Thursday,
Zybrea and I went to the panel Teaching Consent and Ending Sexual Assault at Schools and Universities, which was hosted by Feminist Majority. I felt this was a
very relevant and important topic to discuss at NGO CSW 63, and I went to
support Amelia. She was fantastic by the way! Amelia talked about the Netflix documentary
The Hunting Ground, which talks about
sexual assault on college and university campuses. One in five women in college
are sexually assaulted, yet only a fraction of these crimes are reported, and
even fewer result in punishment for the perpetrators. This statistic is too
high!!! As a student that attends a single-gendered institution, I wonder what the stats are. I’m afraid to even ask
anyone. It will be a hard people to swallow that a woman can sexually assault another
woman (Hard Eye Roll).
From the panelists that were high school students in California,
it is evident that students need adequate and comprehensive sex education in
schools. They actually want it!!! I have a theory that if we start teaching
consent early (kindergarten), then I am sure we would see a reduction in sexual
assault in colleges and universities. Sexual assault is not about what a woman
was/is wearing or how promiscuous a woman is, it’s about people having no
respect for women’s bodies and wanting to exert power over others. Ugh, we have
so much that needs to be done around this issue. More need to get involved and
talk to their menfolk about this issue. Women can’t continue to fix
everything!!!
I also went to the San Francisco group event on what they are working
on. I love San Francisco!!! Another city after my heart (besides NYC) with
their progressiveness. I specifically paid attention to the information on women,
social protection, and poverty (I was kicked
out an event on this due to overcrowding). According to the San Francisco
group, three-quarters of the world’s population need social protection. 330
million women and girls live on less than $1.90 a day (a meal at McDonald’s and
Chick-Fil-A costs more than that). Around the world, 500 million youth live in
poverty (we have to change this). I would love to see Trump admiration’s active strategies for global and national social
protection. We cannot continue to allow women and girls to carry the burden of
unpaid care, poverty, and bad politics. We DESERVE social protection, freedom,
and a living wage.
XOXO,
Aravia P
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