CCASA

For my Gender and Communication class (and also because I thought it would be a good experience), I am volunteering with the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CCASA).

Our professor asked us to write about two expectations that we have about working with our organization, where do these expectations come from, and are they supported or unfounded.

Overall, I have few expectation about working with CCASA, aside from that it’s going to be a rewarding experience. This is in part because the work I will be doing for the organization is outside of their offices and done on my own time. If I were under direct supervision, perhaps it would be different. But I do have expectations about the project I am going to be working on.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month; CCASA sets up a variety of events for this month, and my group partners and I have been tasked with planning a film screening and afterward leading a discussion on the issues presented in the film. One expectation I have from this is that far more women will show up than men. Not necessarily because men care less, but from gender issues being brought up through school/society, issues of Sexual Assault are presented more toward women. This is a shame for several reasons: 1) While the degree is certainly lesser, men still experience sexual assault/abuse. 2) Chances are that every man will at some point in their lives know someone who has experience sexual assault. 3) In the majority of sexual assaults, men are half the equation. This could in part be because of a lack of education about sexual assault and its effects that men are given—in my class’s book, Julia Wood writes about gendered communication in schools, and this is a subject, because of the themes of gender construction about what it means to male, would be avoided; and without knowledge about a subject like this, it also becomes difficult to understand where a survivor of it may be coming from and experiencing. It is my hope that I large amount of men attend the event; it’s relevant, wether they believe so or not.

A second expectation I have is that the discussion we have after we show our film (whatever it may be), will be intense and emotional. This subject is already intense as it is — a movie will visualize that, and as many are survivors of sexual assault or know someone who is, bringing a dialogue out of that will vocalize that intensity and could increase it. Although it’s a tough subject, I expect that the dialogue with be meaningful and enlightening for all who attend.