Amanda Raude
FIU Women's Center
I had the honor to work as an intern at the FIU Women's Center for two semesters. Nothing makes me more proud than knowing I got the opportunity to work in advocacy, tackling on various important issues regarding women. I took on two big projects: The 2015 Sisterhood Retreat and the 2016 Annual Take Back the Night: Sexual Assault Awareness Month event.
Sisterhood Retreat 2015
The Sisterhood Retreat involves recruiting a diverse group of female students at FIU in a weekend of self-exploration, empowerment, bonding, and fun! Women who attend engage in activities of personal reflection, workshops designed to develop you as an individual and leader. As a committee member for the 2015 Sisterhood Retreat, I facilitated a workshop called "Build Your Buddy" designed to educate and discuss issues regarding women vs women culture. Women vs women culture involves the act of women being pinned against each-other to prove their self worth by competition, verbal, and social destruction. In a patriarchal society, a women's value is typically found in their physical appearance which is one of the factors in why women tend to tear each other down through body shaming. This workshop explored how these ideals are reinforced in social media and how we as a community can overcome such issues. After thorough discussion I implemented a friendship exercise where participants had the opportunity to build a mobile, creating 3 symbols that reflected positive attributes they saw in their designated partner. I feel like this workshop really affected participants in a positive way. Not only was the center of topic relate-able but the women were able to learn and embrace each-other which allowed them to create a healthy foundation for new friendship.
Take Back the Night: Empowering the Self Workshop
Take Back the Night is a program designed to promote sexual assault awareness, prevention, and safety, while unifying women, men, and children. Take Back the Night can be traced back to 1877 when women first protested the fear and violence they experienced in the streets of London, England at night time. Throughout the month of April the Women's Center as well as other organizations put together a series of events and workshops to help spread sexual assault awareness at FIU all leading up to the actual Take Back the Night event. I specifically hosted the "Empowering the Self" workshop which allowed participants the opportunity to release any burdens related to sexual assault they experienced. Participants were given information and statistics on sexual assault by a representative of the FIU Victim Empowerment Program. They were educated on what was considered sexual assault, what to do after an assault, how to move forward, and what to do if you witness an assault. Participants were then given slips of paper to write down their burdens and then buried it in soil. After, a flower was planted above the burden to symbolize growth, empowerment and to create a space on campus to honor victims of sexual assault. A meditation session was then given to teach participants how to release negative energy and to learn anxiety relieving breathing techniques. Through this therapeutic workshop participants were given tools on what actions they can take after an assault, how to recover, where to find support, and how to move on in a healthy manner.