3/1 Before #MeToo - Opening Remarks
Our event earlier in the month was a complete success! Thanks to all who attended. It was great to have the support of students, staff, faculty, and community members at our event.Ā
In this post, we wanted to highlight the opening remarks of this event, written by CARE at SARC Assistant Director Jessica Heredia. These words capture the vision behind the event title and the work of past advocates and activists that we hope to continue in years to come.Ā
Welcome to Before #MeToo: the History of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response at UC San Diego. My name is Jessica Heredia and I am the Assistant Director of CARE at the Sexual Assault Resource Center. Todayās panel is just one of the events taking place this year on campus to commemorate CARE at SARCās 30th Anniversary.Ā
Before our discussion begins, I wanted to provide a little bit of context about the scope of todayās discussion and why we chose to address #MeToo in our event title. Ā In the past few months, #MeToo has shined a spotlight on the prevalence of sexual harassment and sexual violence across various industries and institutions in a way that has sent shockwaves through society. Ā But with any spotlight, some voices and individuals are left in the dark while others are amplified and magnified with a heightened focus. #MeToo is the timeliest example. In 1997, Tarana Burke, a Black woman with a passion for serving survivors, specifically women of color survivors of sexual harassment and sexual assault created the āMe Tooā movement. It was born out of encounter with a young girl of color who shared a story of sexual abuse. Burke knew she had to do something and went on to create her own non-profit, āJust Be Inc.ā and started to spread her āMe Tooā message. Ā It wasnāt until this past year, 2017, when the message #MeToo was tweeted by a white woman with celebrity status that the movement was designated as ābeing bornā but Burkeās name wasnāt even associated with it in those early weeks.Ā
For those of us who live and breathe this work on a daily basis, we werenāt surprised. Whenever something is hot or new, thereās an erasure, sometimes intentional and sometimes not, of all the work that precedes and informs it. The voices of a particular type of survivor are heard louder than others. The work of the grassroots activists is often appropriated, re-packaged and commodified without their consent. So when we needed an attention grabbing title for this event⦠why not use the popularity of #MeToo to our advantage in order to amplify those who could give voice to our own history? Like Tarana Burke, we have been doing this work long before Twitter even existed. The work that we do as advocates and activists is rooted in decades of anti-violence work that goes much farther back than #MeToo, The Hunting Ground, Title IX, and even the second wave feminist movement.Ā
In an effort to prevent the erasure of our own history, today we spotlight the history of CARE at SARC. If we could have made it possible, we would have shined that spotlight on all of the the passionate students whoāve led our education efforts, the dedicated staff whoāve jumped out of bed at 2am on a Saturday morning to respond to a crisis call, and the brave survivors who gave us the honor of hearing their stories and holding space for their pain.Ā
Thus today, is just a glimmer of that light, shared through the stories and discussion of our amazing panel members. Ā So without further ado, letās get started. Iād like to introduce our wonderfully gracious moderator, Liora Kian-Gutierrez who will take it from here. Ā Ā
A huge THANK YOU again to our friends and partners who attended. We are so appreciative of your continued support!Ā
In closing, here is a fun picture of our team.Ā