Sexualized Violence Awareness Week (SVAW) is a collaboration between the Anti-Violence Project, the UVic Student Society, and UVic Student Affairs. SVAW is an annual event that started in 2014 to engage people on campus in talking and learning about how we can come together as a community to work towards preventing sexualized violence.

Stay tuned for 2017 schedule and details!

Past years

2016

SVAW 2016 focused on believing survivors of sexualized violence. Highlights included:

• Sept 12-13^th, Sexualized Violence Awareness Information Table: This event provided an opportunity for people to talk and learn about sexualized violence and how to believe survivors, meet AVP staff and volunteers, get anti-violence swag, take the pledge with Let’s Get Consensual, learn more about AVP and the work we do, and learn about AVP Volunteer Training.
• Sept 15^th, Consent Workshop: Through activities, discussions, and media, AVP’s Consent Workshops provide folks with the education, skills, and opportunity to understand and practice consent in a supportive and sex positive space.
• Sept 16^th, Support Workshop: The AVP Support Workshop provides a foundation for supporting survivors of sexualized violence, discussing different approaches and tools such as active listening, believing survivors, caring for yourself, and making referrals.
• Sept 20^th, Bringing in the Bystander – Taking action to prevent sexual violence: The Bystander Intervention Workshop, run by the UVic Office of Student Life, is designed to empower and equip students with the skills and awareness to recognize and safely intervene in situations that contribute or lead to sexualized violence. Participants receive co-curricular recognition on their transcripts, a certificate for workshop completion, and a chance to win a $250 tuition credit. For more information or to register for a training session, visit uvic.ca/bystander
• Sept 27^th, Supporting Survivors Information Fair: AVP organized survivor-centered coloring activities (PDF), button-making, discussions about centering and believing survivors, and a “messages to survivors” tree. On- and off-campus organizations were present to talk about how they support individuals who have been impacted by sexualized violence, and participants enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate, and a spoken-word performance by Zoé Duhaime.
• Sept 28^th, Keynote event, “We Begin By Listening”: featuring Farrah Khan with spoken word performances by Jeremy Loveday and Victoria’s Youth Poet Laureate Ann-Bernice Thomas.

2015

Highlights included:

• Sept 14^th, Banner Drop and Information Fair: Presentations by representatives from the Anti-Violence Project, UVSS and Student Affairs about the importance of sexualized violence prevention on campus, and an opportunity to take the Let’s Get Consensual pledge and engage with campus groups and community organizations present to provide information and connect students to support resources.
• Sept 14-18^th, Clothesline Project: The Clothesline Project is an international campaign where survivors of sexualized violence can share their stories by creating art on t-shirts that are displayed on a clothesline for others to see. AVP hosted t-shirt making sessions and set up the display at various locations on campus during SVAW.
• Sept 15^th, Keynote event, “Meeting at the Intersections – Conversations on preventing sexualized violence on campus”: featuring social justice educators Darnell Moore and Anna Soole, with a spoken word performance from the Victoria Youth Poet Laureate Zoë Duhaime.