Whether one is a survivor or simply has a passionate vision for change, the first step in turning that vision into reality is to define a set of concrete goals and support them with an action plan.

The following “10 commandments” of goal setting are based on a list provided by Jamie Mintun. Management and motivational literature often like to speak rhetorically so lists of 3, 7 or 10 so this is only one of many such lists. However, Mintun’s list gets high marks for its blend of both emotional and practical aspects of goal setting.

The commentary on each goal reflects a variety of research on psychological and management aspects of goal setting, coupled with insights from survivors who have been the target of cruel or inhuman behavior.

1. Thou shalt be passionate. Follow your heart so you have energy for the long haul. Rape survivor Jamie Mintun writes:
   

   More powerful than any goal you set is the passion you have for what you want, what you do, and who you are. Ever notice that you set goals for the things you don’t want to do, but feel you must do? Yet the activities you absolutely relish somehow get done on their own…

   Too many businesses perish in the absence of the passion that birthed them… you cannot lose sight of what you’re here for. Know what fire burns bright in your chest… the warrior heart that beats for your cause. What do you stand for? What is the beauty you see in the world that you wish to share… and what is the suffering you seek to snuff out?

   Another rape survivor, Hayley Rose Horzepa, writes about the importance of holding onto passion even when it seems impractical:

   You can avoid doing things in the name of practicality for as long as you want… Nothing is easy, but when you are working toward something that you truly want, the end result will likely be more pleasant than if you are doing something because someone told you to “be practical.”

   If you’ve been spending your time on Earth avoiding your passion or what you love in favor of something more practical, you are not only cheating yourself but the world out of your greatness. Many people have sacrificed their deepest desires in the name of practicality, and if this is you, take some advice from Dr. Seuss: “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”

2. Thou shalt be value driven. Values are the intellectual handmaiden of passion. Whereas passion gives us energy, values give us purpose. They provide the “why” behind the passion and connect our passion to the needs of others.

   An effective goal must stay consistent with core values. This includes the core values of everyone affected by the goal: you, those working along side you, anyone contributing resources or moral support, anyone benefiting from your project. Know who benefits from your goals, how they beneift, and why you and they care. If a goal does not have value for you, ditch it. If the goal involves others but does not have value for them, ditch it. The best goals marry our personal vision with the needs of others.

   For yourself , know why you care about those values and what you are willing to pay in order to make them happen. A value is a true value if you are not willing to give up other things for that value.For others, don’t just guess at what others want, ask. If you want to help a particular group of people, ask them what they need most.

   If there are other people doing work similar work to the work you want to do, think long and hard. Is your project adding value that others are not? Will you add more value working on your own or joining with an existing project? Even social vision have a market and it is important to understand the role of your project within the larger market of social services.

   If others are investing money or resources in you, ask them what value they hope to achieve. Are their goals consistent with yours? Do you have a common mission? Can you educate them to bring their goals and values in line with yours? If not, can you work with the tensions and still stay faithful to your own values and goals?

   Know your priorities. Pick a small number of high value goals rather than a long laundry list of things that you think “ought” to happen. Too many goals results in scattered unfocused effort.

   Finally, sometimes values come into conflict. Anticipate conflicts when you can. Know which goals and values matter most if you have to chose or compromise.

3. Thou shalt be realistic. Dream big but think practically about the resources, constraints, and needs required to get from A to B.

   Big visions can be accomplished, but they take strategy and planning. Break down your big vision into smaller achievable steps. Think hard about the relationship between each step. How does the current step goal make the next step goal possible? Identify a strategic staircase that will help you accumulate resources and remove constraints by building on past successes.It is important not to discount the importance of small incremental goals.

   A goal doesn’t have to make a big splash to be worth the effort. As Mike McBride writes (survivor of childhood abuse):

   It’s easy to look at the big picture of our lives, and decide that doing something small won’t really matter…. The more small accomplishments we get under our belts, the more our confidence grows, the more we learn and develop the small skills that will be beneficial for the larger challenges.

   Being successful and accomplishing goals is a learned skill set. You don’t suddenly learn how to make a plan, stick to it, adjust as needed, and reach your goal, overnight. You spend a lifetime learning and refining those skills. Why not start with small goals instead of overwhelming yourself at the start and giving up?

