KMCRIC

Sexual and gendered violence affects individuals, communities and societies alike. Present in all cultures and walks of life, it can ruin lives, destroy families, break trust and encumber economies. And yet, while the effects can be devastating, stories of resilience and empowerment exist.

Sexual violence broadly refers to any unwanted sexual acts, comments, or advances. It can include, but is not limited, to sexual harassment, sexual abuse, rape within a relationship or marriage, rape by a stranger or acquaintance, or childhood sexual abuse and may include coercion, manipulation, or force. Sexual violence can and does affect individuals of all ages, races, cultures, religions, and socio-economic statuses. It does not discriminate. It can and does affect people of varied genders, gender identities, and sexual orientations. In fact, according to the World Health Organization, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans individuals experience sexual violence at higher rates than cisgender heterosexual individuals.

Gendered violence broadly refers to any violence perpetrated on individuals or groups associated to normative understandings of one’s gender and may inflict physical, sexual, or mental harm. This can include sexual violence, but can also include domestic or interpersonal violence, forced marriage, child marriage, harmful traditional practices, sex-selective abortion, harassment, exploitation, trafficking, and discrimination among others.

The effects of both sexual and gendered violence can be profound. This type of violence may negatively affect an individual’s overall health and development and impact their risks for and resilience against psychological disorders and alcohol and drug use. Additional consequences of sexual and gendered violence may include injury, death, unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections (STI’s), depression, panic attacks, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicide attempts, fear, stigmatization, and isolation.

Our second interdisciplinary inclusive Sexual and Gendered Violence conference seeks to understand how sex, gender, and sexual orientation impact those experiencing and perpetrating violence. We aim to isolate, discuss and explore the main issues, pressing matters and recent developments in the field; to identify areas to be subsequently explored in further depth; to better understand how sex, gender, and sexual orientation impacts those experiencing and perpetrating violence; and to generate collaborative action that will lead to real, lasting change in the way sexual and gendered violence is perceived and approached in varied settings, and that will bring a useful contribution to the curbing of this phenomenon on a local and global scale. Discussions and engagements at the meeting will be considered for a possible selective publication with a view to enabling further research and collaboration.

We welcome any relevant and insightful contribution, from classic presentations to proposals for workshops, topics for debates, panels or round tables, brainstorming sessions for creating policy materials or research instruments, sharing of event-appropriate professional or personal experience, all the way to meaningful forms of artistic expression (film, poetry, photography exhibitions etc.)