16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence

Listen to Dr. Sarah Hunt’s podcast (external link)  about Decolonizing the Roots of Rape Culture.

Reflection questions

1. In reflecting on how gender-based violence is rooted in colonialism, are there Eurocentric beliefs or standards that come to mind that perpetuate rape culture? 
2. What are ways in which you and your community can resist and decolonize rape culture?

Additional Resources

1. Anger, Resentment and Love: Fuelling Resurgent Struggle by Leanne Simpson 
2. Book: The Beginning and End of Rape: Confronting Sexual Violence in Native America (external link)  by Sarah Deer (Book)
3. Shock and Awe: Trauma as the New Colonial Frontier (external link)  by Natalie Clark (Academic Paper)

Listen to Healing Comes in Waves’ Podcast about Accessing Counselling on Your Own Terms (external link) 

Reflection Questions

1. What are things that you can do for yourself during emotionally challenging times? 
2. How would you show compassion to a friend who was experiencing what you are?
3. Why might it be difficult for survivors to show themselves compassion, when it is so easy to show others compassion?

Additional Resources:

1. Sonia Connolly (2011). Remember at Your Own Pace (external link) 
2. Healthline Media (2022). 30 Grounding Techniques to Quiet Distressing Thoughts. (external link)  
3. Richard C. Schwartz : No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model
4. Lexie Bean, Dean Spade, Nyala Moon : Written on the Body: Letters from Trans and Non-Binary Survivors of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence

Listen to the Healing Comes in Waves Podcast: Supporting a Survivor as a Parent with Glen Canning (external link) 

Reflection Questions

1. What are some things you would like to hear from the people you choose to disclose to?
2. You do not have to disclose to everyone in your circle of support. How does this change your perception of what support can look like?
3. In what ways are you providing yourself with support as you support the survivor in your life?
4. How has your view of gender and violence in society changed?

Additional Resources

1. Hurma Project Podcast: Responding to Disclosures of Sexual Assault. (external link)  
2. Helen Benedict : Recovery: How to Survive Sexual Assault for Women, Men, Teenagers, Their Friends and Families
3. Laura van Dernoot Lipsky & Connie Burk: Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others

Listen to one of the following podcasts:

1. Burn It All Down Podcast: Interview: Jennifer Doyle on the Structures of Sexual Assault in Sport (external link) 
2. Burn It All Down: Episode 66 (external link) , a discussion of #UsToo and the importance of men in the fight against toxic and violent misogyny.

Reflection Questions

1. How does misogyny show up in sports culture?
2. How does sport culture play a role in our image of self, our opportunities, and our status?
3. What are some of the ways you see misogyny taking place within sports and sports culture? How do you think we can make changes to address these issues?

Additional resources

1. Dr Brigid McCarthy (2021). Olympic skating reveals lurking misogyny. (external link) 
2. Open Access Government (2022). Misogyny towards women’s sports is common amongst male fans. (external link) 
3. Devra Bollareddy (2022). 8 Instances of Sexism in Sport. (external link) 

Watch the Indigenous Women Land Defenders: Canadian State Violence and Forced Removals Panel (external link)  to learn more about Climate Justice & its relation to gender-based violence available on YouTube

Reflection Questions

1. How does a person’s intersectional identity affect their experience of defending their land and environment, as well as their experience receiving support amidst environmental degradation?  
2. How can you and your community support women land defenders? 

Additional Resources 

1. Oxfam International: Women defenders of the land and the environment: silenced voices (external link) 
2. UNHRC Article: Climate change is a threat multiplier for women and girls: UN expert (external link) 

Watch this presentation on Trauma-informed Teaching & Learning in Times of Crisis (external link)  available on YouTube [Video 1:02:41]

Reflection Questions

1. What is your understanding of the ways in which trauma can impact students, teachers, and staff?  
2. What can you do right now (short term) and in the future (long term) to create a more trauma-informed classroom?

Additional Resources

1. Joudrey, S. (2020) “Trauma-informed Pedagogy: What It Is and How It Can Help Now (external link) .” FOCUS on University Teaching and Learning, the Centre for Learning and Teaching, Dalhousie University.
2. McMurtrie, B. (2020) “An Explainer on Trauma-informed Teaching (external link) .” The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Watch this panel on Criminalizing HIV (external link) .

Reflection questions

1. How do you believe a person’s social location (e.g. gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, etc.) can affect their access to HIV testing, care, treatment and support, as well as their navigation of HIV criminalization? 
2. How can you and your community advocate to destigmatize HIV and for policy and law reforms against HIV criminalization? 

