This past Welcome Week, McMaster introduced a new series of lectures for incoming first years, centered on consent and rape culture.

The consent discussions came in many different forms: a workshop entitled “Cookies and Consent,” a supporting role in the annual IRIS production, and graphically displayed across buttons and posters on campus. It was a clearly important part of the week.

As a first year coming to Mac in 2011, some of the lessons shouted at me during Welcome Week were close to the opposite of those greeting this year’s freshmen. While I knew better than to disregard consent as an important and necessary part of my life, hearing reps from my own faculty insultingly scream “virgin” at other students, along with representatives of another faculty chanting “no means yes,” I was startled by what was considered a normal part of Welcome Week at McMaster.

After the controversial Red Suit Songbook was unearthed during the 2013-14 school year and a series of similar incidents occurred on campuses across the country, I am happy to see that our university is making an effort to give students a proper education on what consent means, and why it is a necessary part of our actions and decisions.

During my time as a student, I was lucky to be part of the SACHA Welcome Week training provided for faculty and residence representatives. I was excited to see that SACHA was also involved in this year’s programming for first years. While educating an already keen group of student leaders is important, cementing McMaster’s zero-tolerance policy for rape culture and language into the minds of incoming students can be a much more important asset.

I am proud of our university for taking this step, but while it is easy to look at this situation and think that McMaster is years ahead of other universities, it is important to remember that assault is not something our campus, or any other, is immune to. And whether you were part of this year’s Welcome Week or not, there is still a lot that needs to be said and done before the consent conversation becomes something that we all already agree to.

Ana Qarri

In the wake of two recent cases of sexual assault near McMaster in August, students may not feel comfortable walking home at night. But with the help of community groups in Hamilton and at Mac, steps are being taken for that to change.

On Thursday, Sept. 12, SACHA (Sexual Assault Centre - Hamilton & Area) is holding its annual Take Back The Night Rally at City Hall.

Take Back the Night is a feminist initiative that allows female-identified people to reclaim their right to safety, and stand up to gender-based violence. Through the work of the Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres, TBTN became a recognized, annual nation-wide march in 1981.

Take Back the Night is one of the many efforts taken by feminist organizations in Hamilton to initiate discussion on rape culture and sexism on campus. In collaboration with the McMaster Anti-Violence Network, SACHA brought TBTN to McMaster on Sept. 11 to provide educational opportunities for students.

The day included an information fair in the MUSC atrium where MSU services and clubs, such as SHEC, SWHAT, QSCC, FAM, Peer Support Line, and others, displayed the variety of resources and support they offer McMaster students.

The fair was followed by an “Interrupting Rape Culture” workshop, where guest speakers from SACHA’s “It’s Time” Campaign, Hollaback! Hamilton, and the White Ribbon Campaign shared their insights and experiences with gender-based assault in the community. The workshop focused on acknowledging intersectionality when discussing the societal impacts of rape culture, strategies to safely handle street harassment, and the role of male allies in the movement.

With the two recent cases of sexual assault on Emerson St., discussions about gender-based violence become more relevant and significant to Mac students.

“Take Back the Night is something important to bring to our campus,” said Elise Milani, Chair of the Women & Trans* Centre Committee.

“It gets people talking about rape culture – something that would [otherwise] be ignored.”

Through initiatives like the development of the Women and Trans* Centre and the “It’s Time to End Violence Against Women” Campaign, McMaster is showing its female-identified students that it is standing in solidarity with them in the fight against sexual assault on campus and in the community.

The university administration has joined in efforts against sexual assault as well. After the two incidents near Mac, the incidents were made public on the McMaster Daily News, deviating from what had been done in the past.

Campus Security Services page now also includes resources for people who have been sexually assaulted on campus, as well as information on consent.

The Hamilton rally of Take Back the Night, run by SACHA, will take place at 6pm in front of City Hall on Sept. 12. The rally is exclusive to female-identified people. Male allies can attend the solidarity event at MacNab St.

Devra Charney/ The Silhouette

On Friday March 8, the global community celebrated International Women’s Day. The 2013 theme focused on promoting gender equality in a modern progressive world.

On campus, McMaster hosted multidisciplinary activist and educator Kim Crosby. Her workshop on anti-racism as well as her keynote address were much-anticipated events for a number of students and community members.

Emilee Guevara, member of Feminist Alliance McMaster (FAM), was pleased to see McMaster bring Crosby and the values that she represents to campus, hoping for similar speakers in the future.

“This event was awesome to have Kim here speaking. International Women’s Day is to talk about women, but it’s to talk about issues that affect all women, so that’s where her theme of intersectionality is really important… I hope that events like this can continue every year and in every space, not just on specific days.”

FAM endeavours to make sure campus remains accessible throughout the year for students looking to connect and align with other feminists in a safe environment. Guevara added that FAM’s activism also extends off campus to related community events where members can meet up and attend as a group.

“Women and men have joined together to go to certain events, like Take Back the Night, like the SlutWalk, celebrate International Women’s Day… hopefully making connections for women who have felt either silenced, objectified, sexualized, who have experienced rape and harassment and sexual assault – realities in the lives of women everywhere.”

And in an effort to address the issue of violence against women in a McMaster context, The Sexual Assault Centre of Hamilton & Area (SACHA) and YWCA Hamilton have partnered together for the It’s Time to End Violence Against Women on Campus project funded by Status of Women Canada.

Project coordinator and Mac alum Alicia Ali said that McMaster currently lacks specific guidelines on dealing with violence against women on campus.

