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A woman walks out of the Women's Resource Center on the evening of Oct. 24, 2018.

A woman walks out of the Women's Resource Center on the evening of Oct. 24, 2018.

WRC hosts program to prevent gendered violence

The University of New Mexico Women’s Resource Center (WRC) supports the UNM community in a variety of services, including the Gendered Violence Prevention Program.

According to WRC Outreach Specialist Caitlin Henke, the Gendered Violence Prevention Program focuses on both sexual violence awareness and prevention, in addition to bystander training.

According to the WRC website, “The Gendered Violence Prevention Program trainers have presented to Res Life, the Greek Community, Athletics, CEP, New Student Orientation, LoboRESPECT Student Leaders and advisors. Trainers have trained students and staff within our new Peer Educator Model.”

Reina Davis, the outreach coordinator for WRC, said the program was established in 2013 by the first author of “The Grey Area” training, an online training that UNM requires students to take.

According to UNM’s LoboRESPECT website, “UNM provides a mandatory sexual misconduct prevention training, “The Grey Area,” to all qualified UNM students.”

“This program was created in order to educate folks on how to support survivors of gendered violence, as well as learn what behaviors and structures contribute to gendered violence in order to prevent it,” Davis said.

According to Davis, the program is geared towards educating students, but also community members in general. This program is similar to other programs found at other universities across the country, Davis said.

Henke said gendered violence, or gender-based violence, is violence towards someone because of their gender and normative standards. She said stereotypes surrounding gender and what gender should be are often behind this type of violence.

“This serves the UNM community by educating people on the subject, as well as training people on how to be supportive to folks that are affected,” Henke said. “Over 1,000 students a year are typically trained.”

Educating college students about gendered violence is a step toward preventing violence in the wider community.

“The goal of this program is to educate students and the broader community on bystander intervention, what is gender violence, what is consent, and more, in order to prevent violence within our communities,” Henke said.

The WRC will be hiring a new graduate assistant (GA) to help with this program and work with a grant the WRC center received called the Violence Against Women Grant Act. The Violence Against Women Act was established in 1994 and is a federal law.

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The WRC provides a variety of resources in addition to the Gendered Violence Prevention Program, including counseling and a mentorship program between upperclassmen and freshman.

Megan Holmen is the assistant news editor at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com, culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @megan_holmen.

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