An article gone viral, academic presentations & upcoming theatre

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If you haven’t read it, my latest article on the Stanford sexual assault has gone somewhat viral, with over 90,000 people (at last count) reading it around the world!  After The Conversation published it, other media outlets like the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, The Independent, TIME, Scroll, and Raw Story ran it, making it available to readers as far flung as Oz and India.  Case in point: social media amplifies (as I argue in my article), and with millions of people worldwide reading the full impact statement of the Stanford survivor, this case has become a game-changer in influencing the way we think and talk about sexual assault.Screen Shot 2016-06-14 at 13.06.16

This is all very on topic for my PhD research on social media and narratives by rape survivors, and  I’m thrilled to announce I recently passed my PhD upgrade at the London School of Economics! Which means it’ll now just be, oh, three years before you can call me ‘doctor’?  (Yep, a long game we’re talking here.) This week I’ve just presented a paper on my work with child sexual abuse survivors at the CMCI PhD Conference ‘(In)Visible Cultures’ at Kings’ College London, and I’ll be presenting it again at the Media and Communications PhD Symposium at the LSE on June 30th.

On June 23 and 27, I’ll chair the Q&A following performances of Foreign Body, a work-in-progress piece of physical theatre, which explores a woman’s memory of sexual assault and her interview with her perpetrator.  The Q&A will be with Imogen Butler-Cole of The What Works (the theatre-maker who created and performs Foreign Body) and Marina Cantacuzino and Anne-Marie Cockburn of The Forgiveness Project.  Marina founded the well-known project, and Anne-Marie’s own restorative process with the young man who supplied a fatal overdose of MDMA to her 15-year-old daughter is a remarkable journey, You can watch her story here. We’ll be discussing trauma, recovery, and restorative justice among other things — and do join us at either of the performances: at the Off Beat Festival in Oxford at 7:45pm on Thursday, June 23 (tickets £8/6) and at the RADA Festival in London at 4pm on Monday, June 27 (tickets £10/5).  Hope to see you there!

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Last month, I had the pleasure of attending the 2016 Asian Women of Achievement Awards Dinner, where I was shortlisted in the Social and Humanitarian category.  Although I didn’t win, it was truly inspiring to be among so many fantastic women, who have made such a difference in their work across a range of industries.  Here’s me and the delightful Harleen Kaur, winner in the Sports category, who at 17-years-old is an international World Martial Kombat champion. It’ll be an honour to be part of a growing network of accomplished Asian women recognised by the Women of the Future Foundation — and I look forward to seeing our collective positive impact on society continue!AWAA w Harleen

Asian Women of Achievement Awards – I’ve been shortlisted!

I’m very honored to have been shortlisted for the prestigious Asian Women of Achievement Awards in the Social and Humanitarian category, for my work on the issue of sexual assault and consent, including launching the Clear Lines Festival.  The awards are meant ‘to celebrate the often unsung Asian heroines of British life’ so… hey, I appreciate that!  Awards evening is May 12 at the London Hilton on Park Lane.  Looking forward to it!

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Speaking of Clear Lines, we’ve recently sent out our Spring 2016 newsletter, which you can read here.  And on March 12, I had the opportunity to run an important discussion group on sexual assault and abuse at the Women of the World Festival (WOW) at the South Bank Centre, on behalf of Clear Lines.  This followed the Sexual Assault and Abuse: Giving Testimony session, where I spoke on the panel, chaired by Jude Kelly, Artistic Director of the South Bank Centre. Overall, WOW was a fantastic weekend, full of inspiring talks and performances, addressing all sorts of issues related to achieving greater gender equality. Many thanks especially to the survivors, witnesses, and supporters who came shared, listened, and spoke out at our discussion group.

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Leading up to WOW, I wrote this opinion piece for The Huffington Post on the Oscars — did you notice the issue of sexual abuse was center-stage at the Academy Awards this year?  That’s progress!  As well as this blog post for Polis: Journalism and Society at the LSE, on the importance of celebrity, solidarity, and activism around sexual assault.

For now, I’m off to New England and New York for a short break, and will be back in London in mid-April… whereupon I’ll have to start working on my PhD upgrade in earnest. Lots of exciting things happening at the Department of Media and Communications at the LSE – we were recently ranked 3rd best Media Studies Department in the world… Not too shabby, eh?

