Here are some recent campaigns and initiatives encouraging conversations - visual and sometimes face to face – on sexual violence.
On street-based sexual harassment:
‘Don’t tell women to smile’ and a collaboratively developed rating scale for and by women to map the spectrum of street-harassment, both projects from Brooklyn, New York;
Talk to me by Blank Noise; Bangalore, India and their latest offering the Action Heroes Game, part of a ‘pledge to unlearn fear’ played across cities in India.
Maps & Apps:
Apps and maps to report and document violence against women, a list from December 2012 here.
Talking on Twitter:
The conversation about sexual violence on social media has exploded. One of the biggest successes has been the @everydaysexism account and there are more you can follow: @tbtt @genderlogindia @blank_noise @catcallsNYC (let us know other good ones to follow and recommend!) However, not all is well in social-media land: here is a good piece about ‘Twitter’s Free Speech Problem’.
Campaigns & Resources:
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign runs from November 25-December 10, 2013 culminating on International Human Rights Day. This year’s theme is about the connections between militarism, conflict and gender-based violence. Campaign resources are available in 9 languages. Check out the Women Under Siege project website to learn more about sexual violence in conflict.
Witness has a great collection of campaigns, tools and resources on video and gender-based violence
Do let us know if anything on this list is outdated or has been updated, and what you’d add to it. Add a comment below or tweet at us @info_activism
I note that WITNESS have launched a new video series for: How To Conduct Interviews with Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: http://blog.witness.org/2013/11/new-video-series-conducting-interviews-survivors-sexual-gender-based-violence/