Tag Archives: sexual violence

As If I Am Not There Film Screening 15th May

Posted on by corkfeminista

Cork Feminista in association with Hanna’s House Peace Project and UCC Women’s Studies are proud to show ‘As If I Am Not There’ on Tuesday 15th May at 6pm (film to start at 6.30pm) in Room G06 of Brookfield Health Sciences Building, UCC.

The screening will be followed by a Q & A Session with Oscar-nominated director Juanita Wilson & Shirley Graham, Co-ordinator with the Hanna’s House Peace Project.

All are welcome, please join us!

Film Summary: 
Directed by Juanita Wilson, As If I Am Not There is a story of a young woman from Sarajevo whose life is shattered the day a young soldier walks into her apartment and tells her to pack her things. Rounded up with the other women from the village and imprisoned in a warehouse in a remote region of Bosnia, she quickly learns the rules of camp life. The day she is picked out to ‘entertain’ the soldiers, the real nightmare begins. Stripped of everything she ever had and facing the constant threat of death, she struggles against all the hatred she sees around her. In a final act of courage or madness, she decides to make one last stand: to dare to be herself. And this simple act saves her life. It’s when she realises that surviving means more than staying alive that she has to make a decision that will change her life forever. As If I Am Not There is a modern war story that explores love, identity and the connections between us.  TRIGGER WARNING FOR RAPE, SEXUAL VIOLENCE.

 

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Petition: Stop the victimisation of rape survivors in Irish Courts

Posted on by corkfeminista

Cork Feminista supporter Grace Cahalane-Hughes has organised a petition to protest the recent decision by Mr. Justice Carney to traumatise and then jail an alleged rape victim during the trial of her accused rapists.

 

For more information about the case, read the article that was published in the Sunday Independent on 12th February: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/courts/gangrape-woman-arrested-during-trial-following-overdose-3017017.html

 

Please sign the petition here and forward the link to friends and family.  We need to tell the Ministry of Justice and the Irish judicial system that this is not acceptable treatment of victims of sexual violence.

Going Dotty

Posted on by corkfeminista

For those of you who’ve been on holidays or living under a rock for the past while, Cork Feminista is going dotty in your absence!!!

 

On Sat 9th July at 2pm, member of Cork Feminista will stage a ‘Join the Dots’ Action in Cork City Centre. Check out more info in this previous post: Join the Dots

We’re getting together this Sat in the Woodford Bar at 2.30pm to plan out the logistics so feel free to come along and help us out!

In the meantime I’ve been thinking about my dot and I think it will be something along these lines:

 

 

 

 

 

 

JOIN THE DOTS!

Posted on by corkfeminista

On a daily basis, we are assaulted with many messages in our society, culture & media. From victim blaming in cases of sexual assault to the constant objectification of women in all forms of media to the Irish Government cutting funding to the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland, to the rise of Slutwalks across Canada, the US and UK to the sexualisation of young girls to Gardai being caught of tape ‘joking’ about raping a protester – we are surrounded by negative messages.

 

AND WE’RE TIRED OF IT!

 

So we’re doing something about it! On Saturday 9th July at 2pm Cork Feminista will be organising a ‘Join the Dots!’ action in Cork City Centre.

 

The purpose of the event is to showcase how all of these issues (represented on dot shaped placards) are interlinked (aka joined) and have an overwhelming negative impact on our society, particularly, but not exclusively on women and girls.

 

We need volunteers to help us out, to make dots, plan the route, to leafleting on the day etc so please email us at corkfeminista@gmail.com if you want to get involved.

 

This is your chance to make your voice heard about the issues that affect your life in a peaceful, inclusive protest action.

 

Whatever your issue is, make a dot to represent it and join with us on the 9th July!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mobilise! Agitate! Create!

Posted on by corkfeminista

So the concept of Slutwalks continue to capture our attention across the world of online media and in real life too. Since posting here last week, I’ve had many a thought-provoking conversation with fellow activists and friends. It’s been a while since my feminist grey cells were taxed to this degree! So I find myself now in a position where I’m very grateful to Slutwalks for having opened up a space to discuss issues around sexual violence and objectification in a way that moves forward my own understanding and thoughts on the subject. I’m also left more confused and frustrated as to how to move forward because while I admire the capacity and success of Slutwalks to mobilise a group of people to agitate for change I recognise, understand and share some of the concerns raised by those who don’t agree with the concept. I’m also really friggin pissed off at the cutting of core funding to the RCNI and want to do something about that and I know many other CF members feel the same. (Check out RCNI website for more information: http://www.rcni.ie/real-rape-crisis-help.aspx)

So myself and Jen have decided that our June meeting is going to be run by members for members on these very issues since so many of you have expressed an interest in some sort of action. (This will also be our last meeting for the summer as we are going on hols for July & August).

We’re asking people who are interested in doing some sort of action around sexual violence and objectification to come to a planning meeting at 6pm, Monday 6th June in the Woodford Bar, Paul Street.

We want to create an action that is inclusive of all the CF members views and that is also realistic given our limited capacity as a voluntary group. We might end up to decide to do a photo stunt, we might decide to do a letter campaign for the RCNI, we might decide to have a debate to Slutwalks – it’s going to be up to you!

If you’re angry about this issue, if you want to mobilise people, if you want to agitate for change, if you want to create something, not destroy something – then this planning meeting is for you. Spread the word feministas!