   The term “strategic staircase” is more than management buzz-speak. It was developed by London Business School professor Michael Hays as a way to describe how large companies were able to redirect and grow their business. If large companies with ample resources need to think step wise when they move into new terrority, how much more so, the individual survivor with a creative vision for social change?

4. Thou shalt be detailed. Develop concrete metrics to identify progress towards the goal. If the goal is large identify concrete intermediate accomplishments.

   Vague or overly broad goals will simply lead to frustration. You can’t measure your achievement so you can’t reward yourself. Without tangible results it will become increasingly hard to see the connection between your values and your goals. When goals become disconnected from passion, it is hard to maintain your energy and commitment. You will not be able to stick with things for the long haul.

   So how do you tell if a goal is detailed enough? Like a newspaper report, goals must have a who, what, when, and where. Who will be needed to reach the goal? What actions will take place? When must these actions take place? Where will these actions take place? How will I know when the actions are complete? What event or measurement will tell me this? What will I see, touch, taste or smell when the goal is accomplished? “Send emails to 5 people this coming week” is a concrete goal. “Increase website traffic by 5% by January, 2011″ is a concrete goal. “Reduce violence” is not.

   Together these first four commandments are sometimes summarized in the acronym S.M.A.R.T : Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Specific. Relavance is another way of saying that goals must be tied to values and passion. Achievable underscores the importance of a realistic understanding of resource needs and the process of obtaining more resources for your vision. Specific, Measurable and Time Specific are three different ways of saying “Thou shalt be detailed”.

5. Thou shalt plan. A plan where realism and detail meet and are turned into action.

   Plans detail the actions needed to implement each step on the staircase that turns vision into reality. They should contain concrete measurable time bound mini-goals. They should list the actions that must be carried out to achieve those goals. They should name the resources needed by those actions and identify the sources for those resources.

   Plans should not be viewed as static entities. Rather they should be under a process of continuous evaluation. Expect the unexpected. Consider risk points and alternate paths should things go wrong. Expect to revise the plan as you go. Executing each step will bring new knowledge and unexpected circumstances. Do not be afraid to change your plan to take new insights and circumstances into account.

6. Thou shalt remain accountable. Put your plan in writing and share it with others. Set aside a regular time to review your plan and assess how well you are sticking to it. Encourage friends to remind you of your plan and help you to stay on track. Identify people who are willing to hold you accountable. Set aside to meet with them and discuss your progress.

   Accountability also means good stewardship. If your project involves the time and resources of others, it is especially important that you honor the purpose of their donations. Keep track of how resources are spent so you can show that you have used them well. When making major decisions involving the resources of others, avoid solo decision making. Even if your project is informal, identify people who are willing to act as a board of advisers to insure major decisions are consistent with the goals of everyone involved.

   Failure to do this can lose trust and damage even the most enthusiastic projects. Don’t let your vision die because you lost the trust of those who have helped you.

7. Thou shalt have fun. Sticking to plan doesn’t have to be dreary. Sometimes there is more than one way to reach the same end. We can’t always have fun at everything, but often we over look the possibilities. Let go and brainstorm: is there a fun and equally successful way to get to the next step? If so, go for it.

   Having fun also means rewarding yourself and those who work along side of you, as you reach each milestone. Without positive reinforcement along the way, it is hard to carry out a big vision to completion. Be proud of the small steps along the way.

   Finally, regardless of outcome, exercise good self-care. Research indicates that those who are exceptionally compassionate towards others tend to score lowest on measures of self care. Make sure you intentionally set aside time for things that relax you and remind you of your zest for life and the people you love most.

8. Thou shalt believe. Trust your plans and your ability to follow through.There is always a bit of hope and stretch in any important goal. If it were not so, then it wouldn’t be a goal. It would be history.

   One device for reinforcing belief is to state the goals in present tense. Instead of “I will do such-and-such within a year”, state “Dec, 2011. We have done such-and-such.”. The stated goal should be include sensory details and facts that prove the goal was accomplished. This includes the anticipated emotional responses of supporters: family, friends, board members, and so on.

   Don’t be deterred by setbacks. Even in the face of major setbacks, be prepared to look beyond the present challenge. Another rape survivor and motivational speaker, Jennifer Botkin Phillips, offers several tips that have helped her to live out the philosophy that “setbacks pave the way for comebacks“.

