Sexy Queen’s U hosts Sexual Assault Awareness Week

Club president says week was effective in raising awareness

Sexy Queen’s U, a Queen’s organization that seeks to raise awareness of campus sexual violence, hosted Sexual Assault Awareness Week (SAAW) on campus from Oct. 20-26.

Among the events was Project Unbreakable, which ran throughout the week in the JDUC and featured photos of survivors of sexual assault holding posters with quotes from their attackers.

Tuesday’s event was a Sexual Assault Resource Fair, which featured the AMS Peer Support Centre, the Sexual Health Resource Centre, Kingston’s Sexual Assault Centre and Health, Counselling, and Disability Services at the Queen’s Centre.

On Thursday SAAW had an information session on court cases that have dealt with sexual assault, along with a viewing of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

Other events included a bake sale to raise money for the organization and a movie screening of “Thelma and Louise” in the ASUS Red Room.

Club president Montana Hauser said the goal of Sexy Queen’s U and SAAW is to raise awareness on campus about sexual assault within the Kingston community as well as in Canada at large, and to work to start conversation on these issues.

“SAAW is about starting healthy conversations on campus about the realities of sexual assault and about educating people on these issues,” Hauser, ArtSci ’15, told the Journal via email.

“We look to get recognition on campus of our efforts and formulate relationships with other groups on campus who are interested in discussing these topics.”

Hauser said the weeklong awareness of sexual assault on campuses was successful overall.

“I feel that this week is always effective in raising awareness because it’s a touchy subject that people don’t just bring up in everyday conversation. This week gives people a platform in which they can formulate discussions,” she said.

“If we continue to silence survivors and advocates, change will never happen. Sexual assault is a hard topic to discuss, but if we learn to work with our discomfort and our lack of familiarity, we can educate and promote healthy changes to the society we live in.”

Tags

assault, sexual

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