'Speakout': Share stories to help stop sexual violence

Combating stereotypes and misinformation about sexual violence will be the focus of Sexual Violence Awareness Week, Wednesday, Jan. 22, through Wednesday, Jan. 29.

A highlight of the week will be a "speakout" against violence at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, in Ida Noyes Hall. Survivors and their friends and loved ones are invited to share their experiences and to speak out against sexual violence.

"By telling our stories we overcome the isolation that helps feed the violence. By listening to the stories of others we find ways to stop the violence," said the Rev. Alison Boden, Dean of Rockefeller Chapel. The chapel is co-sponsoring the project with the Sexual Violence Prevention Resource Center, the Coordinating Council for Minority Issues, the University Community Service Center and the Campus Ministers at the University of Chicago.

Throughout the week, "walls of acknowledgment" will be set up in Reynolds Club, Swift Hall and the University Bookstore. Those who have been affected by sexual violence are encouraged to anonymously pin ribbons of solidarity on one of these three walls. "These walls," Boden said, "will bear witness to the enormity of the problem of sexual and domestic violence."

For more information, call 702-9202.