Sexual Assault

TorontoCommunity Mobilization Network –
Statement/Guidelines on sexual assault and consent
 
Information on Prevention and Support Structures for Survivors for the G8/G20 in Toronto
 
*please disseminate widely*
 
The Toronto Community Mobilization Network recognizes that organizing and activist spaces are not always spaces liberated from sexual and gender based violence and assault. We believe it is important that as a community we create spaces that acknowledge this reality and fight the structures and persons that create and sustain rape culture within our society, but that we also establish prevention and support mechanisms for individuals who experience sexual assault/gender based violence while attending the summit in Toronto.
 
We will do this by:

• Actively discouraging persons with a known history of perpetrating assault from attending the summit/being present in organizing spaces
• Having trained medics/volunteers experienced with sexual assault present throughout the convergence to support survivors
• Having guidelines for consensual sexual activity to be abided by, especially in G8 & G20 Housing/Organizing spaces

We know, see, feel and acknowledge that women of colour and Indigenous women, trans folk, people differently abled, non- status women, psych survivors, women using substances, and poor women are disproportionately affected by sexual violence and this is the product of the racist, colonialist, ableist, capitalist, misogynist system within which our society exists.
We invite members of all such communities and/or those skilled/trained in working with these communities  to join the sexual assault medic team. We hope that a more inclusive membership will allow us to have medics available that are able to provide skilled responses that are respectful and cognisant of the intersections of violence that are faced by (and overcome) by people. 

Some working definitions…
 
Consent: is actively and voluntarily expressed agreement. Doing personal work to consistently seek consent and respect the times when it is not given helps to combat rape culture, and informed consent, sexual and otherwise, is necessary in the building of strong, healthy, and anti-authoritarian communities. The following does not qualify as consent: silence, passivity, and coerced acquiescence. Body movements, non language-based responses such as moans, or laughter, or the appearance of physical arousal do not necessarily constitute consent. Further, if someone is intoxicated, are not legally able to give INFORMED consent. Consentis required each and every time there is sexual activity, regardless of the parties’ relationship, prior sexual history, or current activity
 
Sexual assault:is any unwanted sexual contact. Sexual assault happens, and it happens in activist and radical communities as muchas anywhere else. Sexual assault can be perpetrated by a complete stranger, but is often perpetrated by someone known and trusted by the survivor and community. Sexual assault is a tool of domination, of taking power and can rob someone of their self-respect, self worth and autonomy.  Sexual assault is rooted in broader systems of oppression such as patriarchy, white supremacy, capitalism, transphobia, homophobia, and colonialism – and is not separable from them in how and why it is perpetrated, experienced and dealt with.
 
Rape Culture:is the culture in which sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence are condoned, excused and even encouraged. Rape culture is part of a broader culture of violence, wherein people are socialized to inhabit different positions in hierarchical relationships, to commodify their fellow human beings and to relate to each other through violence and coercion. In North America, we live in a culture of rape.
 Support Structure for Survivors of Sexualized Violence and AssaultContact us At: sarah.p.reaburn@gmail.com 
If you experience harassment, abuse, sexual assault, or any other kind of consent violation while resisting the G8 & G20 this June,
Ifa perpetrator’s sexual violence is interfering with your participation in the G8 & G20 resistance movement, or
If for any other reason you need support to deal with sexualized or gender based violence…
                                                                                 … Please contact us.
 
There will be trained and experienced advocates and support people for survivors of sexual assault at the wellness space.
 
We can offer:

• Support, caring and listening,
• Community agency referral
• Advocacy on your behalf, including the removal of perpetrators of violence
• Emergency housing changes to quiet, safer space housing
• Transport to the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre
• Medical, herbal and wellness resources
• Resources for further support and or action
• Someone to support you while you are making a statement to police/law enforcement

Perpetrators of Sexual Assault, Abuse and Harassment are not welcome in G8 & G20 Resistance Spaces!!!
 
Perpetrators of Sexual Assault, Abuse and Harassment are not welcome in G8 & G20 Resistance Spaces. This includes people who have perpetrated in the past, people currently engaged in or running away from accountability processes, and people who refuse to respect the TCMN consent guidelines.
 
People who violate consent guidelines will be directed to leave G8 & G20 organization spaces, and housing arrangements.
 
It is no way acceptable that the presence of a perpetrator hinder the particpation of a survivor during the G8/G20 mobilization. We encourage survivors, and allies of survivors to identify ways in which we can assist them if they feel that their participation in the G20 is being obstructed by the presence of a perpetrator. 
 
The G8/G20 guidelines are in place to discourage the replication of the paradigms of domination that exist within our society. If you are here to protest the paradigm of domination that the G8/G20 represents,  practically engaging in deconstructing and de-practicing learned patriarchal, misogynist behaviours of abuse includes following these guidelines.
 
   To identify someone perpetrating abuse, to get support for you or a friend,   please contact us at: sarah.p.reaburn@gmail.com
 
-We understand and respect that other communities have engaged in their own processes around these incidents. If you have gone through an accountability process and the survivor, joined by the community, feels you have sufficiently dealt with your shit, this statement does not include you-
 
Consent Guidelines for G8 & G20 20 Resistance Spaces and Housing:
 
Consistently asking for consent and listening to your sexual partner at every step in every sexual encounter, regardless of length, history, or specific situation, is the only way to prevent sexual assault from happening. Consent includes asking, listening and respecting. It does not include coercion, expectation, or assumptions.
 
We would like to re-iterate Perpetrators of Sexual Assault, Abuse and Harassment are not welcome in G8 & G20 Housing, and Resistance Spaces, and will be removed.
 
We are survivor centric, and survivor oriented. When a decision needs to be made to give benefit of the doubt to a perpetrator or support to a survivor, the preference will be to support the survivor.