Fight for survivors' justice!
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After I was sexually assaulted in college at 18, I knew clearly what I wanted: for the person who violated me to never do it again to anyone else. Four of us whom he'd assaulted told the university. Even though he was eventually found responsible, the University's punitive system did not serve justice: he assaulted another person the weekend of his graduation.
The whole process made me feel betrayed, angry and undervalued. It was worse than the assault itself.
That's why last month I argued in the New York Times that we need a new approach to justice for sexual assault. And now, I'm taking action. Together with my team, we're taking on mobilizing a movement to win structural changes for how sexual harassment and assault are dealt with in the United States.
Already, we've spoken with 80+ survivors, advocates, and academics to develop this idea; discussed our strategy over a weekend retreat for six core team members; built a website; recruited video submissions for a video campaign, and coordinated weekly calls. Over the next 6-8 months, we will develop the movement's strategy, structure, and principles with coaching support from Momentum. Funds raised will go directly to covering organizers' stipends and retreat expenses, which will be withdrawn and deposited by team members Sofie Karasek and Deepika Dilip.
I believe we can win, but funding for social change movements is limited. To keep us going, I need support from you, the grassroots.
Sexual assault is an epidemic, but survivors have, by and large, only two options: They can try to have the perpetrator formally punished, or they can do nothing. But it is this same factor — the scale of the problem — that ensures that cries for retribution on a mass scale are untenable.
We cannot jail, fire or expel our way out of this crisis. We need institutional responses to sexual harm that prioritize both justice and healing -- not one at the expense of the other. Help us reach our goal and grow our campaign for survivors' justice.
With love,
#InMyWords Core Team
The whole process made me feel betrayed, angry and undervalued. It was worse than the assault itself.
That's why last month I argued in the New York Times that we need a new approach to justice for sexual assault. And now, I'm taking action. Together with my team, we're taking on mobilizing a movement to win structural changes for how sexual harassment and assault are dealt with in the United States.
Already, we've spoken with 80+ survivors, advocates, and academics to develop this idea; discussed our strategy over a weekend retreat for six core team members; built a website; recruited video submissions for a video campaign, and coordinated weekly calls. Over the next 6-8 months, we will develop the movement's strategy, structure, and principles with coaching support from Momentum. Funds raised will go directly to covering organizers' stipends and retreat expenses, which will be withdrawn and deposited by team members Sofie Karasek and Deepika Dilip.
I believe we can win, but funding for social change movements is limited. To keep us going, I need support from you, the grassroots.
Sexual assault is an epidemic, but survivors have, by and large, only two options: They can try to have the perpetrator formally punished, or they can do nothing. But it is this same factor — the scale of the problem — that ensures that cries for retribution on a mass scale are untenable.
We cannot jail, fire or expel our way out of this crisis. We need institutional responses to sexual harm that prioritize both justice and healing -- not one at the expense of the other. Help us reach our goal and grow our campaign for survivors' justice.
With love,
#InMyWords Core Team
Organizer
Sofie Karasek
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY
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