My Personal Long Term Goals at DePaul

         In addition to the writing workshop my long term goals for addressing sexual assault and awareness on campus is to use my opportunity to direct a play as a senior in the Theatre School to write and direct a play on sexual assault within the DePaul Community.  This show will be based off a series of interviews that were conducted on sexual assault and awareness on campus.   We will be asking students at DePaul to write a poem or a monologue about their experience and the resilience they have had to overcome sexual violence in their lives.  We think it is important to speak of ways that will help women to see themselves as survivors.  This project with my community is imperative for me to constantly remember that I am not alone but also the ways that race, gender, class and age impact the women here at DePaul. 

            I have witnessed friends here at DePaul that have been sexually assaulted by peers within the school and I think it is important to create a community where these topics can be spoken about.  This is just the first step.  I think using art as a medium for women to share their stories is important, this will allow them to be creative and think of the ways they have shown resilience to sexual violence.  I would like the outcome of this event to encapsulate a quote by Aurora Morales, “we have in fact survived; that our spirits are indestructible” (19).  This is so powerful to me because I think a lot of the focus in art about sexual assault focuses on the victimization and leaves it there.  I ultimately want the students of DePaul to realize that storytelling is important to not only recovery and resilience but also to speak to others that could possibly relate to them. 

            My identity and experience are shaped by my position in the community as a theatre major because I see art and theatre as a great tool to create just enough distance with topics such as this while being able to personal relate and discuss emotions within our own lives.  I would like the writing and the Speak-Out to be a stepping-stone to the start of the discussion about resilience and ways that gender, class, age and sexuality impact their stories and the community as a whole.  

            Creative writing has been important to me for a long time and because my passion is growing and my awareness of sexual assault on campus is also growing I look forward to working on developing my personal art therapy. "A general rule of poetry is to try to include both the positive and the negative in a single line.  Balance, beauty, credibility derive from that. Poetry that is either too positive or negative dulls the interest." (Baranow, 6)  A goal of mine is to be able to find a balance in the positive and the negative in my piece because I don't want this piece to be focused on the oppression, but it is necessary to be included that way there can also be focus on the resilience and resistance that survivors go through. 

      The goal after this project is to hopefully use the monologues and poetry to create a performance piece that will be performed at DePaul in the future.  DePaul’s student body should be able to see perspectives of current students about the controversial topic of sexual assault to continue the conversation. 

Baranow, Joan, Brian Dolan, H. David Watts, and UC Medical Humanities Consortium.,. The Healing Art of Writing. Proc. of The Healing Art of Writing. San Francisco, CA; Berkeley: UC Medical Humanities Consortium ; Distributed by UC, 2011. Print. 

-Sam Bentson 

After the Creative Writing Workshop, I want to continue to work with the community through a series of workshops with this group.  I hope to continue working with sexual violence on DePaul’s campus throughout the rest of my time here.  I feel that it is important to form a more concrete community advocating for his issue on DePaul’s campus.  Through processing our own experiences of violence, we can continue to work towards positive changes in the DePaul community.

            When working with issues around trauma, healing is so important.  Whether it be trauma from sexual violence, family abuse, or military violence it can be very beneficial to seek creative outlets.  I believe that creativity is a powerful way to process and heal from trauma.  Groups have used musical outlets to begin healing from traumatic experiences, and there were immense improvements when compared to individual and/or verbal talking only therapy (Bensimon 2012).  It is easy to find oneself balancing between the everyday life, and the traumatic experiences that one has experienced.  Creative outlets aid in healing from these experiences and moving forward, and I want to continue to foster safe spaces that welcome creativity and resilience. 

            I have seen healing happen within community in my own life, and I am continuing to work to have this more accessible on DePaul’s campus through the University Counseling Services as well as other areas. Throughout the winter quarter, I want to stay involved in groups advocating for this issue at DePaul and in other communities.  There are different groups forming, and I think it is important to come together to make a more effective case for more resources, support, and prevention around sexual violence issues. 

Studies have shown that within a group, there is increased social justice activism specifically because an increased amount of support and hope in situations (Perry 1999).  Activism becomes a form of expression and healing within some circles that can be mutually beneficial to the activist because they find more meaning and passion through their work, and also for the community because of people working for social justice and a more just society.

