F--kRapeCulture protest features sexual assault survivors and publicly supports university funding of OUSAP
Stories of survivors carried down Court Street as F--kRapeCulture rallied Friday on the steps of the Athens County Courthouse.
The rally featured sexual assault survivors, trying to foster a community through their experiences. Starting around 5 p.m., about 25 people came out to support and raise awareness around the Athens community and sexual assault.
A bullhorn was passed around as survivors and supports shared their stories or outrage with sexual assault on campus and in society.
Claire Chadwick, co-founder of F--kRapeCulture and a junior studying sociology and women and gender studies, said the group wanted to undermine and eradicate rape culture.
As the rally progressed, Bekki Wyss, a senior studying English, former Post columnist and a member of F--kRapeCulture, said F--kRapeCulture supports the administartion absorbing the Ohio University Survivor Advocacy Program. Wyss herself is a peer advocate for OUSAP.
OUSAP, a program based in providing support for survivors through resources and confidentially reporting, is funded through grants that are due to be up in October 2015. The program, Wyss said, should be supported by the OU administration.
“It’s just shameful that we’re in this precarious position,” Wyss said after the rally. “We’d love to say as a student grassroots organization, we support the university absorbing the center and taking responsibility for it ... funding it, giving it a more secure place on campus.”
For Chadwick, she said she also wants to see the administration putting resources towards OUSAP. Chadwick said she was upset with OU President Roderick J. McDavis’ recent $85,000 raise and the condition of OUSAP.
“It’s crazy -- McDavis just got this enormous raise and we’re fighting for something that is so vital in this community,” Chadwick said after the rally. “It’s really a travesty and it brings a lot of shame on this university.”
Madison Koenig, a senior studying English in the Honors Tutorial College, talked the statistics of sexual assault and rape at Ohio University, pushing for a change.
“We need students especially to step up and stand up for their fellow students,” Koenig said during the rally. “We talk a lot at OU about being a ‘Bobcat family’ but we don’t act like a f--king family. If we want to claim that we’re a family, we need to step up and take care of each other.”
Surrounding survivors with support is one way Chadwick said she wants to see F--kRapeCulture operate. The rally gave a chance for survivors and allies to speak out about their experiences they’ve had around sexual assault. Ryant Taylor, a senior studying creative writing, was one such supporter.
“Men can care as well, it’s not just something that women should fight for and worry about,” Taylor said. “I think it is a human issue and you have to try stop suffering in the world, I think.”
Several men, non-binary and individuals who identify as LGBT, also attended the rally and shared stories.
Jessica Ensley, a senior studying journalism and former Post writer and columnist, is on the executive board for F--kRapeCulture. She said sharing stories about sexual assault hopefully will help to create awareness and understanding with others who have been assaulted as well.
“I hope, know, that (people who heard these stories) realize that they are not alone. For a long time, I felt really alone,” Ensley said. “It’s really isolating and it’s a really terrifying experience but to know that there are people out there who have gone through the same thing and that they are advocating on behalf of you can be really empowering.”
Chadwick said this event allows F--kRapeCulture a different way to empower survivors.
“I think this event is very special because it gives a forum for survivors to share their story and feel like they have a voice in a situation that silences so many,” Chadwick said.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="d38f928a-2e52-11e4-a4a4-0017a43b2370"}}
@reb_barnes
rb605712@ohio.edu
