Aller au contenu

Intersectionality it: the Movement to end Gender Based Violence

Article

Senior Fellow Cameron Kinker is a queer survivor of sexual assault. He felt inspired by the election of the Trump administration in 2016 to highlight the experiences and stories of survivors who are sometimes forgotten or sidelined.

Book display in library highlighting different experiences
Book display in library highlighting different experiences

Often times the gender-based violence prevention activist space feels overly focused on the experiences and stories of white, straight, cis women. Cameron wanted to expand this to focus on intersectionality, highlighting statistics and stories of marginalized survivors of relationships and/or sexual violence.

Poster campaign to raise awareness about intersectionality
Poster campaign to raise awareness about intersectionality

Cameron worked with student activists from across the country who work to raise awareness and spark conversation about Relationship Violence in their communities. They developed campaigns and actions to address intersectionality within the movement they were creating on their campuses. Cameron held multiple video conferences (some group, some individual) to first discuss articles about the experiences of survivors of color, queer and trans survivors, immigrant survivors, disabled survivors, etc. He then worked individually with each student to figure out a plan for implementation.

Cameron utilized existing articles and information online in order to work with students to come up with ideas. Intersectionality it: the Movement to end Gender Based Violence, would not of been possible without the partnership with The One Love Foundation.

A positive way to get involved would be by simply highlighting the statistics and experiences of marginalized survivors, working against victim blaming and calling out racist, sexist, homophobic/transphobic, problematic language.