Sexual Assault Awareness Month
We are pleased to announce that this year’s theme for Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) is Sex Education Saves Lives. We have chosen this theme in order to affirm the importance of comprehensive and inclusive sex education grounded in harm-reduction and trauma-informed practices at all stages of the formal education system in Canada. Sex education saves lives when it delivers practical tools to make informed decisions about what we do with our own bodies. Sex education saves lives when it enables healthy and non-coercive consent practices that we can imbed in all of our relationships. Sex education saves lives when it affirms and celebrates diverse gender identities and sexual orientations so that nobody has to face discrimination and hate.
Sex Ed Saves Lives
Join us this January to raise awareness and take action!
Print your calendar here
Events
Naughty Bingo
Hosted in partnership with the SUO
Open to: All
Join us for a night of bingo, performances, and prizes hosted by drag artists Freida Whales and Valerie Rose! Get ready to have a blast as you mark off your numbers and enjoy some incredible entertainment. There will be exciting prizes up for grabs, so don’t miss out on this fun-filled event!
Self Defense Workshop
Open to: Open to all UBC students
Join us in comfortable attire to learn both physical and mindset techniques to self-defense and situational awareness.Campus Security Community Safety will teach you the basics of Situational Awareness and listening to your intuition. We will also cover the legalities of using force to protect yourself. SUO’s Taekwondo Club will introduce you hands-on to some techniques of self-defense that anyone can use.
If you have any questions about the session, please contact Robyn Boffy (Security Manager, Community Safety) at robyn.boffy@ubc.ca
Consent 101 Workshop Option 1
Open to: Open to all UBC students
In this interactive workshop we will go over the basics of consent, coercion, and sexual violence. Consent is so much more than a yes or no question! Sign up to learn how to practice healthy and respectful sexual communication, centering consent in all of your relationships.
January Consent Ambassador Training
Open to: Open to all UBC students
Are you interested in volunteering with SVPRO and making an impact on your campus community? SVPRO will be hosting a full day Consent Ambassador training! This training is mandatory for anyone interested in becoming an SVPRO Consent Ambassador. Come out to learn more about sexualized and gender based violence, consent, and how to support survivors. Lunch, Coffee, Tea and Breakfast snacks will be provided.
Cross Cultural Communication and Consent
Open to: Everyone
Our Cross Cultural Communication & Consent event consists of a team of staff and students who have come together to explore all aspects of consent and how it is understood individually from a cultural lens and collectively.
We will be hosting a drop in discussion experience with discussion cards to prompt conversations surrounding this topic for all students. We recognize that understanding consent is different for everyone and we want to create a safe space where students can explore their own understanding of it from their own cultural lens. There will be a support person at each table to help with the discussion. We hope this discussion promotes raising awareness of cultural worldviews and is a safe space to learn from one another. We will be providing snacks as well!
Indigenous Community Care Beading Workshop
Open to: Open to Indigenous students, staff, and faculty only.
This workshop creates a safe and supportive space where Indigenous people on our campus can come together and partake in a beading workshop.
The event will be led by Denica Bleu, a Métis beader, and certified trauma therapist. This will be a space where participants can create a community within each other while partaking in a traditional activity. The month of SAAM can be heavy and this is an event where you can decompress and take space for yourself and your healing journey. Denica will lead the group through beading a lanyard using peyote stitch, we will meet two separate times with the aim for you to complete a lanyard to take home by the end.
The materials are free and will be provided by SVPRO at the time of the event, we also welcome any materials you may want to bring of your own. We look forward to decompressing after SAAM and creating a healing space with you!
Drag Story Time
Open to: Open to all UBC students
Have you ever wanted to attend Drag Story Time but you are no longer a small child? Don’t worry! Stories and drag are for everyone!
As part of our Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) programming, SVPRO will be hosting Drag Story Time in the campus library. Local drag king Ken Don’t Cry will be here to read selected short stories touching on themes related to 2SLGBTQ identities.
Registration is not required. This is a drop-in event.
Consent Workshop Option 2
Open to: Open to all UBC students
In this interactive workshop we will go over the basics of consent, coercion, and sexual violence. Consent is so much more than a yes or no question! Sign up to learn how to practice healthy and respectful sexual communication, centering consent in all of your relationships.
Cookies and Consent
Open to: Open to all UBC students
SVPRO and the SUO will be hosting our annual Cookies & Consent event! Drop by to grab a delicious snack and learn more about consent!
Registration is not required. This is a drop-in event.
