Woodstock Healthy Teens
is a community model of improving relationships and eliminating violence!
A Report to the Community
WISE and OCP are partnering to foster the Woodstock's development of a community-wide model for building and sustaining healthy teen relationships. The two organizations will engage with the greater Woodstock community to build community capacity to develop and implement effective and sustainable sexual violence prevention strategies and activities that will encourage healthier narratives about gender, power, relationships and violence. The strategies and activities will be aimed at empowering and engaging a broad section of the Woodstock community including students and youth, parents, schools, law enforcement, civic organizations, business and religious leaders and community organizations as partners in prevention.
Sexual Violence is any unwanted and/or non-consensual sexual action. The act does not have to be physical to be violent, but is any sexual physical, verbal, gesture, use of technology, etc which is unwanted by the recipient or affected bystander. The CDC estimates that in the US, 1/6 women and 1/33 men will experience rape or attempted rape, however virtually every woman has at some time been touched or solicited in a way that was unwanted and non-consensual.
Primary Prevention approaches take place before sexual violence has occurred to prevent initial perpetration or victimization. Because sexual violence is the sole responsibility of the perpetrator, messages and education should focus on decreasing perpetration, and increasing bystander awareness and intervention skills. Good prevention will only be effective if the messages and education saturate the community.
Here's how YOU can help!
- Join the Woodstock Task Force on Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Response. We meet the fourth Monday of the month at 3:15pm. Contact Kate for place.
- Educate yourself on the issues - WISE is always updating our facebook page and twitter! The TARG is also an amazing resource put out by VT Sexual Violence Prevention Task Force (this is awesome!)
- Come to an event! Year two is filled with training, awareness, and activism opportunity. Keep in touch to find dates and times!
- Ask a young person! Youth in Woodstock have been learning all about consent and the new age of consent law in VT - has your youth heard about it yet? Do you know what it is?