I look forward to working within these groups, and advocating for survivors of sexual violence on DePaul’s campus.  I will be interning with Rima Shah in the Office of Sexual Health &Violence Prevention this winter quarter. Through this internship, I will work to instigate the formation of a male-led initiative against sexual violence to engage men with the issue.  I will also be working to increase resources through University Counseling Services, and the Office of Sexual Health & Violence Prevention through support groups, more specialized counseling, and a peer advocacy network for survivors.

I am hopeful to see changes happen on our campus, but know that it takes time.  There are so many inspiring students on campus that are driven and passionate about this issue.  This has inspired me to try and collaborate with more students as well as the rest of the DePaul community to work with this issue within our DePaul community.

           

Bensimon, Moshe, Dorit Amir, and Yuval Wolf. “A Pendulum Between Trauma And Life: Group Music Therapy With Post-Traumatized Soldiers.”  The Arts In Psychotherapy 39.4 (2012): 223-233.

           

Perry, Alice de V. (01/01/1999). "Spirituality expressed in community action and social justice: A therapeutic means to liberation and hope." in Spiritual resources in family therapy. (1-57230-508-8, 978-1-57230-508-3), (p. 272).

-Emily Edwards

                

Interview Process

Each of us conducting interviews with different members of the DePaul community.  Below is a full list  of the questions that were used in the interviews: 

Please feel free to answer any or all questions that you are comfortable with answering.  Thank you very much for your time participating in this survey. 

GOAL: To create awareness and a more informed community of DePaul and Young Adults as well as build a community of activists working on the issue of sexual violence within the DePaul community

Focus: To empower survivors to share stories and come together as a community; Hopefully to create a performance.

What does accountability look like for you?

How does the Media impact your view on women and rape?

What does the community of DePaul need to know about issues of sexual violence?

What do you still need from your community?

Do you think linguistics play any role into ignorance of sexual assault?

What does the journey of healing look like for you?

What does being a survivor mean to you?

If you were to retell your story, what specific reactions, moments, would you be comfortable sharing?

What, if any, services or support did you get from the DePaul community and/or administration?

Do you see yourself being an activist around issues of sexual assault within the DePaul community?

What do you think perpetuates the phrase “boys will be boys?”  

How do you handle the subject of rape if it comes up in daily conversations or in classes?

Are there times in class when a professor or speaker discusses rape or sexual assault that you view as offensive or uninformed?

What does self-care look like for you?

How do gender roles play into your experiences? Or your experiences here at DePaul?

What can we do to create accountability within the DePaul community?

What can we do to prevent violence within the DePaul community?

What can we do to decrease the number of sexual assaults happening within the DePaul community?

What are your personal experiences with sexual assault at DePaul, directly or indirectly?

Were you satisfied with the way the school handled it?

How often do you think sexual assault happens? Why?

How can we create an educational environment and what is important for people to know about sexual assault?

What is your process of becoming comfortable in your own skin, after a sexual assault?

How can we make CPD more aware and active in the community?

        Over the past few weeks I have been conducting interview with my peers in the DePaul community about their feelings about Sexual Assault and their recommendations to further activism in the community.  The students that were interviewed were from very different communities and colleges with in the DePaul community:  The Theatre School, the Vagina Monologues community, as well as students studying Psychology and many other extensions of the University.  I was very enlightened conducting these interviews, the perspectives that other students had on Sexual Assaults and Awareness were often aligned with my perspectives but also provided me with new insight.  There was only one interview where some of the comments could have been seen as offensive, though, it was the perspective of the only male that was interviewed.  I look forward to hearing more male perspectives of this topic in the future. 

            The questions that I focused on were around the subject of what accountability individuals have, the institution of DePaul has, as well as questions ranging about self-care.  I was also interested in the young adult generational mindset of choice words, in an inappropriate manner.  This was one of the most interesting aspects of the interview to me.  Linguistics plays a large role in our generation’s attitude about rape.  What I mean by this is that it is apparent that there is a significant lack of respect and a nauseating level of ignorance about Sexual Assault.

