Did You Register for Bike Back the Night YET?

Well, have you?

Please do! Click below for more information on Bike Back the Night and instructions on how to RSVP. We'll see you there!

Bike Back the Night is Next Week!

*Ledena is again unable to post to the blog. W-T-F Google?! I'm posting it for her and while I'm at it I just want to say: LEDENA - you've done an amazing job working on SAAM this year. I hope you know how proud and appreciative we all are of you and the work you've done. Hopefully you'll have much more time to commense the dancin' in the kitchen again. - Kelsey

Way back in April of 07 I returned to the crisis line after a day of outreach for last year’s sexual assault awareness month with my brain churning about what we could do next year. I was talking to some of my co workers about how great it would be to do a bike ride for SAAM next year, and here we are with less than a week to go before Bike Back the Night comes to fruition for the first time on Thursday April 24^th starting at 4:30 pm at Colonel Summer’s park (SE 20^th and Belmont under the covered picnic area). You can register at the PWCL Eventbrite page by clicking HERE.

This year’s Sexual Assault Awareness Events have been really great for all of us here at PWCL. The staff, volunteer and community support and effort have really been uplifting for me as I learn more and more about what it takes to plan events: a lot of phone calling, list making and A LOT OF HELP AND SUPPORT FROM OTHER PEOPLE. I just want to give a huge shout out to Linda, Rebecca, Kelsey and Lyndi for all of their hard work for SAAM and Bike Back the Night (not to mention the countless other folks who have helped as well!!!).

I see SAAM as a time to re-energize in the uphill battle of fighting domestic and sexual violence everyday. It’s been tremendously inspiring the response that we have gotten from the community so far and I can’t wait until Thursday, when we rally together in such a public way, to recognize our work, recognize survivors and support this year’s Take Back the Night rally at PSU.

Hope to see you there!!

Ledena

“Live with the suffering in the center of your heart, because the struggle is the change.” Eve Ensler

What's Your Dreamworld?

Being 23, I consider myself a child of the MTV generation. I often sat at home when I was younger watching, studying, and drooling over music videos. My favorite, which I learned to imitate and reproduce with friends, was "If" by Janet Jackson. I must have only been 10 or so, but I was recreating some of the most sexual dance moves to one of the most sexual songs of the 1990s.

There's no doubt in my mind that music videos, especially those featured on shows like Total Request Live on MTV, are incredibly influential to the young population, and some might even argue the society at whole. In high school I fawned over rap videos with gorgeous music video girls who would shake their booties in the skimpiest outfits I had ever seen. I wanted to be them, I wanted that attention, and I wanted to feel sexy. These music videos are partly why I consider my teen years to be those where I had the lowest self-esteem and worst body image. Every girl I knew watched those same videos and learned, just as I did, that we weren't good enough until we looked like, acted like, and got as much attention as the girls in these videos.

I tell this story on our humble little blog, not because I think I'm special, but because I think my experience is highly normal for people growing up in the MTV/VH1 generation. I never realized how big of an impact that these videos were on my life and my perception of the world until I saw the documentary, Dreamworlds 3.

In Dreamworlds 3, Sut Jhally continues his examination of how music videos create dreamworlds. Through careful analysis of video clips that Jhally very skillfully juxtaposes against film of real sexual violence, we are encouraged to consider the true impact of the stories being told in music videos.

If you'd like to see Dreamworlds 3, you're in luck! This Friday Allies Against Rape Culture at PSU will be holding a screening at 5th Avenue Cinemas. The film will be shown and there will be a discussion to follow. I really hope to see some of you there to discuss this very important and relevant documentary!

Dreamworlds 3
Hosted by AARC for Sexual Assault Awareness Month
Friday April 18th
7:00 PM
5th Ave Cinemas
510 SW Hall St
Portland, OR 97201

Oh, hey, here's a video clip for you to check out, too. You're welcome!

Join Us at Portland International Women's Day

Do you often think to yourself, "I wish I could be at an event with over 2,000 people honoring women and the work they do?" Do you often want to attend women's workshops, panels, hear women musicians and speakers, and buy things from women vendors??

If so, PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY is happening THIS SUNDAY (!) at Portland State University in the Smith Center Ballroom from 2p - 8p. PWCL will be there as a community tabling partner, and our very own ED Rebecca Peatow Nickels will be on the "Womening Working for the Community Panel". Hey, I'll even be there facilitating the panel. Come check out my facilitatin' skills.

Other exciting things happening at PIWD 2008:

• Blubird (Rock n' Roll Camp for Girls band who also performed at PWCL's Safety In Numbers 2007)
• Liv Warfield performance
• The Alphabetix performance
• Performance by Oregonian columnist S Renee Mitchell
• Appearance by Hip Mama author Ariel Gore
• Workshops
• Table and food vendors

I'm really excited about this event... mostly because two of the raddest chicks in activism have been chairing this year. So here's a shout out to fellow PWCL blogger Katie C. and Portland State Women's Resource Center all-star staffer Zena P. I can't wait for Sunday!

Portland International Women's Day
www.piwd.org
Sunday, March 9
2:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Portland State University Smith Center Ballroom
1825 SW Broadway

A $3 donation is requested at the door