SU’s Pride and Gender Equity (PAGE) Center hosted speaker Bonny Shade for its “But What Can I Do” talk in Memorial Auditorium on Sept. 24. Shade held a conversation on how to collectively stop sexual violence on campus.

Shade travels the country and speaks to thousands of college students every year, intermixing humor and a personable tone while informing audiences on the seriousness of the reality of sexual violence in our society and how to put an end to it.

During her speech, Shade highlighted how heartbreakingly common sexual violence is on college campuses, and she explained how crucial it is for students to challenge their current way of thinking about the topic and learn something new, even though it may be uncomfortable.

“It might not be something you want to hear,” Shade said. “But I guarantee it’s something you need to hear.”

While including different stories and interactive questions, Shade structured her speech into four key ideas surrounding recognizing what sexual violence is and how students can do their part in ensuring it is stopped. The first essential part highlighted by Shade was knowing how to identify everything that constitutes sexual violence. 

As defined by the Justice Department, sexual violence is “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient.” Shade highlighted how many people may tend to minimize certain behaviors as not being sexual violence, when it is. 

“The minimization of some of these smaller things only cosigns small behaviors and then escalates into larger ones,” Shade said.

The next topic of conversation Shade brought attention to was consent, and what it looks and feels like. As defined on one of her slides, “consent is active, conscious, eager and ongoing.” She also mentioned how the consumption of alcohol plays a role, and the difference between being under the influence of alcohol, and being incapacitated by it, in relation to being able to give consent or not. 

After defining some key terms and ideas on the topic, Shade talked about how individuals can learn to step up and step in when they notice something is off in a situation. She pointed out that while direct action is crucial, it is also important to cause distractions and change the environment when noticing someone is in an unsafe situation, as to not escalate things. 

“If you shift attention,” Shade said. “You can shift an outcome.”

The final topic covered during Shade’s speech was about how to respond to victims and survivors of sexual violence. The most important question to ask them, as noted by Shade, is “How can I support you?” This gives them the choice about what happens next. She noted how important it is to show up, listen and show support. 

“What you say in these moments matters,” Shade said. “You can literally be someone’s superhero.”

Following Shade’s speech, members of the PAGE Center handed out a slip of paper with two action steps for audience members to complete. It included videos to watch and questions to answer concerning the topic of sexual violence. Participants were then entered into a raffle to win a free bicycle and helmet. 

The PAGE Center has multiple events coming up in October for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, including a tulip planting ceremony and a bystander engagement workshop. For more information, check out their Instagram @shippagecenter. 

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