   Setbacks will happen but they don’t invalidate the goal or your possibility of achieving it. Examine the basis of each setback and self-doubt. If it is based on fact, develop a plan to address the limitation and move around it. If it is based on fear, explore that fear, find its roots, and question the thought processes and beliefs behind it.

9. Thou shalt seek support.Surround yourself with people who believe in you and who will hold you accountable.Do not be afraid to get other people involved.

   A vision can only grow when other people get involved and join you in making it their own.Even more important understand that supporters fall into at least two categories: (i) people who have resources but must be asked (ii) people who share your passion but don’t know what they can give. Be prepared to empower people and not just ask for their help.

10. Thou shalt not give up. Nothing important can be accomplished with a single deed. Be prepared to work over the long haul. Guard your passion and your sense of fun.

    • Reinforce your values and their connection to your goals. Being value driven is an on-going task. Set aside time daily or at least weekly to actively reflect on the values behind your goals. Why are they still important? How are the day to day practical tasks connected to your values?
    • Nuture your creativity. When faced with problems, seek out new ideas, both within and without. Internal means to seek new ideas include meditation and relaxation. External means to seek new ideas include books, articles, and conversation with others. Brainstorm about all the disciplines that might have valuable insights. If you are running an organization: look at materials on management. If you are involved in conscious raising, look at materials on marketing and find out what other organizations are doing to promote their causes. If you are providing meals, learn about new ideas in food service in general and not just non-profit food kitchens. Sometimes new ideas come out of the blue, but just as often they come when someone takes a good idea in one professional field and adapts it to work in another.
    • If you have a faith tradition that supports your goals, reflect on your traditions source texts and discuss your vision with your community. Religious traditions have often spent centuries or more struggling for the very things that you struggle with, but have not given up. Your tradition and faith community can provide both inspiration and a creative source for problem solving.
    • If your task is large set realistic intermediate goals and be sure to reward yourself when you meant them. Without midterm successes it will be far to easy for self-doubt to erode your motivation and passion.
    • Approach setbacks with pragmatism, not despair. Reevaluate your goals, but do not give up on the fact of having a goal. Our vision may change over time, but we must not stop working to convert vision into tangible reality.

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Forty years ago on May 4, 1970, 4 students were killed and 11 injured when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a students protesting the Vietnam war on the campus of Kent State Univerisy. The shootings divided the USA. Some wondered how a nation could treat its own children in this manner. Others unconditionally accepted whatever decisions were made by the National Guard. College campuses exploded with demonstrations and within a week 100,000 marched on the US capital to protest.

That day four families lost a child.

• Doris and Arthur lost their daughter Allison Krause. Laurel lost her older sister. On her tomb they wrote “flowers are better than bullets” because only a few days before she had placed a lillac in a friendly soldier’s gun barrel using those words.
• Louis and Florence Schroeder lost their son, Bill. Bill Schroeder was an ROTC student who had committed himself to 10 years in his countries service: 4 as a ROTC student, 4 as a full-time officier, and 2 in reserve.
• On the day of the shootings, Elaine Holstein, Jeff Miller‘s mother, was listening to the car radio as she drove home. She heard that four had been killed, never dreaming that one would be her own son. They had both been concerned about the tensions, and she decided to ask him to come home. When she got home, she called his fraternity and asked for her son. A boy answered “He’s dead”.
• Sandy Scheuer was simply passing through on her way to class when the bullets began to fly. Her parents were Holocaust refugees who had come to the US expecting to live in a state that would protect them.

Dean Kahler survived the attack but the bullet in his spine put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. In the years immediately following his parents struggled with overprotectiveness and he worked to overcome his anger at the loss of the use of his legs. Even with the anger, the shooting only served to strengthen his conviction that there must always be an alternative to violence and war. To work through his anger he became active in wheelchair sports and helped out with his school’s disability office.

The political allegiances that split the nation also fed the blame-the-victim mentality that so often affects the survivors of violent crimes. Along side many, many letters of support, Dean Kahler received hate mail. Some letters even wished he had died. Joseph Lewis, Jim Russell, and Robert Stamps, belonged to families that were certain that the National Guard was in the right. Their families responded to their injuries with anger and judgment rather than support.

