University of Kentucky - Violence Intervention and Prevention Center
 

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Green Dot Information

what’sgreen dot

What’s With the Green Dot?

Visualize for a moment that unforgettable image of small red–dots spreading across a computer generated map of the United States‚ symbolizing the spread of some terrible epidemic – with each tiny red dot representing an individual case. With disturbing speed‚ the three or four single dots multiply and spread until the whole map emits a red glow comprised of a zillion tiny dots.

Now imagine for a moment a map of UK. Each red dot on this map represents an act of violence against women (physical assault‚ sexual assault or stalking) – or a choice to tolerate‚ justify or perpetuate this violence. A red dot is a rape – a red dot is a hit – a red dot is a threat – a red dot is a “blame the victim” statement – a red dot is an individual choice to do nothing in the face of a high risk situation. Violence against women at the University of Kentucky is not a huge‚ solid mass that can simply be removed with one swift action or policy. Rather‚ it is the accumulation of individual decisions‚ moments‚ values‚ and actions made by the students‚ staff‚ faculty and administration of our university. It’s hard to know exactly how many red dots are on our map at any given moment – but we do know there have been enough red dots to create a culture that sustains a rate of 36.5% of women becoming victims of physical assault and/or sexual assault and/or stalking while they are students at UK.

Now imagine adding a green dot in the middle of all those red dots on our UK map. Imagine that a green dot is any behavior‚ choice‚ word‚ or attitude that promotes safety for women and communicates utter intolerance for violence. A green dot is pulling our friend out of a high risk situation – a green dot is responding to a victim blaming statement with words of support – a green dot is volunteering a few hours at the Violence Intervention and Prevention Center – a green dot is attending a MAVAR@UK meeting – a green dot is bringing a safety program to your group. A green dot is simply your individual choice at any given moment to make our campus safer.

How many green dots will it take to begin reducing violence against women on our campus? How many of us need to add 2 or 3 or 7 or 50 dots to this map to begin to make a difference and begin to outshine and displace those red dots? We cannot know the exact number‚ but we do know this: if most of us choose inaction – if most of us choose to close our eyes to this issue – if most of us choose apathy and indifference – then the red dots stand! If we do not begin replacing moments of violence and victim blaming with moments of support and safety‚ then we will surely continue to have more than 1 in 3 women become victims of violence. That is not OK. That must not be OK with any of us.

Green dots on the map

greendot moments

Green Dot Moments

• Volunteer at the Violence Intervention and Prevention Center
• Speak up when you hear victim–blaming
• Treat women with respect
• Attend the “Take Back the Night” rally
• Be a knowledgeable resource for victims
• Stop laughing at sexist jokes and comments
• Look out for friends at parties and bars and other high risk situations
• Educate yourself and your friends
• Use campus resources
• Believe that violence against women is unacceptable and say it out loud
• Empower women to tell their stories
• Challenge the men in your life to confront men’s violence against women

Send us your own experiences or observations of Green Dot moments to dedwa3@email.uky.edu.

violence intervention and prevention center . university of kentucky . 106 frazee hall . lexington‚ ky . 40506–0031 . (859) 257–3564 . fax (859) 323–3646