Amanda Brail – News Reporter –
The One Billion Rising campaign is a global strike to refuse to accept violence against women and girls, according to the campaign website. The Southern Connecticut State University Women’s Center is getting involved in this campaign by spreading the message of the movement and by getting students involved.
“We’re making a stance to our Federal government to pass VOWA – the violence against women act.” said Ebony McClease, Graduate Intern at the Women’s Center. “I think a lot of people don’t know that it has expired.”
McClease said that the Violence Against Women Act ensures safety for women that are dealing with domestic violence and other forms of violence against them. According to her, many state senators are refusing to sign the act since it has expired.
“It has nothing to do with party lines,” she said. “It has everything to do with misogyny.”
On Thursday, Feb. 14, a.k.a. “Valentine’s Day,” the Women’s Center petitioned at the Student Center to get more students involved in the movement to end violence against women and girls.
One Billion Rising campaign held in Lagos, Nigeria on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day.
“We want people to join our campaign and use our tools of activism,” she said.
The One Billion Rising campaign consists of people signing up to raise awareness by learning a dance and “flash mobbing” on random days, at random places, starting on “V-day.” Although the actual “flash mob” aspect of the One Billion Rising campaign was postponed for the day at Southern, the Women’s Center still celebrated V-day and it’s message of ending violence towards women. The university hosted a performance of “The Vagina Monologues” and a performance of “What I Want my Words to Do to You” which, according to McClease, is “an updated version of the Vagina Monologues.”
“Today is Valentine’s Day,” said McClease, “so what better way to make this statement than on a day when there’s this idea of loving and respecting your partner?”
The Men’s Initiative campaign is working with the Women’s Center and doing their part to raise awareness and put an end to violence against women, according to Julian Wilson, Graduate Intern at the Women’s Center and spokesperson for the initiative.
“The Men’s Initiative,” he said, “is the side of the Women’s Center that’s trying to educate men on issues like sexual assault and bystander intervention in order to prevent violence from that side.”
According to Wilson, he hosts events for Men’s Group, a male only group that talks about violence against women, that help men understand how to get involved in raising awareness and put an end to the violence that occurs against women. He said the group has an event called “V-Men” coming up that is “like the male side to the vagina monologues” and also an event called “The Continuum of Harm” which is a workshop that focuses on discussing the harmful actions that take place towards women.
Madison Bruer, sophomore at SCSU, is also involved in the One Billion Rising campaign and said why she thinks it is so important to bring the campaign to Southern:
“It’s a really creative way to express our refusal to tolerate violence against women,” she said. “It’s a reminder that we will remain rising against violence against women as long as it is happening.”