But loss is only the beginning of the story. Kent State has turned into a historic event because the survivors found ways to turn their loss into both personal and social healing. Some worked to preserve the memory of what happened. Some fought to make the government accountable for its actions. Some saw Kent State as a symbol for deeper social problems and sought to address them.

In the 1970′s survivors fought all the way to the Supreme court to give families the right to sue the Governor and the National Guard (Scheuer v. Rhodes). Separate suits by the families were later united into a single suit, Krause v. Rhodes. Though the case was settled out of court in 1979, the judicial decisions along the way set new standards for government accountability.

In April, Alan Canfora (shot in the wrist) and Terry Strubbe (witness) announced efforts to reopen the investigation on the basis of a tape which allegedly has an audible “Right here, Get Set, Aim, Fire”. The government investigation in the early 1970′s had concluded that soldiers fired without orders, but the timing of the start and end of the fire – a tight volley of shots over the course of 13 seconds suggests otherwise.

During the first week of May, Doris and Laurel Krause, Dean Kahler, and Tom Grace (shot in the foot) and several other witnesses are participating in a Truth tribunal , modelled on truth and reconciliation commissions used to address government violence in Africa and South America. The proceedings will be documented by Emily Kunstler, daughter of the William Kunstler, the civil rights attorney that helped the survivor families in their 1970′s legal battles.

A 40 year battle for justice may seem extreme, but Joe Lewis, shot in the leg and stomach, puts it this way:

Many think it should be buried, and they tried to do that by building the gym. You can’t bury what happened. You have to live with it. not necessarily to dwell on it but go on with our lives and incorporate what we all have, or should have, learned that May 4.

The lessons learned from Kent state extend well beyond Kent State and well beyond the 1970′s. Mike Alwitz, a witness to the shootings, became an artist and has dedicated much of his life to painting peace and justice murals in urban centers and areas of conflict. The Kent May 4 Center, lead by Alan Canfora, has a ten point mission statement that includes both Kent State Shooting remembrances and promoting the importance of student social activism on and off campus.

Mary Ann Vecchio, who was standing right beside Jim Miller when he was shot comes to campus each spring to talk to students and shares these words:

I tell them it shows what can happen if the evildoers get too much power. They can take your freedom away. You could be walking to school, and what happened back then could happen to you

Barry Levine who was by the side of his girlfriend Allison Krause when she was killed teaches both the necessity and risks of challenging authority:

You need to be conscious of the fact that questioning authority anywhere can be a benign learning experience, or it can be dangerous, because a government is always going to act to preserve itself. But do I think it’s still vital to question authority? Always, from the beginning to the end of time.”

Arthur Krause, Allison Krause’s father, spoke often about how Kent State taught him the true cost of apathy:

I feel a great sense of guilt because I realized what was going on but didn’t do a damn thing about it. Like most Americans these days, we sit on the fence and depend on the lawyer, the church, and the government to do whatever should be done, but if the government doesn’t have the right people on the job, nothing will be done …. and we, the people, have to make the government good. Apathy will not be part of my make-up anymore. Apathy is what caused Kent State.

In memory of those who died and in gratefulness for those who lived, may we also say: “Apathy will not be part of our make-up anymore.”

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The blogathon explored the experience of survivors from many perspectives: family, friends, the survivors themselves, art, poetry, music and social action. The blogathon posts show how coming to terms with rape is both a difficult and life renewing process. But these are more than just survivor stories. They are narratives that show the interaction between life experience and the creative processes that lead to art, literature, and social action:

• Angela, a documentary producer, goes in search of her namesakes across the country and finds her own story echoed in the women she meets, along with stories of courage and determination that have continued to inspire her. Her documentary, Searching for Angela Shelton won many awards, including the best independent documentary in the Austin film festival.
• Inwood writes of the creative interaction between developing the plot and character of a novel and her discovery of a need to heal from her own past. She concludes with some reflections on the role of collusion and silence in allowing rape and kidnapping to “happen” as well as the importance of speaking out and empowering people to confront rather than look away.
• Dannyn speaks with awe inspiring courage about events that take guts even to remember – witnessing the death of a friend, being left for dead by a rapist high on drugs, surviving a kidnapping. She reminds us of the meaning of grit and determination.
• Vanessa, the blogathon sponsor, tells how rape lead to her business as a designer of inspiring jewelry as well as many social action activities. Her story is rounded out with blog posts from her father and two close friends. Together they help us see that rape never affects only the victim. Everyone who loves and is close to a survivor is affected in one way or another. It is a wound in our social fabric and not just a wound to the individual.
• Kim Lampe tells her story both metaphorically and factually – she has a gift for writing that allows her story to go beyond its boundaries and draw together hints of life, death, suspense, mystery, uncertainty and hope.

