Activism Log 2

Activism Log 2

Week 4/1/2012

1.       Activism

This week my project partner Sarah and I spoke during a Panhellenic Council meeting, on Wednesday the 4^th, about our projects and the opportunities available to each chapter through UCF Victim Services.  Prior to speaking we received very positive feedback about our proposal from both the Officer of Community Service and the Panhellenic President.  Both women were very excited to have us present our idea and super encouraging.  When we spoke in Pan about the speaking opportunities available to each chapter and our Underawareness drive we handed out flyers to each Panhellenic Delegate to take back to their chapters.  We made the flyers on Tuesday the 3^rd, the flyers were a picture of an undershirt and a pair of underwear with the due dates for the Underawareness drive along with the sizes and styles needed.  In  addition we put both of our contact information and encouraged them to share this information during their report in their chapter meetings.  The pitfall was that many chapters have their calendars booked a semester in advance or at the latest the first month into the semester, this being said many chapters were already so over programmed that they found it difficult to find the time to focus on what we were doing and the opportunities being presented. Next week hopefully we will have a strong response and a lot of woman will have brought in underwear to donate.

2.       Reflection

The readings for this week were “Violence Against Women”, “Radical Pleasure”, and “I Am Not a Rapist”

These readings relate directly to what we are doing with our service learning project this week.  This week we are advertising and making the woman of Panhellenic aware for our Underawareness drive and how it will benefit the community. The Underawareness drive collects underwear for victims of sexual assault who have chosen to report the assault.  This ties directly to these readings because they were about violence against woman and how it is fueled by society and how in many instances the victims were blamed.  Something that stood out most to me from our readings was this line referring to woman and their experiences with domestic violence.  It reads, “Most women […] a certain amount of what could be defined as sexual violence as part of daily life.  We experience hassles on the street, in parks, on public transit, or in cafes and bars. We put up with sexists comments from bosses or coworkers.  We sometimes make compromises as part of maintain intimate relationships” (p. 257)

3.       Reciprocity

What we have done this week has made me realize the importance of helping out your community.  Without donations from the community these centers wouldn’t be able to provide these victims with clean clothing to go home with.  In many instances victims are often blamed for the acts of violence and assault that have occurred against them, by provided these centers with donations we are supporting these victims in their time of need.