Rated R

What is Rated R?

This project was co-founded by 3 phenomenal female digital activists. The idea for Project R stems from the trauma and violence that is being experienced and witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the racist violence against Black communities, and the persistent sexual violence in Nigeria and the United States.

As we are witnessing our communities around the globe rise up to injustice and take part in the Movement for Black Lives, we saw the need to be a part of the digital revolution.

The revolution is now brought to our fingertips in ways that are more accessible than ever. Thanks to social media, users can sign petitions, make donations, call out leaders online to seek justice.

However, many users are currently at home, scrolling through dozens, even hundreds of potentially violent and painful photos, videos, and stories around these issues. Just like the movie ratings, if a show has nudity or graphic violence it is Rated R. Similarly, the goal of project is to apply a mental rating to all the violent content watched by users each day on social media.

This violent content can result in vicarious trauma, an empathetic response to watching/listening to a traumatic event that takes place. While you may have not experienced the trauma first-hand, it can still be felt vicariously and impact your mental, physical, and emotional well-being. Furthermore, this potential harmful content could also trigger your own traumatic memories. Without knowing it, many of us are currently suffering from these issues, experiencing them in different ways based on our intersectionality, backgrounds, and current circumstances. For the purpose of our well-being, we need multiple resiliency tactics in order to stay mentally strong, and to continue to fight.

The Revolution is televised... and we've got your back.

Who Are We?

We are a group of womxn who work in the human rights field. Having experienced trauma and vicarious trauma ourselves, we are familiar with the mental health issues many people around the world are experiencing right now. The world is more interconnected than ever, bringing people together to support causes such as Black Lives Matter but also exposing people to horrific events and visuals they otherwise wouldn't have encountered. We have been trained on resiliency tactics by the Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley. Unfortunately, much of the world hasn't; so we're here to share practical information with you.