’m very glad I learned that lesson early, before college even started.

I wish I could say the same for some of my peers, who had not had a similar experience in the past, or had somehow ignored the lesson. Walking down the street on a Saturday night (or in Isla Vista, any night), some of my friends and acquaintances were prone to remarks such as “Dude, that girl is looking to get laid tonight.” Believe it or not, gentlemen, that girl probably isn’t. She may be headed to a theme party, she may just want to feel sexy, but she is NOT wearing a sign on her neck that says “molest me.” In my view, she deserves respect for braving the chilly, foggy nights, when I found myself shivering in jeans!

So kudos to the ladies out there who wear whatever they want. The gentlemen will respect you regardless of your attire. On the whole, though, the reality remains that skimpy gets more attention than bundled up, all else being equal. It’s largely due to the fact that many men have the following graph in their heads:

Of course the above graph is satirical. Most of my best friends were great guys, as were the majority of my classmates. After all, we had gotten into one of the top public universities in the country, so we had to be doing something right.

If we want to make it so that sweatpants and sweatshirts are the same as lingerie in terms of making a girl popular at a wild several-hundred-person fraternity party, we’ll need to change a lot of things about college parties that are frankly not going to change, at least not soon. But a safe party atmosphere means that no matter how sexually charged the dance floor is, everyone is entitled to their personal space. A girl is never sending “the wrong signal,” or “asking for it.” End of story.

And guys, no one can stop you from looking, but if you don’t know her and don’t have the willingness to get to know her, at least respect her. You would not be happy if someone grabbed your wallet, because it’s stealing. You can be damn sure that grabbing anything of hers is also illegal, and even if it wasn’t, are you really going to be happy looking at yourself in the mirror later? Be a gentleman to every girl you meet, from every end of the clothing spectrum, and encourage your friends to do the same. Who knows, the word might spread that you’re a decent fellow! It worked for me, and unlike getting a drink thrown at you, I promise you won’t regret it.

Party like a rockstar? No. Party like a Greek!

2009-12-08T11:17:00.000-08:00

Here's a blog post I just wrote for WebGreek. Check out their blog at http://blog.webgreek.com/.

It’s no secret that the Greeks throw the best parties. Every weekend, Greeks and non-Greeks alike flock to fraternity parties.

We know parties are a huge reason people join the Greek community. I went through sorority recruitment 8 hours after moving into my dorm room freshman year, and a week later I suddenly had my whole social calendar planned out for me. Although philanthropic opportunities, friendship, family tradition, and networking connections are also top reasons for joining, both Greeks and non-Greeks recognize the social life as a highlight of being Greek.

As a staple of college life, fraternity parties often set the tone of the Greek community, and project the Greek image to the rest of the college campus. It is important to realize the implications and pressures the party themes have on both Greek life and the people attending the parties.

For college freshmen, going to a fraternity party is practically a rite of passage. Seventeen Magazine’s blogger, Brita, even posted some tips for first-timers this past October.

On any given weekend, members of the Greek community are probably hosting or attending parties with themes like “CEOs and Office Hoes” or “Pajama Party” which inevitably turns into a lingerie party.

In November 2007, Yale Daily News ran an article called, “Feminism is not a bad word.” Throughout the article there is a discussion of party themes, female objectification vs. female empowerment, and the feminist movement on this campus.

Here’s a little excerpt from the article:

“Though his group’s parties are all named after natural disasters, Brad Hann ’09, president of Yale’s former chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, suggests that other frats select these sometimes explicit themes to create a mood, rather than to marginalize or offend individuals. “The purpose of the theme of the party is to set the tone,” Hann said. “It doesn’t sound good, but it’s kind of meant to help create a sexually charged environment, and I think it’s intentional.” But whether the themes are intended to be funny, set a mood or simply suggest a particular dress code, the potential for offense still exists. And more troubling to feminists is the possibility that a sexual atmosphere may lead to unwelcome sexual contact, especially when alcohol is involved.”

And yes, I know what you’re thinking…women decide what they want to wear and if they want to dress like that why should we stop having parties with these themes. You’re absolutely right. Women do make their own choices about what to wear. And I would hope that if a woman showed up to a Pajama Party wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt instead of a barely-there negligee that she would have just as many guys talking to her. But, the reality is that these two outfits would garner two VERY different responses.

