Freedom workshops

This autumn, I had the opportunity to speak at the ENS and Sorbonne Nouvelle University as part of a program to prevent sexual and sex-based violence. I'd like to extend my warmest regards to the manager of the schools, administrative staff, teachers and the VSS network who made these workshop possible. I met students who were motivated and committed to taking action against such violence.

Through small-group discussions with members of student association boards, themes for reflection and action emerged. I suggested that student associations could set up and run workshops. A few days later, I bumped into one of the members of an association who confirmed the board's desire to set up these workshops.

These ideas shared here may inspire other associations.

In small groups, invite students to reflect individually on their life paths and identify situations in which stereotypes (of all types) have been put to work.

Sample questions: describe exactly how it happened, how did you respond at the time, what do you think of it now, what do you want to do with it?

Whether or not to hold a group exchange depends on the willingness of the participants and the ability of the supervisor to ensure a respectful exchange.

Preliminary training tools for supervisors: ask the faculty's health department to intervene, for example, or attend training courses on running a discussion group, e.g. CFCV running a discussion group for victims of sexual violence.

NB: there are a number of organizations already working on these issues (such as forum theater associations).

Words have meaning - The press is full of articles where people "get raped", where victims "get beaten", where the rape victim faces "her attacker"...

All these formulations, when analysed, reveal the following:

- 1 - the effect it has (if she got raped, did she want it?) ;

- 2 - that there are other, more accurate ways of describing such a situation (e.g.: she's been raped, it's an act that's been perpetrated on her, she had nothing to do with it!)

Suggestion: in small groups, select, reread and rewrite newspaper articles and think about the consequences of these formulations, and how you feel about rewriting them.

In partnership with the theater association, consider staging productions based on the work carried out in Workshops 1 and 2.

Please note: it is essential to respect everyone's privacy and copyright. Any story that is staged must be done so with the agreement of the person who shared it and the person who edited it.

If you need legal advice, please contact us.