projects
The primary focus of the Centre is to work towards the elimination of sexual violence in society. The Centre engages with a range of community and statutory bodies, alongside second and third level students in their colleges and schools.
#FixedIt - Ireland
When reporting on sexual and domestic violence, the media often perpetuates dangerous myths and stereotypes that contribute to victim blaming and misinformation. To combat this, we set up a campaign to re-write headlines and challenge the media, inspired by the work started by journalist and feminist Jane Gilmore. The campaign is run on Twitter and Instagram, where we take inappropriate and incorrect headlines and ‘fix’ them, tagging the respective news source to ensure they see the new headline.
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#ASKCONSENT
Our Ask Consent campaign seeks to keep the conversation around consent going in our community. In 2019, local businesses in demonstrated that Cork was a City of Consent by hanging #ASKCONSENT bunting down the prominent Oliver Plunkett Street and on adjacent street bollards. Several high profile city centre based retailers, such as Brown Thomas, also included #ASKCONSENT lollipop sticks in their window displays. Staff in local stores and pubs wore #ASKCONSENT t-shirts.
The #ASKCONSENT campaign was brought to hundreds of students across the various third level institutions in Cork were invited to consent tea parties which explains the concept of consent by comparing the initiation of sex to making someone a cup of tea. The world first Consent Tea Party was held in UCC in 2019 ahead of Fresher’s Week, and was also rolled out during Sexual Health Awareness and Guidance (S.H.A.G. week) in CIT. This event was organised in collaboration with the various Students’ Unions and the Cork City Council. Students drank tea, and wore consent themed tattoos while discussing consent and healthy boundaries.
Cork Against Human Trafficking
Human Trafficking takes place in every corner of the world, daily. The trade in and exploitation of human beings for profit is not a new phenomenon but one which has never reached such heights as we are experiencing today. Cork and the entire island of Ireland are not immune. It is estimated that, at any given time, there are over 40 million people caught in worlds of slavery: owned, abused and exploited by other people.
CAHT was set up in 2019 to sayno to human trafficking in Cork and to teach people to spot the signs of human traffickingMembership includes representatives from Cork Sexual Violence Centre, NASC, MECPATHS, The Gardai, The Legal Aid Board, The HSE, UCC and Kevin Hyland O.B.E., The First Anti-Slavery Commissioner to The UK. To find out more, visit www.sextrafficking.ie.
Safe Gigs
Safe Gigs is a new initiative to make gigs and
nightlife safer by creating a zero tolerance environment for sexual violence. Our aim is to work with people across the nightlife and live music industry - from musicians to
venues to security guards - to achieve this goal. Nightlife and the live music scene has been on pause across the world as a result of the pandemic and we are taking this opportunity to make a change. When we return to normal,
we want to create a new normal - a safer normal, for everyone.