Embedded Files
Since we are based in UVA, we made this page keeping CIO's in mind who need help addressing sexual harm. We recognize that community may have a lot of liberatory power, it is where we go to find relationships, support, social fulfillment, and to find a sense of belonging. However, communities and our closest relations are often also the site of immense harm as well: survivors are silenced and manipulated by the very people they turn to for help. We offer this page from a place of knowing community is very necessary and that it cannot be sustainable and a loving space if it does not address harm when it occurs. We also want to acknowledge that the most important thing is that addressing the harm occurs at all; the worst thing that we can do is allow silence and silencing to occur and permeate our spaces because we are worried about if we are doing things perfectly.
Disclaimer: this page is non-exhaustive. Each survivor may have different needs, thus we can give you all various options and frameworks to think in, but we cannot give you a step-by-step one-size-fits-all methodology for harm response.
Principles to keep in mind:
Prevention measures: establishing ground rules. Here is an example: If you are in this community space we are building and trying to keep alive, you must agree to adhere to an accountability process if need be"
Survivor autonomy: Who was harmed? How can we support them to feel safe again? What do they want out of their community? What support do they need for healing? What support do they need in a justice-seeking process? If they do not want to be involved in a justice-seeking process themselves, are they okay with other community members speaking on harm that occurred in the community using the language of "our community space was violated and we want to do something about it before the wound opens wider"? Are they okay with certain community members helping and not others?
Abolition: Not everyone comes from a background that calling the police or getting law enforcement involved is possible. Recommending filing police reports are likely to be inappropriate for your non-white, undocumented, neurodivergent, or otherwise marginalized peers. We recognize that we live in a police state, and sometimes we feel there is no choice but to call the police, but we want to emphasize that there is a high probability that the police will not make any moves to prevent harm. They will wait to act until the violence is immense, viewable provable. Even when the violence is immense, it is vital we keep in mind the second most reported form of police conduct is sexual violence, so there is a chance of more violence occurring. If carceral methods are what the survivor feels is the only option, which is probable in cases where the perpetrator refuses to be accountable or change, then ensuring the survivor does not endure the criminal-legal justice process alone is vital.
Indispensability: We have too much at stake to throw people away, and in doing so any responsibility to sit in the growing pains of harm resolution. Sometimes a survivor really needs a space without a perpetrator, and that is okay and they'll need support in being able to maintain separation. However, indispensability asks us to consider what harm resolution would look like if we treat people like they can change.
Finally, we know if you came here you are wincing at the possibility of future hurt, or pushing the bruises of past hurt. Sometimes the only consolation we have to offer ourselves is taking a transformative justice pathway means we at least did not have to interact with the police. That can really hurt. It's hurt us, too. We come out of facilitating accountability processes exhausted, pained, bruised, changed, and wondering if what we did was worth it. We hold it close to ourselves that if we did not engage in these processes, the outcome could be so much worse. We hold it close to ourselves that we do not have community if we do not hurt with community when harm happens. We hold it close to ourselves that abolitionist harm resolution will never be painless. But it oh so necessary.
Here are some examples of different forms of community responses to harm:
Philly Stands Up! Portrait of Praxis: An Anatomy of Accountability
This document outlines what a full-blown community intervention may look like and what considerations would be necessary
Creative Interventions Toolkit
Take a deep breath before you click on "download pdf". We know it is a large file, but remember: like most toolboxes, you don't need every single tool for every endeavor. if you need help looking through the toolkit, we can also help parse through which tools/sections can help.
Building Violence-Free Communities
Made by and for women of color. This is a guide for holding a workshop as a part of foundational community building. This resource is for what we need to consider before violence occurs.
Want to host a party, but you're worried about being responsible for such a large crowd? Check out this resource made by the SOS collective, housed under the Audre Lorde Project in New York. Since it is based in New York, some of the legal considerations may vary.
Check out this zine for some considerations you may need when trying to approach someone in spaces you care about who may need peer support.
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