Just over halfway through the SU’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, turnout for events has been impressively high.
The Reclaim the Night march, which kicked off the 16 days, was “so, so powerful”, according to one anonymous student. Emotions ran high as students and members of the community united to march through the city centre.
However, the march was also to highlight the SU’s aims and demands. Eloise Taylor, Women’s Officer and organiser of the programme, underscored her commitment to her manifesto pledges, saying she’d like to “address and improve them all”.
One of Eloise’s central goals was to increase student safety in both the SU and city. In light of this, there will be a safety talk on 5 December at Coffee Revs, 18:00-19:30. Both internal security staff and external organisations will be present, and it is a space to “ask questions and give suggestions” about how to improve student safety.
To further improve this, Eloise aims to get the SU White Ribbon accredited, following Sheffield City Council’s award in 2022. This indicates that the organisation is experienced at identifying and supporting women in unsafe situations, as well as engaging with men to take a stand against violence.
If, however, a student does feel unsafe, she picked up on the importance of the uni’s Report and Support system. In her view, “communication with students needs to be better” about the service: it is a disclosure, not a reporting log.
One anonymous student shared their experience utilising the system, after they experienced an act of sexual violence. Although they were unconvinced at first, it proved “very helpful and supportive”, and they were referred to specialised therapy, which helped them process the event.
There will be a Report and Support drop-in on 10 December, from 11:00-13:00, in order to discuss the service and meet with some of its providers.
Eloise is also working with Feminist Society to improve provision of consent talks across the university. FemSoc’s social secretary, Lydia, underscored their desire to make such talks mandatory, so that “societies that need them receive them”.
Lydia also remarked that it was “so bizarre” that FemSoc is the organisation to provide these, as opposed to the university itself. The uni does provide a mandatory race and consent talk, but only during Freshers’ Week.
Finally, Eloise highlighted an upcoming event organised by Catcalls of Sheffield, where abolitionist approaches to harassment will be discussed.
The Sheffield branch of Catcalls, an organisation founded in New York City, is one of the largest in the UK, which she credited to the city’s “passionate” activist culture. The talk will take place 7 December, from 4-6pm.
The detailed programme of events can be found on the SU website.
Written by Nina Thyr