A synopsis of the individual posts in chronological sequence follows:

This is the fourth in a series of 12 blogathons sponsored by members of Angela’s Army of Angels. The first of these was sponsored by Joanna Doane and used a classic “thon” fundraising model. Donors pledged dollar amounts for each hour of sustained blogging. There were a total of 48 posts, one each hour on the half hour. The project was so successful that it inspired the Army of Angels to turn it into a monhly event. The more recent blogathons are using an online donation service to collect one time donations rather than per-hour donations. Previous blogathons can be viewed at the following websites:

• January 9-10 – sponsored by Joanna Doane at Eyes Open
• February 6-7 – sponsored by Megan Fitzwater at Speaking Out
• March 27-28 – sponsored by Stephanie Chard at Finding My Voice

For upcoming blogathon events see the Army of Angel’s website.

The Angela Shelton Foundation sponsors a variety of projects aimed at inspiring survivors of sexual and domestic violence. The projects included The Survivors Manual – a website and blog featuring self-empowerment and healing tips for survivors of childhood sexual abuse and adult sexual assault, workshops, an annual conference for survivors, and Angela’s Army of Angels. They are also seeking to sponsor additional projects in the arts and media that aim to inspire survivors or end violence. Funding comes from revenue generated by the documentary Searching for Angela Shelton and survivor fundraising projects like this month’s blogathon.

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Later today, thirty-seven miles west of Krakow, Poland, ten thousand high school students, representing forty countries, will join adults of all ages and participate in the March of the Living. There, the “marchers” will retrace the steps of the “March of Death,” the actual route which countless numbers of people were forced to take on their way to the gas chambers at Birkenau, the largest concentration camp complex built by the Nazis during World War II. As is tradition, the March begins at the gate of the Auschwitz I site, with its inscription Arbeit macht frei (“work will set you free”), and concludes at the site of the Auschwitz II – Birkenau camp.

The March will go on as planned, despite Saturday’s air tragedy that took the lives of the Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, his wife, Maria Kaczynski, and dozens of the country’s top political and military leaders. Poland has declared a week of mourning and March participants will express their solidarity with the Polish people by observing a moment of silence.

This year, The March marks 65 years since the liberation of the death camps and the end of World War II and will pay special tribute to the memory of the million and a half children who were killed during the war. Additionally, this year’s program will call attention to survivors from different professional and social fields in order to emphasize how the Jewish community has succeeded in rebuilding a new world out of the ashes of the Holocaust.

A delegation from Israel, led by Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky and former Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, includes both Holocaust survivors and a cross-section of young Israelis, including internationally ranked tennis player Shahar Peer and film and television actor, Ohad Knoller. Black ribbons have been attached to the delegations’ flags as a visible sign of recognizing, and remembering, Saturday’s tragedy.

about: The mission of the March of the Living is to challenge a new generation of Jews with two of the most significant events of Jewish history – the Shoah and the birth of the State of Israel. It is achieved by bringing Jewish teenagers to many of the key places where these events took place, in order to understand the world that was destroyed and how Israel was established. This is intensified by sharing these experiences with Holocaust survivors.

The program strives to create memories, leading to a revitalized commitment to Judaism, Israel and the Jewish People; allowing March’ers to educate their peers about the Holocaust and to fight those who would deny its history, while forging a dynamic link with Israel.

This article originally appeared in eJewishPhilanthropy.com; reprinted with permission.

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The exact date varies from city to city and school to school, but each year in the 3rd or 4th week of April, politicians, activists, students, celebrities, military personnel, survivors, and concerned citizens go to work or school wearing a pair of jeans to protest sexual violence and the social attitudes that support it.