After a quick Google search of “fraternity party themes,” I found some that step away from the “Insert catchy title here and Hoes” themes and make parties a little more interesting:

- Alphabet Party (example: “P Party” everyone dresses up as something that starts with the letter P. We went to a party like this my freshman year and people dressed up as Post-its, Price tags, Princesses, etc.)

- Represent Your State (Finally a chance to show off your hometown pride at a party with a theme other than “NorCal vs. SoCal”)

- High School Cliques (Maybe even a Glee themed party…)

Lately, Greeks have been taking steps to host parties more responsibly. At the University of Michigan, IFC and NPC are coming together to increase risk management at parties. Fraternities have started making guest lists, checking ids at the door, and issuing wristbands to keep all guests safe. And don’t worry; with lots of college undergrads the party will have a sexually charged atmosphere regardless of what theme you choose.

Shallow party themes appear to be hosted by shallow people. As Patrick mentioned in his previous blog post, “If you run a deep search of the NIC, NPC, NPHC, and NMGC member chapters, you will find that consistent among the values that support our foundations are leadership, justice, friendship, morality, and service.” Show your campus that you and your brothers are clever enough to come up with something other than telling women they need to dress like ‘hoes.’ The solution to this problem is simple- step outside the stereotypical bubble of chauvinistic party themes and get creative without objectifying the women you are inviting to your parties. And women, project your sexiness with a few more articles of clothing.

So here’s my challenge…try out one of these new themes, or come up with your own.

Make it acceptable for just one night for a girl to be sexy by showing up to a Pajama Party in sweatpants and a t-shirt.

Image courtesy of Victoria’s Secret

P.S. For the record, I know non-Greeks throw parties with these themes too…but they probably aren’t reading this blog.

Surprise 'flash mob' raises sexual violence awareness

2009-11-16T10:13:00.000-08:00

Surprise 'flash mob' raises sexual violence awareness

By Melissa Collins

Issue date: 11/13/09 Section: News

Students performed a "flash mob" event Monday night in Linderman Library to raise awareness about sexual violence.

A flash mob is when a group of people carry out an unusual or surprising act that the public is not expecting.

"The point of a flash mob is to draw attention to yourself or to bring an issue into awareness," said Steve Bialick, '10.

Flash mobs usually last a few minutes. However, Monday night's event only lasted 90 seconds.

"We chose that time because every 90 seconds a woman is sexually assaulted," said Kristen Mason, '10.

At exactly 8 p.m., the group collapsed to the ground all at the same time. The students who were studying in the library at the time were generally confused and surprised.

"I didn't really know what was going on," said Nicole Cilcco, '13. "It definitely grabbed people's attention."

Kyle Nagarkar, '12, was also caught off guard.

"I saw it all coming together as a demonstration of some sort, but it caught me by surprise," Nagarkar said. "They handed out papers, and I couldn't help but read it. There was a lot of stuff that I didn't know."

After watching the event take place, Brandon Feil, '10, thought it was successful.

"It was a lot more in your face," Feil said. "It's good that they are bringing it to the attention of the Lehigh community in a more public way."

The flash mob event was organized as a requirement for the new Women's Studies class "Sexual Violence," that is taught by Michelle Issadore, the assistant director of the Women's Center.

"I intended for the class to be a way to talk about sexual violence in an academic setting," Issadore said. "I saw the need for it, and wanted to address that."

The class is offered as an introduction to the Women's Studies program, and it is also a writing intensive optional course. The course addresses a variety of issues, including sexual violence as a gender crime, the media's portrayal of sexual violence, rape culture, rape drugs, rape trauma syndrome, domestic violence, stalking and harassment.

The members of the class were prompted to organize an event in order to promote awareness of sexual violence and chose to do a flash mob because it seemed like it might have a bigger impact on the community.

"We were given an assignment to create an activism project, and we had over 50 volunteers help," Mike Doherty, '10, said.

The group decided a flash mob would be the most effective way to raise awareness.

"It's more of a surprise thing," Bialick said.

"It's to promote awareness because people don't know about it, especially at Lehigh," Mason said.

Issadore said the students were very enthusiastic about the project.

"The students really wanted to raise awareness at Lehigh, make it educational and make an impact," Issadore said.

The students who acted in the flash mob were all wearing shirts that had statistics and other facts about sexual violence. During the flash mob, many students got up to walk around and read the words on the shirts.

