The Newsletter of the Deeds Not Words Community

September 12, 2019 | Deeds Digest No. 149
Hello #Changemakers,
 

As our young advocates head back to school they face real perils. No, not the doom of the pop-quiz or soon coming mid-terms.  But by the very real threat of sexual assault — this new school year, we urge students and young advocates to Beware the Red Zone.
 

The Red Zone —a time when the risk of sexual assault is said to be highest; is marked by the beginning of the school year until Thanksgiving break, and it is one of the most dangerous times for female and LGBTQ college students.

According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, which advocates nationally against sexual violence, More than 50% of college sexual assaults take place during the Red Zone.

Carla Ramazan and Thomas Hobohm our Campus Organizers at UT-Dallas noticed that consent education at orientation is lacking. Consent is merely mentioned and their orientation video does not talk about what resources exist on campus for survivors of sexual violence.

They decided to tackle this issue and take direct action to lower the rate of sexual violence during the red-zone  period by working with their Student Government to create a video that will now be shown to all new students during orientation about —consent, Title IX resources on their campus, and other resources available to sexual assault survivors.

Although we worked very hard last session to pass bills surrounding Sexual Assault and Title IX, the threat of the red zone is far from being eradicated.
 

So what can you do? 

  • As parents, you can educate your children around what it means to give consent. 

  • As students, you can inform your peers on Title IX resources on your campus.

  • As allies, you can plug into local, state, or national organizations that focus primarily on sexual assault and healthy relationships.

  • As advocates, you can continue to fight with us to pass more laws around sexual assault, consent, healthy relationships, and Title IX. 


Let’s work to create safer college campuses for everyone, so every student will know, value, and practice consent and no student will have to live in fear while obtaining an education.


With Love,
Andrea Reyes
Political Director

We’re super excited to announce three new staff additions to Team Deeds: Leah Charbonneau, Cristina Chavez, and Sydney Greene. For this edition of the Deeds Digest, we asked them to answer two questions: Who is your feminist icon and what is your favorite book? 
 

Leah Charbonneau, Youth Outreach and Organizing Director (she/her): My feminist icon is my Grandmother and my favorite book is The Alchemist.
 

Cristina Chavez, Fundraising Manager (she/her): My feminist icon is Maria Hinojosa and my favorite book is the entire Harry Potter Series.

Sydney Greene, Digital Coordinator (she/her): My feminist icon is Audre Lorde and my favorite book is Americanah.
 

 
Join us in welcoming them to our team! You can learn more about Leah, Cristina, and Sydney here. 
 
Cheers,
–Claudia & Amber
 

If you haven’t been keeping up with the latest technological obsession of Gen Z, you probably haven’t heard of Tik Tok. Tik Tok is an app where users upload short, mostly comedy videos. But for some students in Nevada, they decided to use the app for a different purpose: To help organize a strike for their teachers. 

Sixteen-year-old Gillian Sullivan called for a student strike after she learned about the unfair wages and mistreatment of teachers in her school system. Just three years ago, teachers had been guaranteed a raise for professional development, but the Clark County school district didn’t budget enough and offered significantly less raises instead. Sullivan was inspired to organize the strike after her mother, who is a 20-year veteran of the same school system, was denied a professional development raise that she’d gone back to school to work for.
 

Gillian’s call for students to stand in solidarity with teachers went viral, getting over 43,000 likes on TikTok and thousands of retweets across Twitter. Within 24 hours of Gillian’s video being uploaded, the school district resolved the issue and reached a deal with the teacher’s union to finally offer teachers raises — all thanks to the students using social media as a tool for organizing. 

 

We applaud Gillian and her fellow students for standing up for teachers and demanding fair treatment and pay they deserve. We see you, #Changemakers!

 

Here's more of what's inspiring us...
P.S. MORE GOOD NEWS!: The Austin City Council just voted to approve the 2020 budget, which includes $150K for practical support for abortion access! #win 🎉 
A ‘curvier’ high school swimmer won — only to be disqualified because of a ‘suit wedgie’
 

Yep, you read that right. A champion swimmer at Dimond High School in Alaska had just secured a victory in the 100-yard freestyle against a rival school, but as she emerged from the water, she learned that she had been disqualified — because her swimsuit was exposing "too much" of her buttocks. 

A local swim coach told The Washington Post that she believes racism and sexism may have been a factor in the referee's call, given that the teen is among the few nonwhite athletes in a predominantly white sport. The teenager, the coach added, that teen is mixed race and is "curvier" than other women on the team; and despite every person on the team having the same exact swimsuit, the teen was the only one who was disqualified.

This is yet another example of how female-identifying bodies face scrutiny, criticism, and even violence at every turn. Rather than focusing on the talent that young female athletes can offer, their bodies continue to be the main focus of conversations. This can be seen with other female athletes like Serena Williams, who has been
constantly body-shamed for her muscular, athletic body, along with her tennis outfit choice being banned from competition, despite the medical need it served her.  

The bottom line: stop policing female bodies. 

 
Here's more of what has us fired up ...

In the past two years, four mass shootings in Texas have claimed the lives of over 60 people. But time and time again, we see a cycle repeating itself: A mass shooting occurs, thoughts and prayers pour out, but we have yet to see systemic change from elected officials who were sworn by oath to protect us. This week, Monet Chantelle Woodhouse, Campus Organizer of the University of El Paso Deeds Chapter, wrote an op-ed about how senseless gun violence has impacted her life, and the need for our officials to take action. 
 

"Nothing prepares you for the heartbreaking moment when you have to explain to your child how to stay safe from an active shooter. With every conversation, she loses a piece of her childhood, forced to contemplate dangerous and life-threatening situations. It is obvious to politicians that our current system revolving around guns needs to be reformed."

Read Monet's full op-ed here

This Week's #Changemaker:
UT-Dallas Deeds Chapter

Earlier this week, our Deeds Not Words chapter at the University of Texas at Dallas organized a march against an out-of-state anti-choice group that visited their campus. Our UTD Deeds Chapters Campus Organizer, Thomas Hobohm, gave us this dispatch from the field: 
 

“An anti-abortion group called Created Equal brought people and supplies from Ohio to come on our campus and show graphic, doctored images of ‘aborted fetuses’ and attacked women on our campus. We organized a counter-protest and advocated for women’s rights and led chants throughout the day,” Thomas said. 
 

We’re extremely proud of our UTD students for their proactiveness in protecting their community and standing up to harmful anti-choice rhetoric. We see you, #Changemakers!

There’s a lot we’re angry about this week — and you should be too. Now more than ever, your help is needed. We’re asking you to support our youth throughout Texas so they can keep fighting to create a gender-equal world through organizing, policy-making, and voting. Help us in our mission to mentor Today's Changemakers to become Tomorrow's Leaders.
 
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