Rape and sexual assault are not the only human ills remembered with denim. Each year Lee Jeans sponsors a breast cancer awareness day in May. In India, activists where jeans in December to raise awareness for HIV and AIDS. In September of each year, the Irish Youth Foundation promotes denim day to raise funds for underprivileged Irish youth.

The use of jeans to protest rape and sexual assault has its origins in a 1999 decision of the Italian supreme court.  In February, 1999,  the Italian supreme court overturned the rape conviction of a 45 year old driving instructor because his 17 year old student had been wearing tight jeans at the time of the rape.  The judges argued that the woman had consented because the jeans were tight and could not be removed without the victims cooperation. The effect of intimidation or psychological coercion was not considered.

Italian members of parliament protesting the 1999 court decision that let a rapist go free because his victim was wearing tight jeans.

The decision spawned an outcry in Italy and around the globe. In Italy, several women members of parliament wore jeans to parliamentary sessions. In April of that year, activists in Los Angelos, California (USA) organized the first ever Denim day in solidarity with the women of Italy.

The Italian supreme court eventually overturned its infamous “jeans” decision in 2008. This decision was the final step of a series of court decisions that have gradually undercut the 1999 decision. A summary of these decisions can be found on line in the Colombia Journal of European Law.

Rape never exists in a vacuum. It often forces us to think beyond the specific issue of rape to larger principles. This case was no exception. The deep discrepancy between the Italian court’s endorsement of the “jeans defense” and evolving social mores in Europe and around the globe forced some to re-evaluate the relationship between legal process and social norms. An example of this is Kitty C. Calvita‘s 2001 article published in Law and Society review: Blue jeans, rape, and the ‘de-constitutive’ power of law.

In the USA Denim Day continues to be honored with rape and sexual assault awareness activities. The specific legal decision that inspired it is thankfully part of history, but the need to raise awareness of rape and the role of psychological coercion continues.

Colleges, rape crisis centers, and even military bases in California, Guam, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Nevada, and South Carolina all actively promote Denim Day both on and off line. Two organizations in particular, Support Denim Day and Peace Over Violence are working to make Denim day into a national event.

Although Denim Day began with the protest of Italian parliamentarians, it does not seem to have caught on outside the USA. Perhaps there are efforts on the ground and out of the sight of the web, but so far the only mention of Denim Day for the sake of sexual assault comes from a blogger in in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia who wrote a post promoting Denim Day in 2008.

If you or your organization would like to promote Denim day, please consider visiting either Support Denim Day or Peace Over Violence. Both sites are keeping a registry of Denim Day participants and have a number of programming and promotion ideas.

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It began with a guerrilla art campaign in New York in 1994. Today it is a three part fine art exhibit at the University of Pennsylvania running from February 17 through March 5.

Charles Hall, then a creative director at Chiat Day Advertising, threw himself a 30th birthday party. The next morning he found out that someone had tried to rape one of his guests. In response he designed a stickers with the slogan “This isn’t an invitation to rape me” and plastered them all over New York City.

But it didn’t stop there. He convinced a group of photographers to donate striking black and white photographs and arranged to have them published in mass media publications, among them Der Speigel, Elle, and Playboy. The stickers and ad campaign were eventually donated to Peace Over Violence (formerly the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women). It was used in anti-rape campaigns throughout the state of California. Posters and stickers based on the original ad campaign were also sold at minimal cost to anti-rape organizations across the USA.

Each picture illustrated a different circumstance where people tend to excuse a man’s behavior and see it as “bad sex” rather than rape: marriage, sexy clothes, drunkenness, homelessness, kissing, and so on. The phrase “This is not an invitation to rape me” was included in small red print on each image. A sampling of the images are shown below. The full collection of stickers and images can be seen here.

Ellen Von Unwerth

Mario de Lopez

Tony Ward

Moshe Brahka

Scottish campaign

The campaign went international in 2007 when the government of Scotland asked Charles Hall to adapt the campaign to the UK market. For the revision, Charles worked together with Clifford Graham and Julie Cerise. Full color photographs replaced the original black and white images. On the new color images, the difficult-to-see red slogan was replaced with the same words in yellow framed by a pink tear drop.