"We wore the shirts we made to increase awareness," Katie Johnston, '12, said. "People heard about it and could see it too. We want to start these discussions about sexual violence because it doesn't get discussed, and it needs to."

The students who took part in the flash mob were from more than 10 different student groups and organizations, including the women's rugby team, Theta Chi fraternity, the Panhellenic Council, Break the Silence, Pi Beta Phi sorority and the Association of Student Alumni.

In order to keep the event's details low-key, the original eight members recruited people from their own social groups, amounting to over 55 participants.

"The whole point is to promote awareness of sexual violence, and not just at Lehigh, but all over the world," Bialick said.

http://media.www.thebrownandwhite.com/media/storage/paper1233/news/2009/11/13/News/Surprise.flash.Mob.Raises.Sexual.Violence.Awareness-3830484.shtml

When I saw this article, I couldn't help but think what would happen if every school across the nation took 90 seconds to raise awareness? So many people could be touched and inspired by Lehigh Univeristy's example. This event is such a great example that sexual assault awareness evens do not have to take a lot of time, and you do not even have to invite people ot attend. So step outside the box, and make a difference!

Mother Charged with Human Trafficking

2009-11-15T10:16:00.000-08:00

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20091112/US.Girl.Disappears.NC/

Wow. Such a sad story. I know this is a little bit outside the realm of GASA, but it is important to remember that all of these issues are connected and feed into one culture and society.

Article Responses

2009-11-13T20:26:00.000-08:00

The GASA website is finally being updated! We will now be posting the thought provoking, commentary worthy sexual assault related articles we come across here! Stay tuned...

"Women at Risk"

2009-08-10T10:06:00.001-07:00

August 8, 2009, New York Times

Op-Ed Columnist

Women at Risk

By BOB HERBERT

“I actually look good. I dress good, am clean-shaven, bathe, touch of cologne — yet 30 million women rejected me,” wrote George Sodini in a blog that he kept while preparing for this week’s shooting in a Pennsylvania gym in which he killed three women, wounded nine others and then killed himself.

We’ve seen this tragic ritual so often that it has the feel of a formula. A guy is filled with a seething rage toward women and has easy access to guns. The result: mass slaughter.Back in the fall of 2006, a fiend invaded an Amish schoolhouse in rural Pennsylvania, separated the girls from the boys, and then shot 10 of the girls, killing five. I wrote, at the time, that there would have been thunderous outrage if someone had separated potential victims by race or religion and then shot, say, only the blacks, or only the whites, or only the Jews. But if you shoot only the girls or only the women — not so much of an uproar.

According to police accounts, Sodini walked into a dance-aerobics class of about 30 women who were being led by a pregnant instructor. He turned out the lights and opened fire. The instructor was among the wounded. We have become so accustomed to living in a society saturated with misogyny that the barbaric treatment of women and girls has come to be more or less expected. We profess to being shocked at one or another of these outlandish crimes, but the shock wears off quickly in an environment in which the rape, murder and humiliation of females is not only a staple of the news, but an important cornerstone of the nation’s entertainment.The mainstream culture is filled with the most gruesome forms of misogyny, and pornography is now a multibillion-dollar industry — much of it controlled by mainstream U.S. corporations. One of the striking things about mass killings in the U.S. is how consistently we find that the killers were riddled with shame and sexual humiliation, which they inevitably blamed on women and girls.

The answer to their feelings of inadequacy was to get their hands on a gun (or guns) and begin blowing people away.What was unusual about Sodini was how explicit he was in his blog about his personal shame and his hatred of women. “Why do this?” he asked. “To young girls? Just read below.” In his gruesome, monthslong rant, he managed to say, among other things: “It seems many teenage girls have sex frequently. One 16 year old does it usually three times a day with her boyfriend. So, err, after a month of that, this little [expletive] has had more sex than ME in my LIFE, and I am 48.

One more reason.”I was reminded of the Virginia Tech gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people in a rampage at the university in 2007. While Cho shot males as well as females, he was reported to have previously stalked female classmates and to have leaned under tables to take inappropriate photos of women. A former roommate said Cho once claimed to have seen “promiscuity” when he looked into the eyes of a woman on campus.Soon after the Virginia Tech slayings, I interviewed Dr. James Gilligan, who spent many years studying violence as a prison psychiatrist in Massachusetts and as a professor at Harvard and N.Y.U. “What I’ve concluded from decades of working with murderers and rapists and every kind of violent criminal,” he said, “is that an underlying factor that is virtually always present to one degree or another is a feeling that one has to prove one’s manhood, and that the way to do that, to gain the respect that has been lost, is to commit a violent act.”

