This year the 7th and 8th grade students have decided to focus our activism campaign
on sexual violence. Needless to say, we had very intense debates, rounds of voting,
and homework to do before agreeing on this topic. It is both deeply personal and a
timely political topic. Students looked at a variety of subtopics relating to sexual
violence and also analyzed the root causes and effects. They brought up “rape
culture” in the media as a root cause, a lack of legal protections for victims of sexual
assault in the military and on college campuses, as well as a range of other issues.
The title of the campaign is Object/ Defy: Objectification is Dehumanization. They
have decided to focus on three areas that address this issue on a personal, cultural
and political basis.
Healthy Relationships
Students will first learn and then teach other youth how to make sure all of our
relationships are founded on respect. This goes for romantic relationships as well as
friendships and professional relationships with adults. While for the most part, they
are not dating, thinking about these things ahead of time will help them to make
good decisions and give good advice to their peers.
Media and Culture
Students are analyzing representations of masculinity and femininity in the media
as a root cause of sexual violence. They are looking at objectification and rape
culture and will be speaking back through remaking ads, and videos to reframe the
message, as well as satirizing news coverage.
Policy and Advocacy
Students chose to focus our policy goal on sexual assault on campus. There has been
a lot of news coverage and thus efforts by our elected representatives to respond.
The students have chosen a bill introduced in the Senate called the Campus
Accountability and Safety Act, which will reform how universities respond to sexual
assault cases and provide funds for survivors and training for staff. They
partnered with postcard.com to create a postcard campaign found at http://postcard.com/join-a-movement/28.
on sexual violence. Needless to say, we had very intense debates, rounds of voting,
and homework to do before agreeing on this topic. It is both deeply personal and a
timely political topic. Students looked at a variety of subtopics relating to sexual
violence and also analyzed the root causes and effects. They brought up “rape
culture” in the media as a root cause, a lack of legal protections for victims of sexual
assault in the military and on college campuses, as well as a range of other issues.
The title of the campaign is Object/ Defy: Objectification is Dehumanization. They
have decided to focus on three areas that address this issue on a personal, cultural
and political basis.
Healthy Relationships
Students will first learn and then teach other youth how to make sure all of our
relationships are founded on respect. This goes for romantic relationships as well as
friendships and professional relationships with adults. While for the most part, they
are not dating, thinking about these things ahead of time will help them to make
good decisions and give good advice to their peers.
Media and Culture
Students are analyzing representations of masculinity and femininity in the media
as a root cause of sexual violence. They are looking at objectification and rape
culture and will be speaking back through remaking ads, and videos to reframe the
message, as well as satirizing news coverage.
Policy and Advocacy
Students chose to focus our policy goal on sexual assault on campus. There has been
a lot of news coverage and thus efforts by our elected representatives to respond.
The students have chosen a bill introduced in the Senate called the Campus
Accountability and Safety Act, which will reform how universities respond to sexual
assault cases and provide funds for survivors and training for staff. They
partnered with postcard.com to create a postcard campaign found at http://postcard.com/join-a-movement/28.
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