Change the Conversation: A Day of Blogging About Sexual Assault

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Bloggers in Pittsburgh invite you to participate in a "Day of Blogging" to help change the conversation - from victim blaming to preventing rape, from "scary stranger in the dark" to the prevalence of intimate partner sexual violence, from assuming women are the only victims to a broader understanding of the impact of sexual assault in the queer community.

To participate, we ask you to create one blog post or one social media post (G+, Facebook, Instagram, etc) on this topic - from your own perspective, using your own words. We will also be using this opportunity to encourage readers to support an important community organization, Pittsburgh Action Against Rape through this CrowdRise campaign - every $5 we raise will help to change the conversation through education, counseling and training.  ** This event is not sponsored by or officially connected with PAAR - this is a private fundraiser, but through Crowdrise all funds collecte will go directly to PAAR.

Date:   Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Participant:  Anyone interested in the topic

Crowdrise Link: http://www.crowdrise.com/changetheconversation/fundraiser/suekerr

Crowdrise Widget - insert this html code into your site

Hashtag:   #PghSAAM (Pittsburgh Sexual Assault Awareness Month)

How do I sign up?  Email pghlesbian at gmail dot com with your name & the name of your social media tool (with url) When your post is live, please send a link to be added to this page throughout the day.

How else can I show my support?  Use the "grab button" and display on your blog leading up to the event. Change your avatar on April 16 to the logo or simply a ribbon.  Share the various posts.

I want to participate, but I prefer to be anonymous?  We support your decision to remain anonymous. If you would like to share your story without using your name, please contact pghlesbian and we can arrange for it to be published on one of the host blogs. We want you to feel safe and supported - and we appreciate any form of participation that works for you.

What should I say? You can write anything from a brief statement of support to your personal story (please use trigger warnings.) What does it mean to you to change the conversation?

If I am not a survivor, should I participate? Yes, this impacts our entire society - advocates for survivors speaking out are incredibly important to building a safer society for everyone.

I'm not in Pittsburgh? Several of us in Pittsburgh are responding in solidarity with our sisters in nearby Steubenville. That is why we selected a Pittsburgh based organization for donations - but it is perfectly great for you to promote an organization or cause in your own community or to not mention the fundraising element at all. There is no geographic limit to whom can participate.

Resources:   This a list (not comprehensive) of resources you may consult for statistics and data to use in your post.

• Pittsburgh Action Against Rape
• National Sexual Violence Resource Center - SAAM page
• Madden House - YWCA of Wheeling (the organization the young woman in Steubenville supports)

List of Participants

Check this page for a list of participants.

Change The Conversation: Blogging About Sexual Assault – Planning Post

Friends – The Pittsburgh Women’s Blogging Society is organizing a “Blogging Day” on Tuesday April 2. “Change the Conversation: Blogging About Sexual Assault” We need help to make this successful. Help us send a message of solidarity to our sister in Steubenville and all survivors of sexual assault. Help us begin the difficult conversations on this topic and encourage our readers and social network to stop and think.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

How can you help?

We need a logo that can be converted into a small button – around 200×200 – as well as an average image size. Can you design this?

We need someone to gather the most current information on sexual assault from a reputable source – like PAAR, convert it into a .pdf and set it up on Google Docs or some other publicly accessible site.

We need someone to set up a donation tool to benefit PAAR – a chipin, a crowdfunding site, etc. You will need to talk with PAAR’s development team.

We will need PR – help us recruit participants and also track social media the day of. Perhaps set up a Scoop.It for posterity.

You don’t need a blog to participate – you can use Facebook, Twitter, even Pinterest. You can share your story or you can write about any angle you want. You don’t have to be in Pgh – you can ask folks to donate to your local agency.

Please message me right away if you can help. Thank you.

UPMC Mercy refuses emergency contraception to rape victims

Two area hospitals, UPMC Mercy and Mercy Jeannette Hospital, have opted not to provide emergency contraception (EC) to sexual assault survivors who arrive seeking care. The hospitals are allowed to opt out under Governor Rendell's regulations which mandate that hospitals, at minimum, inform victims about the existence of EC.

More info from the PA Department of Health:

The following hospitals have notified the Department of Health (DOH) that pursuant to 28 Pa. Code § 117.57 they may not offer emergency contraception to a sexual assault victim and provide emergency contraception at the hospital at the request of the victim as doing so is contrary to the stated religious or moral beliefs of the hospital. These hospitals must*:

• Provide individual oral and written notice to the sexual assault victim that emergency contraception is not provided at the hospital due to the stated religious or moral beliefs of the hospital.
  
• Provide oral and written notice to the sexual assault victim of the hospital’s obligation to arrange for transportation for the sexual assault victim as stated below, and prominently display such notice in the hospital’s emergency service area.
  
• Upon request of the sexual assault victim, arrange for immediate transportation for the sexual assault victim, at no cost to the sexual assault victim, to the closest hospital where the sexual assault victim could obtain emergency contraception. If the sexual assault victim’s medical condition does not require further inpatient hospital services, the hospital may arrange to transport the victim to a rural health clinic, federally qualified health canter, pharmacy, or other similar location where a sexual assault victim could obtain emergency contraction.
  

Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital

Mercy Philadelphia Hospital

Mercy Suburban Hospital Norristown

Nazareth Hospital

Altoona Regional Health System – Bon Secours campus

Mercy Hospital Scranton

Muncy Valley Hospital

St. Mary Medical Center

Williamsport Hospital & Medical Center

UPMC Mercy

Mercy Jeannette Hospital

All of the facilities noted above have requested an exemption under 117.57(1).

In addition, under 117.58(1)(ii), St. Agnes Long Term Care Hospital has notified the Department that they have elected not to provide any sexual assault emergency services, as a hospital offering a limited range of emergency services.

(Via Planned Parenthood e-newsletter)