            Many of the interviewers came to the conclusion that rape is a subject that is far fetched to a lot of young adults.  Many people referenced how their peers use language about rape in their everyday lives, for instance, “this test is raping me.”  One of the female interviewers stated, “These terms further label these degrading words as being socially acceptable to throw around with being unaware of their connotative meaning.” Another interviewer stated, “Language is a double edged sword when it comes to sexual assault. Legally, we need definitions for survivors that choose that route of justice and healing. Most survivors know though that definitions can be limiting and not explain their experience or how they feel… This is problematic because it creates spaces where survivors have to defend their experience, feel shamed or have their experience denied because of the language we use.” These responses draw on very important and often overlooked aspects of language that generation X uses.  What I question still after conducting so many interviews is what caused this language to start but also when did it start? In addition to those questions, why has this language been considered acceptable over the past few years since it’s birth?        

            Another fascinating aspect of the interviews on Sexual Awareness of Generation X in the DePaul community was the lack of awareness that the interviewers noticed about their peers in regards to male sexual assault.  Many interviewers attribute so many of our values as young adults to be internalized aspects of patriarchy.  After all, “boys will be boys.” One of the interviewers said, “What perpetuates the phrase the fact that society has deemed it acceptable and quasi-“normal” for boys to sleep around, and just blame it on their hormones. Since boys are known as being stereotypically hormonal and hornier than women (not true!), it is easy to use the excuse of their being provocative on their genetic make-up and trends from men in the past.”  It is a problematic issue to bring up because gender roles play into word choice and actions but most of all ignorance of our generation. 

            This project overall has given me insight to what is acceptable language and actions in regards to Sexual Abuse.  I am pleased to know that most of the interviewers were noticing this behavior and not acting upon a “boys will be boys” mentality or using rape in an inappropriate context. One of the interviews was a little upsetting was the interview with a male acquaintance of mine.  He has had women throw themselves upon him time after time but he didn’t think of it as a problem or an issue, even though he was upset and uncomfortable with women kissing him when he wasn’t interested.  He insisted that it wasn’t even remotely considered a form of a sexual encounter that he didn’t approve of, even though he admitted to not having control and the rights to his body and that he didn’t want any type of sexual advances from these women.  In his mind it was deemed acceptable because he is an attractive male and it was a form of flattery.  Where as if this situation happened to a female it most definitely is sexual harassment.  I felt that this was problematic because this confirms that the standards of defining sexual assault between males and females in this day in age is determined differently.  I wanted to tell this to him, but I was torn with telling him that I thought he went through sexual harassment personally but I don't think he would ever agree with me.  I say that I don't think he would agree with me in the sense that because of the societal stereotypes and standards his experience goes unnoticed but if it was a female, his friends would be in an uproar.  

            There is an uprising of misconception of sexual harassment that is rampant with generation X.   These interviews have given me an abundance of insight as to how sexual abuse, linguistics and gender roles are perceived among peers at DePaul as well as across the nation.  A question that I want to continue to research with this project is why these stereotypes are implements and accepted.  Why is that they have continued for years without any sort of questioning that this language is inappropriate and only further the problem.  Being an activist for the prevention of sexual violence, I look forward to exploring these questions more to try to uncover what the reasons are but also to help debunk these preconceived notions of sexual assault in the form of theatrical performance. 

-Reflection by Sam Bentson 

      The method that Sam and I used to receive a perspective of community perspectives was to interview several DePaul students.  We came up with a list of questions, but interviewed different individuals.  The list of questions was quite long, so I tried to encourage the person being interviewed to answer the questions that they felt more called to.  This has definitely been an interesting experience because I feel that this is something that my friends and I talk about quite a bit.  I ended up interviewing my friends only, but I want to interview some first year students or a group that I am not directly in relationship with right now because I think it would definitely show a different perspective.

            One of the questions we asked was about accountability.  This definitely came up with some unique answers, but was also the one question that most people wanted to skip.  One student saw accountability as being clear with their goals and in return showing support, encouragement, and consequences that help one another stay centered in their common goals.  Also noting that one should take responsibility for one’s own actions.  I think that this is a fairly standard view of accountability and most people think of the criminal legal system with this questions, but we still don’t have what that looks like within a community instead of the judicial system.  If communities were stronger, this question might not immediately go towards the criminal legal system and authorities.

