Begin By Listening Symposium

CALL FOR SUBMISSION: START BY LISTENING SYMPOSIUM

The Ontario University Sexual Violence Netwok invites submissions for its first Annual Begin by Listening: Sexual Violence Student Activism Symposium to be held virtually on November 5th, 2021.

This virtual conference will feature outstanding student (graduate and undergraduate) research, art, activism and advocacy on sexual violence and consent culture. Students from across Ontario can submit a workshop, paper, performance, art, new media, poetry, fashion, dance, video or design piece relating to the topic of sexual violence.

Students whose submissions are successful will be asked to either sit on a panel, display their work or perform at Begin by Listening: Student Activism on Sexual Violence Symposium. They will be provided a honorarium of $200.

All candidates will be notified by September 15th about their submissions.

ELIGIBILITY

The student submitting the work must:

• Be a student who is currently enrolled or recently graduated at Ontario post-secondary institution
• The work must have been created while at the above institutions
• Submit a 300-word abstract about the research or art piece or workshop
• Be available to present on November 5th, 2021

CONTENT

We encourage students to submit content that looks at any aspect of this issue, including but not limited to:

• Healing justice
• Sexual harassment in the workplace
• Child sexual abuse, partner abuse, family violence, elder abuse
• LGBTQ2S experiences of sexual violence
• The impact of trauma
• Protest movements
• Transformative and restorative justice
• Disability and sexual violence
• Sexual violence and anti-Black racism
• Multi-generational trauma and healing
• People affected by sexual violence and systems
• Sexual violence and settler colonialism
• Impacts of sexual violence on Indigenous communities
• Consent culture and the media
• State-sanctioned sexual violence
• Prevention and intervention practices
• Education campaigns

HOW TO SUBMIT

Click this link to submit your piece: https://forms.gle/h9xhrCgXSaSB6pQK8, external link, opens in new window

REGISTRATION FOR THE SYMPOSIUM

We are so excited to have everyone join us at this first annual Begin by Listening: Sexual Violence Student Activism Symposium! Registration for this symposium will open on September 20, 2021. 

Check back on this site for the registration link or follow us on our social media platforms to stay up to date on event details and more.
Instagram (opens a new link) @ConsentIsGolden

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at svinfo@wlu.ca.

LYDIA COLLINS - KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Lydia Collins is a writer and sexual health educator with a focus on HIV prevention in African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) communities, and decolonial consent education. Lydia is the author of three self-published chapbooks of poetry. She released Angry. Black. Woman. in January 2019, To Everyone We’ve Ever Been, in September 2020, and In Transit in February 2021. Her writing style is somewhere between Toni Morrison and Tupac; blending artistic genres of literature and music to express herself. Lydia pulls much inspiration from Maya Angelou, Roxane Gay, Kiese Laymon, Claudia Rankine, Damon Young, and Michaela Angela Davis.

Her writing has been equally shaped by some of her favourite musical geniuses including Wu-Tang Clan, Jimi Hendrix, Mereba, Bikini Kill, Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, and Crime Mob’s hit anthem Knuck If You Buck.