Sex IQ: An Invitation to Discuss Sexual Wellness
Open to: Open to all students, staff and faculty
Join Nicole Getz, a volunteer consent ambassador for SVPRO and research assistant, to discuss the research from UBCO’s Human Sexuality Lab as well as the influential work of Dr. Emily Morse.
In her presentation, Nicole plans to highlight Dr. Morse’s Sex IQ pillars, a framework that emphasizes the importance of understanding and embracing one’s sexual needs and desires. Her talk aims to empower individuals to own their pleasure, breaking down barriers and misconceptions about sexual wellness.
Trans Allyship Workshop
Open to: All
This hybrid workshop will equip you with the practical skills necessary to support your gender-diverse friends, family members, and classmates.
Learn all about pronouns, pride, and cis-gendered privilege; unlearn harmful stereotypes and gender roles! We will also discuss how to identify anti-trans bias, discrimination, and hatred, as well as how to safely respond.
This workshop is facilitated by Johannah Black, Educator at SVPRO.
Sex Positivity Cafe
Open to: Open to all UBC students
Drop by the Sawchuk Family Theatre, grab yourself a warm drink of hot chocolate or coffee, and celebrate sex positivity with us! Spin the wheel to answer a sex education trivia question and win delicious speciality cupcakes!
Registration is not required. This is a drop-in event
Cookies and Consent
Open to: Open to all UBC students
SVPRO and the SUO will be hosting our annual Cookies & Consent event! Drop by to grab a delicious snack and learn more about consent!
Registration is not required. This is a drop-in event.
Rest as Resistance
Open to: Open to all UBC students
Métis-settler master’s student Dani Pierson is joining us again this year to guide us through as Rest as Resistance workshop that focuses on how artmaking has the possibility to become an act of care that opens space for meditative rest and reflection.
Reflecting on the solidarities and affinities between Métis and Indigenous knowledges, Black feminist theories, and disability studies, Dani will share their story-based research as we engage in a collaborative art project.
This is a low stakes, come as you are workshop intended to facilitate conversation around how we can prioritize radical community care through rest.
Indigenous Community Care Beading Workshop
Open to: Open to Indigenous students, staff, and faculty only.
This workshop creates a safe and supportive space where Indigenous people on our campus can come together and partake in a beading workshop.
The event will be led by Denica Bleu, a Métis beader, and certified trauma therapist. This will be a space where participants can create a community within each other while partaking in a traditional activity. The month of SAAM can be heavy and this is an event where you can decompress and take space for yourself and your healing journey. Denica will lead the group through beading a lanyard using peyote stitch, we will meet two separate times with the aim for you to complete a lanyard to take home by the end.
The materials are free and will be provided by SVPRO at the time of the event, we also welcome any materials you may want to bring of your own. We look forward to decompressing after SAAM and creating a healing space with you!
Open to Indigenous students, staff, and faculty only.
Indigenous Part Series (Part 1): Indigenous Consent Workshop
Open to: Open to Indigenous students, staff, and faculty only.
For the second part of this workshop Indigenous participants are invited to join a conversation about consent, coercion, and sexual violence. This is a safe space where we can talk about consent and the larger conversation about healthy and respectful sexual and romantic communication in a culturally relevant and safe way. Join us to learn more about navigating consent through an Indigenous lens. We will offer food and snacks at the beginning, 2:30-3.
Indigenous Part Series (Part 2): Indigenous Focused Harm Reduction
Open to: Open to all UBC students, staff, and faculty.
Join Leah Brody, Program Coordinator for the Skookum Hi-Yu’Ko Pet Peer Program, as she shares about the importance of Indigenized harm reduction approaches that align with Two-Eyed Seeing. Topics Leah will cover includes history of colonialism, medicine as a healing modality as well as effective western and Indigenous harm reduction approaches and the importance of peers.
Speak Louder with Buttons
Open to: Open to all ubco students
Design and decorate your own personalized pins to celebrate your identity. Join the UBCO Psychology Course Union, in honour of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, in creating a safe space for socializing, bonding, and finding relaxation through this hands-on activity. Materials will be provided.
Open to all UBCO Students.
Bullseye! Trivia
Open to: Open to all UBC students
Bullseye! is a Kahoot tournament organized by Ananya Bhattacharya, UBCO Collegia Assistant, featuring a quiz on safe sex, contraception, consent, and other related themes. The idea is for students to gain awareness around these topics. Light refreshments provided.
In order to participate, please bring your smart phone, tablet, or laptop!
Artwork for SAAM
This artwork was created by Ashleigh Green, a local UBC Okanagan Bachelor of Fine Arts’ Alum.