“The project is split into two phases – information gathering and outcome,” she explained. “The information-gathering phase includes surveys and focus groups to identify current gaps, priorities, resources, opportunities, and strengths around the issue of violence against women on campus.”

Students are invited to attend sessions as part of a Safety Audit scheduled for March 18and 19 so that they can provide feedback on safety around campus. A campus walk-about will also allow students to point out specific problem areas and voice their concerns about unsafe parts of campus after dark.

“The second phase of the project includes a campus wide awareness campaign, events on campus, and a campus community protocol in how the university responds to instances of violence against women,” said Ali.

“We hope to explore the possibility of introducing a gender-based analysis to all policy development at the university.”

The project coordinators and advisory committee will provide the University with a list of recommendations after a two-year period on how to increase safety for women as well as involve the campus community in a more informed approach to dealing with the culture of violence against women.

McMaster joins the One Billion Rising

It’s simple math, really.

There are about six billion people on the earth, half of whom are women. And according to a report from the United Nations Development Fund for Women, one in three women will experience some form of sexual violence or harassment in her lifetime.

Activist Eve Ensler did the math. And because one billion women in the world would be affected, she decided it was time to do something about it.

Ensler, who wrote the controversial play The Vagina Monologues, is the founder of V-Day, a global day of activism on Feb. 14 to end violence against women. 2013 marks the fifteenth anniversary of V-Day and will see the launch of her newest project, called One Billion Rising (OBR).

OBR is designed to be an international phenomenon that will involve groups of women occupying public spaces and dancing.

Upon hearing about the movement, McMaster activists wanted to get in on the action.

“Not only is this to raise awareness, but it’s to celebrate women and girls,” explained TJ Jamieson, fourth-year nursing student and project director at Feminist Alliance McMaster (FAM). The McMaster event, which will take place in the MUSC Atrium in the afternoon of Feb. 14, will feature Zumba and belly dancing lessons, a flash mob, and an evening dance party.

“We didn’t want to be doom and gloom,” Jamieson said. “Obviously [sexual assault] is a very stoic subject, but we also wanted to include that women are amazing.”

The event will be hosted in collaboration between FAM and I Am Woman, a newly formed women’s interest group on campus that identifies itself as a “communicative link” between the variety of women’s campaigns. Hamilton’s own YWCA and Sexual Assault Centre for the Hamilton Area (SACHA) are also partners in organizing. While the event is focused on women, people of all gender identities are encouraged to attend.

“We are hoping for a lot of people to show up,” said Faiza Shafaqat, president of I Am Woman. Shafaqat, a third-year biopsych student, joked that “instead of sitting at home and eating chocolate by myself, I’ll be supporting this and raising awareness about violence against women.” She added that the feedback they have gotten so far has been “amazingly positive.”

OBR is not without its critics, however. Feminist activists from outside North America have called the international movement “imperialist” for its alleged theme of the superiority of Western culture.

And even at McMaster itself, there has been some criticism.

“People deeply involved in the feminist movement can be a little bit condescending towards this event because it’s dancing—you know, what can that do against violence against women?” said Amy Hutchison, second-year math and stats student and president of FAM.

“But my response and the response I’ve heard from others is that you also have to have fun.”

The choice of dance as the medium for the event is not only for the fun of it, though; Ensler and the movement’s proponents wanted to highlight the use of dance as a creative form of protest, as well as a means of healing for women affected by sexual violence.

Hutchinson and her co-organizers hope that participants will gain a sense of global connection, as well as a positive relationship with activism.

“No one’s saying that you have to stop violence against women, as if after February 14, when people dance, there will be no violence,” she said.

“Women need a chance to come together and see that one billion of us all supporting each other and dancing [is a good thing], and dance is a really expressive and artistic way to show that.”

The newly established Ad-Hoc Committee for the Women and Trans* Centre met for the first time on Nov. 6. The committee, which was created through a motion at the Oct. 14 SRA meeting, is focused on establishing whether or not there is a need for such a centre on campus. Elise Milani, SRA Services Commissioner and the committee chair, was pleased with the first meeting.

“It was a great turnout,” she said of the twenty-plus people who attended. The attendees came from a number of different areas of the university, including the MSU and the Graduate Students’ Association, as well external organizations, such as the YWCA and SACHA, a women’s centre located in downtown Hamilton.

There is currently no service of this kind that exists on or near the McMaster campus. Mac did have a women’s centre from 1979 to 1985, but it was closed because it had allegedly ceased to be an open and inclusive space.

At their inaugural meeting, the committee established an action plan to follow in the coming weeks and months. In the midst of increasing reports of sexual assault on university campuses, including Ryerson and York, Milani and others feel that a women and trans* centre would fill a need not currently addressed by other health-related services on campus.

In order to assess the need, the committee will seek input and information from a variety of groups. Affiliates of both the YWCA and SACHA will be compiling information about violence on campus, while student groups, including I am Woman and Feminist Alliance McMaster, will be invited to provide different perspectives.

“We’ll basically just find out if there’s anyone that has anything to say to it, because we shouldn’t just target certain groups because we think they’d be interested,” Milani explained. “You don’t know what people’s different stories are and what they hear in different environments.”

The committee hopes to work with the Office of Human Rights and Equity Services in order to get further information from advocates of trans issues on campus as well.

“It’s not just focused on women,” Milani noted. “We need to get that part of the story as well.”

The plan is to complete the assessment by the end of January, at which point the committee will report back to the SRA.

“And if we establish a need,” she said, “we’ll move forward from there.”