Event to bring attention to sexual assault and violence

At Speak Out!, Project Dinah members share stories of sexual assault and violence through the words of survivors. 

Speak Out! will take place in the Pit on Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m. 

The stories come from Project Dinah’s anonymous blog, and members of the organization will read the stories. Shruti Patel and Anne Zhou, co-chairpersons of Project Dinah, said the event is meant to empower survivors and raise awareness. 

“The purpose of the event is really to let survivors regain control of their stories by writing them out, and in reading them, we raise awareness that this is still happening at UNC,” Zhou said.

Former Project Dinah members Alyson Culin and Angela Stallings started Speak Out! in 2007. Culin said there wasn’t as much media attention on sexual assault in 2007, and they wanted to start Speak Out! to break the silence. 

“These stories do a lot in showing the multiple ways that survivorship exists,” Zhou said.

There will be members of the Orange County Rape Crisis Center at the event in case the material is triggering or attendees need someone to talk to. Members of Project Dinah will hold signs around the Pit during the event to warn people of the content, Zhou said. 

“By having it in an open space, we want people who normally wouldn’t know about these types of issues to have access to it,” Patel said.

Culin said now that sexual assault is talked about more on campus and in the media, it is important to continue to raise awareness and not think of sexual assault as an abstract concept.

“We generally don’t talk in detail about what an experience could look like. There can be big value in sharing that story and how it impacts survivors,” Culin said.

In addition to Project Dinah sharing survivor stories, the Achordants, Cadence, EROT, Harmonyx and the Wordsmiths will perform at Speak Out! 

Shruti said the groups will perform pieces with themes of empowerment or healing in order to uplift attendees.

Resita Cox, president of EROT, said performing at the event allows the group to advocate for victims of sexual assault and sexual violence through art. 

“It feels good being able to perform at such an important event," Cox said. "I always make an effort to go and perform and stay after I perform."

Project Dinah typically hosts the event once a semester.

Culin said she believes this event is helpful to both survivors who shared their stories and others to understand they are not alone.

“I know with a lot of survivors, they don’t tell people what happened because they’re ashamed or because there’s a whole culture of victim-blaming survivors," Patel said. "I hope this event can help reduce some of that stigma around survivorhood." 

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