            One of the goals we should work towards is humanizing people rather than objectifying or exploiting them.  A main theme of what should happen in the DePaul community is shining light on the issue.  This is something that happens here on campus, and we are also surrounded by different forms of sexual violence in the media whether or not we are aware of it.  We should also focus on how we talk about sexual violence—it should always be the fault of the perpetrator—not the one who was sexually assaulted.  Period.  Everyone should be brought into the conversation. That was definitely across the board—no one “asks” to be raped by their actions or clothing.  To say that sexual violence is a “women’s issue” it is not only outdated, but just inaccurate.  By saying that, we isolate male survivors even more, but also do not get to the root issues that are causing this violence in the first place. We should also work towards being able to support each other around this issue.  Support our friends in our relationships, but also be more aware of the resources available for survivors of sexual violence. 

            Healing in community is a common thread with people that I interviewed.  Talking with others that are able to better understand your experiences and feelings about sexual assault, and really sexuality in general.  Surrounding oneself with people that love and care about them is very important.  We need to support each other on this journey of healing and understand that it is a bumpy road that is not linear or a direct route.  One survivor of sexual violence stated that after she identified as a survivor, she became a pathway and a support for other people who have experienced sexual violence.  I think this is so important, because it brings visibility to the issue, which can lead to community, then activism, then positive change.

            Deciding what to share and when has been a struggle for many of the interviewees.  When is it appropriate?  What are my intentions?  What could be the benefits?  There are so many questions surrounding sharing stories and experiences, which shows the darkness and power of silence in our community.  If we have so many questions about sharing a large piece of ourselves, than that is certainly an issue with our community and society.  This is where education and awareness come in.  It is so important for people to realize that this is a real issue that is not only the sensationalized stories in lifetime movies or the papers.  An interesting quote from one of people interviewed was, “If I am bringing it up, I feel empowered.  If someone else brings it up, I feel like a statistic.”  I think that this shows some of the complexities of being both an advocate and a survivor simultaneously.  It can be a fire to make you work for social change, but sometimes people get lost in becoming an advocate without recognizing that self care is still so important.

            One topic that did not come up much in the interviewing process were sexual assault outside of the male perpetrator and female that was assaulted.  This worries me because this is not something that I have put as much energy into educating myself or spreading awareness.  It is hard to see more and more isolation happening when we talk about issues of sexual assault through a hetero-normative lens, and I want to try and improve on that.  It is important to bring all of these issues to light, but they seem to get bigger and bigger.  Community can help with this, but it seems daunting at times to seem so small against these huge over-arching issues and problems in our society.

            People have some interesting ideas in ways that we can engage our community in the conversation, both within the institution and outside of it.  This makes me hopeful to see that there is so much potential.  We are currently working towards some of these ideas currently, and it is so important to have this happen within a community so that we have more perspectives and voice on campus.  There are trends of feeling frustration towards DePaul because of apathy and lack of knowledge around this topic, but most people interviewed see the potential and hope within this community.  That is why forming a group to work together is so important because there will be set back, and it will feel like running up against a brick wall, but we are here to work together and work towards a common vision and goal.

-Reflection by Emily Edwards

Goals for the project

Project Goals:

 “Our mission is to foster healing and community through creative writing.  Through this event we will try to create a space and a call to action for activism on campus for issues surrounding sexual violence and awareness.”
We hope to hold a creative writing workshop to create a safe space within the DePaul community that can actively work to heal through creative writing.  Sexual violence is very isolating, and we hope to build community and a greater sense of empowerment through the stories of resilience that we are living everyday through voicing our own truth through writing. We are hoping that the members of this community will want to work to advocate for this issue within the DePaul community.  

“…the most profound and potentially the most radical politics come directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end someone else’s oppression.” (Okazawa-Rey, 34) 

The focus of our project is to work on the process of healing with students on DePaul's campus.  After a series of workshops and community building activities we hope to shift our focus to community engagement and activism by spreading awareness about sexual assault on campus through several different mediums and approaches.

-Sam Bentson and Emily Edwards

source work-sam