The Scottish campaign ran in two phases, in the fall of 2008 and 2009. A website with interactive posters was created. The images were plastered on billboards and bus stops.  The campaign was warmly received by the advertising industry, feminists, and anti-rape activists, and even the Scottish trade unions. However, many of the comments left on the website and non-feminist blogs do raise doubts about how effective the campaign is at changing attitudes. One of the participants in the campaign, a rape survivor who had done voice overs and interviews for a radio and television component to the campaign recently went public with her identity. She protested the offensive comments left on the campaign website and also highlighted the need for additional efforts to change public attitudes.

Fox Exhibit Hall (Daily Pennsylvanian)

The University of Pennsylvania exhibit represents the next stage in the development of this campaign, both in terms of message and art. It attempts to address some of the limitations of earlier versions of the campaign.

To expand the range of artistic voices, students and artists around the globe were invited to contribute. Up until this point the artistic content has been limited by governmental concerns and the limits of popular media. By formulating this as an art exhibit rather than a public service campaign, the relationship between consent and sensuality could be explored in further depth and with greater artistic freedom.  A full list of artists on exhibit can be found here.

The new exhibit has three components: the first part in Fox Hall focuses on the connection between sensuality, relationship, and consent. The second part displayed on campus sidewalks and titled “The Joy of Consent” focuses on the positive value of consent. The third part of the exhibit, titled “I am the Me”, focuses on the variety of victims and potential victims. It includes self-portraits of victims and people who see themselves as potential victims.

Both the UK and US public service campaigns have been criticized for using only professional model-quality white women as potential rape victims. Unless ordinary people are seen as victims, people may not make the connection between their day to day interactions and the campaign message. Thus the first part includes male and non-white artistic models. The third component insures that ordinary people, and not just professional models are included as potential victims.

From "Joy of Consent" (Tony Ward)

A second criticism of the original campaign is its focus on the negative: it teaches what isn’t a yes to sex, but neglects to teach what is a yes to sex. Increasingly anti-rape advocates are feeling that “no means no” needs to be replaced with “only yes means yes”. Hence, the exhibit titled “The Joy of Consent”.

Photos of all three parts of the exhibit can be found on Facebook.

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This year the United Nations has chosen the theme “Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all” for International Women’s Day.

First observed in 1911, International Women’s Day events typically focus on women’s stories and women’s empowerment. In the UK alone more than 160 events have been registered with the International Women’s Day website. They include story-telling, comedy routines, free beauty therapies, lectures, art exhibits, food bazaars, special television programming, charity fund-raisers, film-screenings, poetry readings, conferences, marches, and a discussion in the House of Lords.

Equally diverse activities can be found around the globe. In India, there is a run in Bangalore sponsored by Adidas and free tailoring classes in Lucknow. In Guatemala and Bolivia, two women artists blogging and cycling from Quetzaltenango, Guatemala to Bogota, Columbia to learn more about the lives of women in those countries. The ride will end with an art exhibit in Bogota, Columbia. In Nigeria, a day of advocacy is planned with TV and radio broadcasts, meetings with political and religious leaders, a solidarity march, lectures and an award ceremony.

In the blogosphere, International Women’s Day (IWD) is being observed with blogathons and story collection drives. To participate, visit any one of these sites:

• Gender Across Borders IWD Blogathon is running a blogathon based on the 2010 UN theme of “Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all”
• Bloggers Unite: International Women’s Day
• Reuter’s News Service will be sponsoring a live blogging event
• Indusladies.com is requesting blogs on 10 different development issues, including doweries, sex trafficking, woman’s health, and equity in the workplace.
• The Ubuntu Women’s website is promoting women in technology by collecting stories from women about when they first started using Ubuntu.

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The second annual wilderness retreat for survivors of rape, sponsored by the author of Resurection after Rape will be an opportunity for for survivors to celebrate and meet with other proud, positive survivors from across the country, for a time of happiness, victory, and healing!

The retreat will include discussions lead by experts and leaders in rape trauma, a concert by Grammy award winning musician Bill Miller, and opportunities to engage in creative rituals for healing, grieving, and cleansing.

Location: Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA
Dates: April 9-11, 2009

For more information, please see:

http://www.resurrectionafterrape.org/spiritualretreat.html

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