Women of Color Surviving Sexual Violence

Check out In Solidarity posted by BFP, who's focusing on sexual assault survivors.. There are a couple of interesting ideas for validating the experiences of sexual assault. I particularly like this idea of a 24 hour blog vigil.

Also I am putting together a compilation of pieces by WOC artists/writers who have survived sexual violence and outright systematic oppression as women of color:

Attention women of color writers and artists:
This is a call for submissions for an anthology of very original and compelling short stories (fiction and non-fiction), testimonies, poetry, plays, photographs, and artwork! The theme of this anthology, titled Quiet Wars, will be about women of color's experiences in being faced with and surviving systemic oppression through interpersonal experiences. How has sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, ableism, ageism, nativism, etc., experienced through interpersonal relations violated women of color? Do you have a story on experiences dealing with rape, domestic violence, hate violence, or being humiliated/marginalized physically/intellectually/culturally in social settings (job, school, family, etc.) as a woman of color? How have you/do you (or generally women of color) survived these experiences? How are women of color pressured to not speak about these experiences? What does healing around these issues look like? Is healing something hard to conceptualize?

Submissions need not be actual testimonials although these are definitely more than welcome. As long as they creatively and compellingly engage and explore the theme they are welcome. The idea for this anthology came about through the (very personal) realization of empowerment and initial healing through naming and talking about our experiences. The goal of this project is to create an awareness of the issues specific to women of color against power imbalances (within our own communities of color as well as within the larger dominant society). This awareness also allows for the validation of other women's experiences who have gone through similar encounters with power. It will be a conversation with the many "faceless" women who come into contact with power and have difficulty naming their experiences.

Deadline for submissions will be June 17th note the date change. Email me at: "RosaDominicana at gmail dot com" with submissions or questions.
Please forward this selectively to other women of color writers/artists!