CREDIT: KERRA SEAY
A Draw-The-Line booth on Sept. 15 offers students the opportunity to discuss how they would react to a situation of sexual harassment. The next booth will run on Sept. 23.

Draw-The-Line (DTL), an interactive campaign that aims to engage students in dialogue about sexual violence, will be running at Fanshawe on Sept. 23 in Forwell Hall from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. as a part of the Sexual Awareness Week. A booth will be set up to interact with students and talk about sexual consent.

Leah Marshall, the sexual violence prevention advisor at Fanshawe, said that by having these open, honest conversations about consent, we are opening the doors for a cultural shift, to one that does not tolerate sexual violence in any form.

“Consent is sober, enthusiastic, voluntary and non-coercive,” said Marshall. “We're saying to students: recognize sexual violence for what it is and be a really proactive member of your community. Stand up and say, ‘I'm not okay with this happening on my campus, to my friends or to my peers.'”

The DTL event booth will feature posters that cover a range of examples of sexual violence. One poster reads, “Your sister tells you her husband made her have sex last night. Do you change the subject?” Another, “Your favourite singer assaulted his girlfriend. Do you download his latest single?”

DTL asks difficult questions that do not always have an easy answer, but they need to be discussed. Marshall says we need to be talking about how we as individuals can make Fanshawe's campus and the rest of the world a safer place for everyone. DTL is just a stepping- stone towards this goal.

“If we want to change the culture we need to be really active participants in saying ‘I recognize rape culture for what it is and I want to see a shift towards a culture of consent.'”

Students will be able to write their responses to the scenarios on the DTL posters and open up a dialogue about what consent looks like.

“Our underlying message is always going to revolve around consent so everyone around campus can understand what it means to give consent and when you can or cannot give or receive consent,” said Marshall.

The DTL event is just the first in a list of upcoming events that switch the focus from risk prevention to sexual violence prevention.

Risk prevention is seen in the all-too-common practice of advising people how not to be assaulted; sexual violence prevention focuses on stopping the assault before it happens.

“We know sexual violence is never the responsibility of the person that it's happened to, but it's the sole responsibility of the perpetrator,” said Marshall. “So all of our messaging is that as a campus and as a community everyone has a part to play and being a positive bystander and saying that no, sexual violence should not be tolerated on our campus.”

For more information about Draw-the-Line, visit their website at www.draw-the-line.ca. If you need help please contact Counselling and Accessibility Services on campus in F2010 or contact Leah Marshall at extension 4465.