Life in the United States is mind-bogglingly violent. But we should take particular notice of the staggering amounts of violence brought down on the nation’s women and girls each and every day for no other reason than who they are. They are attacked because they are female. A girl or woman somewhere in the U.S. is sexually assaulted every couple of minutes or so. The number of seriously battered wives and girlfriends is far beyond the ability of any agency to count.There were so many sexual attacks against women in the armed forces that the Defense Department had to revise its entire approach to the problem.We would become much more sane, much healthier, as a society if we could bring ourselves to acknowledge that misogyny is a serious and pervasive problem, and that the twisted way so many men feel about women, combined with the absurdly easy availability of guns, is a toxic mix of the most tragic proportions.

"Is Rape Serious?"

2009-08-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

Check out this New York Times article on the back-up of rape kits in Los Angeles County:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/opinion/30kristof.html?_r=1

Audio Files

2009-04-28T17:49:00.001-07:00

I found the most difficult part of this whole process was posting the finished audio files on my blog. But through using FileQube as the third party source, I have been able to obtain individual URLs for each file. After editing each post for a while now, I think it will now be clear to visitors what they need to click to access each individual file.

Relationship Violence: Texting for Control

2009-04-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

Party Themes: I'm Not Asking For It

2009-04-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

Wheel of Abuse

2009-04-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

Click here for audio podcast:
Wheel of Abuse podcast

Laws of Consent

2009-04-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

Click here for audio podcast:
Laws of Consent podcast

Sexual Assault 101

2009-04-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

Click here for audio podcast:
Sexual Assault 101 podcast

Relationship Violence: No Laughing Matter

2009-04-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

Using Podcasts in the Future

2009-04-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

After this class, I know that I will definitely use both audio and video podcasts in the future. I have never had a class that uses them before, and I had never thought about creating and using them myself before. With such a technologically savvy, busy culture it makes sense that we should covert the way we educate people into video and audio files that can be watched and listened to on the go.

Posting Files

2009-04-23T10:33:00.001-07:00

I am still having trouble posting my audio podcast files to this blog. I have been able to upload them to a free third party server, but from there I have not yet been able to get them on this site. Fortunately, it looks like posting the video podcast files will be much easier to post because blogger.com appears to have a video posting option on the blog posting page.

Editing Videos

2009-04-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

Editing the videos in IMovie is not as clear and straightforward as editing the audio podcast footage in GarageBand. I ended up filming my video clips using the built in ISight camera on my Mac. This allowed for immediate compatibility with IMovie so I did not have to worry about converting files before editing. IMovie automatically breaks the film into shorter clips to make editing easier, however, I still think that one take shots flow together better than piecing different things together.

Ending with Support

2009-04-21T18:15:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite parts about creating the video podcasts was the ending credit reel. While most of the information was incredibly basic on that final slide, I felt very strongly about having the last thing my users see be the web address for my blog. After watching a short video podcast that takes the form of a public service announcement about what can often be a difficult and emotional topic, I wanted to be sure to leave the students with a place where they can go to get more information and support.

Musical Consistency

2009-04-21T17:46:00.001-07:00

I decided to use the same opening and closing music in my video podcasts that I used in my audio podcasts. Dealing with such a difficult and personal topic as sexual assault, I wanted to select a serious music clip to set the tone. When creating a new website or organization I think it is crucial for the user to be able to recognize consistency. With three audio podcasts and three video podcasts, I wanted something to connect them all together besides the content and website themselves. After sharing my completed audio podcasts, and the initial drafts of my video podcasts, the viewers agreed that the music helped tie everything together while also setting the tone.

Piecing Together Footage

2009-04-20T12:47:00.001-07:00

As I continue to work on my video podcasts I am realizing that I prefer one-take shots. Although I know that IMovie and GarageBand have editing capabilities that allow me to piece together various video and audio clips to get the perfect final clip, I have discovered that there is a difference in the end. I like getting everything I want in one shot, and I think it comes across as more natural than piecing together different shots using a technological tool.

