Women and Men Coming Together to End Sexual Violence

In the Tewa language, Kwee-wa seng-wa vi tuu signifies the ancestral knowingness found in female and male energy, and reminds us that these energies are always woven together.

Tewa Women United centers the voices of Indigenous women, and at the same time we honor and welcome the essential role of men in our struggles. We are grateful for the men who have stepped forward to continue the much-needed work of personal and community healing around sexual violence.

This year, TWU has received a grant from Raliance (a national collaborative to end sexual violence in one generation) to leverage our collective intertribal women’s voice in the Tewa homelands of Northern New Mexico and initiate a county-wide project to engage coaches and educators in understanding male socialization and its influence on sexual violence. The grant will enable us to deliver train-the-trainer sessions on positive male role modeling as a method for preventing sexual violence.

Sexual violence comes in many forms, and teens encounter these, such as assault, harassment, unwanted sexting, rape, revenge porn, unwanted sexual contact, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, and more. According to multiple studies, Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to experience sexual assault and rape than any other ethnic group in the United States.

These are issues that need to be talked about now in order to prevent them.

TWU is a member of the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs (NMCSAP), and is participating in It Starts With Us – a statewide prevention campaign that offers tips on how to talk about sexual violence with teens.

During the week of February 26 – March 2, 2018, the Raliance Social Media Campaign will be focusing on Tewa Women United. We’ll be sharing content on our social media sites to raise awareness of sexual violence and the importance of positive male role models.

Here are some resources to address sexual violence in our communities and create spaces for conversations:

• TWU’s V.O.I.C.E.S. Program (Valuing Our Integrity with Courage, Empowerment, and Support)
• “Rape is Rape. Every time.” by Scott Davis of Tewa Women United
• “We Build” by Scott Davis of Tewa Women United
• How to start a conversation about sexual violence (for mentors)
• The “What If” guide to giving sound advice (for teens)
• More resources from It Starts With Us: http://itstartswithusnm.org/
• Video: “Man Prayer”