 

Reclaim the Night, Women of the World & more

I’ve been invited to speak at the first-ever Reclaim the Night March at the University of East Anglia, so I’m headed to Norwich on Saturday, Feb 20th.  Many thanks to the UEA Students’ Union for inviting me — I’m looking forward to hearing from other activists as we speak out about against rape, sexual assault, and gender-based violence.  Never spoken at a rally before, but there’s always a first.  And check out the DJ-style billing!

Reclaim UEA

In the meantime, remember to book your Saturday day passes for the Women of the World Festival at the South Bank Centre.  On Saturday, March 12th, I’ll be on the Rape: Giving Testimony panel AND I’ll be co-leading the discussion group afterward, on behalf of the Clear Lines Festival.  Hope to see you there!

Speaking of festivals, I had a fantastic time at the One Billion Rising Festival, where I chaired the opening and closing panels on Violence Against Women: How can we achieve revolutionary change?  Lots of lively and inspiring discussion, along with amazing women who approach the topic from various legal, health, and artistic angles in their work.

L-R: Thea Tadiar, Tessa Hart, me, Pavan Amara in One Billion Rising colors

L-R: Thea Tadiar, Tessa Hart, me, Pavan Amara in One Billion Rising colors

And on Thursday, Feb 25th, I’m running part of an ‘impact’ seminar at the London School of Economics, for PhD students funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.  It’s on how academic researchers can have an impact outside the academy… the event’s closed to the public, but let’s hope there will be a trickle-down (or trickle-out?) effect!

 

Upcoming festival talks in Feb and March

This week is the inaugural Sexual Abuse & Sexual Violence Awareness Week in the UK, and I’ve been part of an active social media conversation at #ItsNotOk. I’ll also be chairing the opening panel at the One Billion Rising Festival on Sunday, Feb 7th.  We’ll discuss the importance of the One Billion Rising campaign and other activism movements against gender-based violence.  The talk is free (taking place right after The Vagina Monologues) and you can book tickets in advance here.  There’s also loads of other performances and workshops during the 7-day festival — be sure to check it out!

And in March, I’ll be speaking at the excellent Women of the World Festival at the Southbank Centre on Saturday the 12th.  The full programme isn’t up yet, but you can book a Saturday day pass — their lineup is never short of inspiring!

Other than that, I’m plugging along on my PhD work at the LSE and continuing to collaborate with other artists, thinkers, and activists on the issue.  Here’s a video of me speaking at last year’s Clear Lines Festival on media representations of sexual assault and what it’s like to have your own attack reported in the press:

A Swedish book deal & my current PhD research at the LSE

Happy 2016!  This update is very overdue, but I haven’t had much spare time these past few months, ever since starting my PhD.  But more on that later…

The first bit of exciting news is that my debut novel Dark Chapter has its first publication deal — it’ll be coming out in Sweden in Spring 2017 thanks to Norstedts, one of Sweden’s most prestigious publishing houses.  They also publish Margaret Atwood, Elena Ferrante, Colm Tóibín, and they discovered Stieg Larsson, so it’s not bad company to be in! The deal was listed at the top of Publishers Weekly Hot International Book Properties in November. I’m looking forward to publishers making the book available in other countries… I hope you are, too!

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Alongside my creative writing, I’ve begun my PhD at the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics. I’ll be researching the impact of social media on the public dialogue about rape and sexual assault — a very topical subject, and obviously, one which I feel strongly about, given my own experience and exploration of the issue. You can watch a video and read an article on my research here:

At the end of October, I spoke at the Feminism in London Conference, as a nominee for the annual Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize.  I didn’t win in the end, but it was an honor to be at the awards ceremony, both as an Individual Award nominee and as a representative of the Clear Lines Festival (nominated for the Group Award).  To have the chance to meet the other shortlisted women — and hear about their collective efforts working against gender-based violence — was nothing short of inspiring.

Me and Kate Llewellyn representing Clear Lines

Me and Kate Llewellyn representing Clear Lines

Speaking of Clear Lines, we have begun to release videos from the festival online.  You can watch them for free here, including videos of me speaking on the panel about news coverage of sexual assault, commenting on what it’s like to have your own rape reported in the media.   There’s also videos from our Spoken Word Night, featuring some very talented poets, and more videos will pop up over the next few months.

You can read my end-of-2015 round-up here.  Looking forward to what 2016 will bring!