Writing Video Podcast Scripts

2009-04-15T05:49:00.000-07:00

As I continue to work on my scripts I am having to think about a lot more things than I did with the audio podcasts. With the audio podcasts my primary concern was the information being conveyed. I was less concerned about voice inflection or music because I felt like both of those pieces fell into place by the time I was finished recording and editing. However, with the video podcasts, although my primary concern is still the material being conveyed, I am now also thinking about the people who are going to be in my video, what they will be wearing, where I am going to film it, etc. And what each of these components will portray to my audience.

Video Podcast Idea

2009-04-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

For my video podcasts I have decided to film them like public service announcements. I think it is really important to hold your users attentions just long enough to get your point across. With public service announcements, the creator is able to draw the user in with a brief scene and then follow up that scene with important information and a resource or two. Specifically with my topics, sexual assault and relationship violence, it should be fairly easy to come up with creative scenes to attract teenage attention, but I need to make sure that I effectively communicate the importance of the message I am communicating, and the resources available to them.

Image courtesy of www.cnrsw.navy.mil/fsc/

Podcast Website Evaluation

2009-04-13T16:38:00.001-07:00

For my podcast website evaluation I looked at the American Civil Liberties Union section on Title IX to address sexual assault. I really like how this website has a summary associated with each podcast. For the users this allows ease in deciding whether or not the podcast is of interest to them. There is a related links section on the right side of the screen that suggests other pieces of the site users might be interested in. I really think video podcasts would enhance this website a lot. Overall, I think this website does a great job informing its users about the process for addressing sexual assaults.

Voice Recordings...

2009-04-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

I was able to start recording my audio podcasts today. At first I struggled with the actual recording of my voice in GarageBand. Wanting everything to sound perfect, I found myself tempted to constantly re-record everything I said. However, I discovered that within GarageBand you have the ability to delete certain pieces of your voice recording, and then you can re-record that section so it sounds just the way you want it to. This trick turned out to be a real time saver!

Getting Started

2009-04-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

Today we started working with GarageBand and other podcasting programs. Having no previous experience working with any of these programs, I think it will take me a week or so to feel comfortable using these programs for our class assignments. GarageBand provides its users with various jingles and music clips, free of copyright issues, to include in their podcasts. I think this feature will be incredibly helpful with my introduction and closing music sounds.

Love Young Love

When filling out your Christmas Cards this year...

Take one card and send it to:A Recovering American Soldierc/o Walter Reed National Military Medical Center8901 Rockville PikeBethesda, MD 20889-5600

Over It

Over It

New Film!

Sexual Victimization of Teenage Girls

Would Your Rape Count?

AAUW Action Network

tell somebody.

Relationship Violence: The Secret That Kills 4 Women a Day

V-DAY AND SAFER’S CAMPUS ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT

A Letter from a Prosecutor to a Young Woman

***This article was originally published here***

A Letter from a Prosecutor to a Young Woman

Minimize, Deny, and Blame

Fighting Sexual Violence on Your Campus: Why Your School’s Sexual Assault Policy Matters

3 years later....

Date Rape is a Crime, not an "Incoherent Concept"

Sexual Assault Awareness Month – One Thing Men Can Do

Here's the interview I had with Chick Speak!

Battling Sexual Assault: Spotlight on Kingsley Grafft, GASA Founder

Guest Post: Lessons from Greek Days

may this new year be a great year.

Guest Post for GreekForMe

Greeks Against Sexual Assault, by Kingsley Grafft

What are you doing for others?

New Year, New Look, New Feel...

Guest Post: Be a Gentleman.

Party like a rockstar? No. Party like a Greek!

Surprise 'flash mob' raises sexual violence awareness

Surprise 'flash mob' raises sexual violence awareness

By Melissa Collins

Mother Charged with Human Trafficking

Article Responses

"Women at Risk"

"Is Rape Serious?"

Audio Files

Relationship Violence: Texting for Control

Party Themes: I'm Not Asking For It

Wheel of Abuse

Laws of Consent

Sexual Assault 101

Relationship Violence: No Laughing Matter

Using Podcasts in the Future

Posting Files

Editing Videos

Ending with Support

Musical Consistency

Piecing Together Footage

Writing Video Podcast Scripts

Video Podcast Idea

Podcast Website Evaluation

Voice Recordings...

Getting Started

Take one card and send it to:
A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
8901 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20889-5600

This article was originally published here