Additional Resources

1. Article: Canadian HIV criminalization laws increase violence against women living with HIV by Mariah Wilberg 
2. Fact Sheet: Women and the Criminalization of HIV Non-Disclosure (external link)  by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
3. Position Paper: A Feminist Approach to Law Reform on HIV Non-Disclosure (external link)  by Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund

Join the presentation, co-hosted by the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching and Academic Accommodation Support, which takes a look at some of the anonymized and aggregate experiences of students at TMU and provides faculty with tools to proactively limit the impacts on mental well-being in the classroom and across the university. 

Friday, Dec 2, 2022
11:00 AM - 12:20 PM

Online, Zoom, Faculty Workshop. 

Zoom Link (external link) 

Resources

1. DAWN Canada: Women with Disabilities and Violence (external link) 
2. DAWN Canada: We can tell and we will!  (external link) 
3. VAW Learning Network: Violence Against Women with DisAbilities and Deaf Women (external link) 

Reflection questions

1. In what ways do you see ableism perpetuate in your day to day life? 
2. What are some ways that you and your community can uplift the voices of the disability community to take action against ableism?

Listen to the Healing Comes in Waves Podcast Episode: Trusting Yourself After Trauma (external link) 

Reflection Questions

1. What is getting in the way of your ability to listen to and trust in yourself?
2. What beliefs do you currently hold that limit your ability to heal?
3. In what ways can you protect your energy?

Additional Resources

1. Matilda aka Matt Berstein Sycamore: Dangerous Families: Queer Writing on Surviving
2. The Women’s Center. The Wednesday Workshop Podcast. (external link)  
3. Blue Knot Foundation. Ways to ground yourself when your stress response is activated. (external link) 
4. Me too, Survivor Healing series: Voice, Choice and Boundaries. (external link)  (VIDEO 1 hr)

Listen to the Healing Comes in Waves Podcast Episode: Cultivating Pleasure (external link) 

Reflection Questions

1. What are some of the ways you can explore non-sexual pleasure?
2. What mainstream values and beliefs around pleasure stop you from experiencing it?
3. How can you invite the concept of play back into your life as an adult? (Hint: try making a list of things you used to do or  have always wanted to try)

Additional Resources

1. Jamie Windust (2021) How do you have sex after sexual assault? (external link) 
2. Instagram Page - healing sounds and affirmations. Bendecidx (external link) 
3. Sonder Wellness (2021). Ways to Practice Vulnerability. (external link) 
4. adrienne maree brown (2018). How to find pleasure when trauma and memory collide. (external link) 

Listen to the "Alright Now What?" podcast (Canadian Women's Foundation) Episode on “De-Platforming Misogyny”: How to Address Online Hate? - Episode 4 (external link) 

Reflection Questions

1. Technology-facilitated gender-based violence has the potential to threaten democracy. How can this be mitigated to encourage women and gender-diverse people to participate in political spaces?
2. What can be done to facilitate oversight on digital platforms that encourage or profit from technology-facilitated gender-based violence?
3. What is the balance to be struck between the proliferation of technological innovation and technology-facilitated gender-based violence?
4. How can we utilize substantive equality, human rights and intersectionality concepts to regulate technology-facilitated gender-based violence?

Attend the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women Memorial on Tuesday, December 6th at 1 PM. You can register here.

Today, December 6th, we remember the 1989 École Polytechnique Massacre that tragically took the lives of fourteen young women. These women were murdered by a man in an act of violent misogyny. 

Gender-Based Violence then and now stems from the systemic oppression rooted behind patriarchy. This day reminds us we need to take action and do the work to fight against patriarchal violence including gender-based violence.

We remember the young and hopeful women from the Montreal Massacre.

You can learn more about healing-centred organizing to take action on violence against women by listening to this podcast here (external link) . 

For our December 7th Day of Action, we'll focus on how to figure out (and get!) what you want out of the relationships you are in. Most people believe it's important that others respect their boundaries, but how you go about identifying exactly what those boundaries are and communicating them to others is a different story. One tool that can be very helpful for identifying your boundaries in various situations is a Want, Will, Won't List, which can determine your sexual boundaries, relationship boundaries,  workplace boundaries... wherever you're currently struggling with. 

