How We Hollaback!: Violence Prevention Edition

Hey Hollabackers! We’ve been busy behind the scenes preparing a line-up of HOLLA-awesome events for February! First of all, February is Teen Dating Violence Prevention and Awareness Month, but there are so many ways to get involved in violence-prevention this month on all areas of the spectrum. Here are four of our sponsored favorites:

• February 7 is Student Day at the Capitol, sponsored by the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Students can meet at 12 p.m. at the Wallace Building in the State Complex to discuss amending the Domestic Violence Criminal Code to include dating violence, and then can meet with legislators at 2 p.m. to lobby the bill. For more information, contact Tess Cody at tessp@icadv.org or Alysa Mozak at alysa.mozak@drake.edu.
• February 14 is ONE BILLION RISING. This is a one-day event and global campaign to stop the sexual and physical violence against approximately 1 in 3 women (or 1 billion women worldwide). You can get involved in Des Moines by joining us for a flash mob at Valley West Mall on February 14, 2013. We’ll gather at 11:30 a.m. Check us out on Facebook or email Becca at dsm@ihollaback.org for more details.
• February 14-17 are a series of performances of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues. You can check out performances at Drake University, Iowa State University, or Iowa Valley Community College.
  • Drake University, Des Moines: Feb. 14-16 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $7 and proceeds go to MONSOON.
    
  • Iowa State University, Ames: Feb. 14 7 p.m, Feb. 15 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Proceeds go to ACCESS.
  • Iowa Valley Community College, Marshalltown: Feb. 16 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Feb. 17 2 p.m. Proceeds go to Domestic Violence Alternatives/Sexual Assault Center.
• February 24 is a fundraiser for the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence — and you can participate simply by going out for a delicious dinner! 10% of all food sales at Americana downtown will go to ICADV.

And of course, the easiest thing you can do to help us out this month is to please submit your stories! We really want to reach our goal of 50. Here are five reasons to do so right now:

1. Your information is confidential. We promise never to reveal any of your personal information. We will publish your first name only with your permission. (Aliases also welcome.)
   
2. Your story is safe with us. We screen all comments before they are posted, adhering to our strict commenting policy. At Hollaback, your story will never be subjected to further harassment, judgment, or victim-blaming. That’s a guarantee.
3. Your story is welcome. No matter who you are, if you feel like you were harassed based on your sex or gender presentation, we believe you. We also have an all-inclusive anti-discrimination policy that extends to all forms of racist, ableist, homophobic, and transphobic behavior/attitudes. No -ism’s ’round these parts! 
4. Your story helps us understand the problem. We cannot make policy recommendations to end street harassment in Des Moines until we have a fuller picture of what is happening. Your story can make that happen.
5. We have your back. With every story submission, we publish a green “I’ve Got Your Back” button. Our readers click that to show their support, so you know that every time you share, you will have a network of people standing up for you here. Check out this recent post to see what I mean.

HOLLA & out,
Becca

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