There are just a couple days left to submit a piece to our special blog series, a response to the #MeToo campaign and subsequent #HimThough campaign. If you have a poem, work of visual art, personal essay, short piece of fiction, or any hybrid of those – let your voice be heard. Submit Here for the #MeToo Themed Series before tomorrow, Monday, November 13.
As we wrap up this limited series the weekend of Veteran’s Day, we at So to Speak: a feminist journal of language and art would also like to show support for survivors of Military Sexual Trauma (MST). According to the 2016 Department of Defense SAPR Annual Report:
- 14,900 members (8,600 women and 6,300 men) were sexually assaulted in 2016.
- Most victims were sexually assaulted more than once, resulting in over 70,000 assaults in 2016 alone.
- Over 1 in 4 women and 1 in 3 men were assaulted by someone in their chain of command.
To become further informed, and learn what we can do to help those who have been assaulted while in service to our country, please visit Protect Our Defenders (POD), a leading and comprehensive non-profit that advocates for survivors of MST. POD offers multiple resources for veterans such as legal services, a local service network, a resource library, national phone hotlines, peer-to-peer support, and more. You can also follow their work on Twitter, @ProtectRDfnders.