Check out the attached video or article to see exactly how this list works and create your own. If you want to go deep, we recommend you check out this Boundaries episode of the Queer Sex Ed podcast that goes into much more detail about communicating your boundaries and navigating boundary-related conflict. 

Resources:

1. Want/Will/Won’t Lists: A Helpful Consent Tool! (external link) 
   
2. How to Get the Sex You Want (external link)  
3. Boundaries - Queer Sex Ed: Episode 36 (external link) 

Reflection Boundaries - Queer Sex Ed: Episode 36Exercises:

1. Create a Want, Will, Won't List to identify the boundaries you have for one aspect of your life, like roommates, conflict, or what you need from your partner during exams.
2. Pick one of the boundaries you feel you haven't been able to communicate, and reflect on whether you would like to communicate it in the future and how you would safely express that boundary. Consider all possible responses to you setting that boundary and how (or if!) you would want to respond in turn.
3. If you want to go deeper, dive into what makes a boundary personal instead of something you force on someone else. There's a big difference between stating that you need to be alone as you walk to a quiet room and demanding that everyone in the house stop making any noise. Consider how you can enforce your wants and needs through your own actions, and examine the ways others in your life

Gender-Based Violence against Black Women (external link) 

Black women have experienced a wide range of forms of abuse, including labour, sexual, and medical exploitation, from historical descriptions of slave ownership to contemporary sociological criticism.

Hypersexualization and violence of Black womxn has a long history that dates back to the early 1500s, when Europeans first started enslaving Africans. The idea that black womxn were lust-driven and open to all sexual advances was propagated by the slave masters. This reasoning was used to justify raping them and forcing them have children with the male slaves. 

Today, discrimination, harassment, and violence against Black womxn are prevalent in every institution and setting, including schools, workplaces, policing systems, prisons, parole and probation, immigration, health care, and family and juvenile courts.

Black feminists have revealed how the war on Black women, girls, trans, and gender nonconforming people has been promoted and justified by persistent narratives framing Black womxn as inherently inhuman, sexually deviant and promiscuous, deranged, violent, predatory, deceitful, inviolable, and incapable of experiencing emotional or physical pain, and by establishing and maintaining the category of "woman" in opposition to—and to the exclusion of—Black womxn, trans, and asexual people.

Reflection questions

1. What are some ways that you can feel supported and safe as a Black woman? (either in general or on the TMU campus)/ What are some ways you can support Black survivors?
   
2. What changes would you need to see to feel that your well-being is a priority? (in your friend group, in your community, in your neighbourhood, in your school, in society, in this world)

Resources

1. Violence Against Black Women – Many Types, Far-reaching Effects - IWPR (external link) 
2. END THE WAR ON BLACK TRANS, QUEER, GENDER NON-CONFORMING AND INTERSEX PEOPLE - M4BL (external link) 
3. END THE WAR ON BLACK WOMEN - M4BL (external link) 

Listen to Healing Comes in Waves Podcast’s Navigating the Legal System  (external link) Episode and

Restorative Justice (external link)  Episode

Reflection Questions

1. What does justice look like for me? (reporting, disclosing to family, restorative justice, punishment)
2. What is the connection between justice and healing for me?
3. How can I make sure my decisions are the most informed?
4. How can I ensure that my decisions prioritize me and my healing?

Additional Resources

1. Archway Society.  (PDF file) Surviving Sexual Assault-your options, your choice. (external link)  (PDF)
2. A podcast to explore the limitations of the justice system. Surviving Justice Podcast. (external link) 
3. Website: Walking you through the lawsuit process if you decide to sue.   (external link) 
4. What is Transformative Justice? (external link)  (VIDEO 10 min)
5. Courage To Act: Towards a Justice that Heals. (external link) 

Complete the module offered by Human Rights Services on the D2L

The Human Rights 101 eLearning course was developed by Human Rights Services to provide community members a basic understanding of rights and responsibilities under the Ontario Human Rights Code. The interactive module also introduces community members to the policies and services that exist at the university to protect and promote human rights, along with their obligation to uphold TMU's values of equity, diversity and inclusion and foster an environment free of discrimination, harassment and sexual violence.

You can access this course by enrolling in the Human Rights 101 eLearning course here. 

If prompted, sign in with your my.ryerson login credentials.

1. Review the Course Description and click on "Enroll in Course" to complete enrollment.
2. Click “Open Course” and then click “Content” to advance to the eLearning Table of Contents.
3. Note: After enrolling, the course can be accessed from the D2L Brightspace homepage where it will be listed under "My Courses."