It Happened to Me and it’s Not Okay: Sharing Stories of Sexual Violence
It happened to me & It’s not okay: Sharing Stories of Sexual Violence
This graphic novella is a free resource. Absolutely no distribution or editing of the resource can occur without written permission.
For permission please contact: waddellc@brandonu.ca
In order to make this resource free, our artist Merissa Mayhew is not receiving any royalties for her illustrations. If you loved the graphic novella as much as we did, please consider contributing to “Tip the Artist” to acknowledge her incredible work. The link below will take you directly to Merissa Mayhew’s portfolio. and has no affiliation to Brandon University or the Brandon University Student Union.
https://www.merissa.art/
To see the graphic novel, please click on the front cover below.
Overview: Ten interviews with individuals that have experienced sexual violence were used to create the narrative within this graphic novella. All ten individuals experienced some form of sexual violence while they were in post-secondary education. The graphic novella uses composite narrative to take the original ten stories from these individuals and compile them into one story with 4 different voices. The voices are compiled in a way that the original stories are anonymized, so the characters that are represented within this graphic novel are not representative of any of the original participants. In the story, there are 4 characters talking about their own personal experiences of sexual violence to the 5th character who has just experienced some form of unwanted sexual activity. Overall, the five characters in this graphic novella could be anyone, but the stories they are sharing are the experiences of people with a history of sexual violence.
Acknowledgements
This project would not have been possible without the participants of this research study: Alex, Britany, Danika, Darlene, Dawn, Ellen, Grace, Jessica, Joy, and Zara. Even if those that read this story will never know your identity, your story will be known forever more in the pages of this novella.
Design and consultation team included: Ana Iervolino (SERC Program Evaluation and Research); Jessica Laxdal (BU Sexual Violence Education and Prevention Coordinator), Merissa Mayhew (Graphic Artist); Chris Romaniuk (Sexuality and Reproductive Health Facilitator Youth); Curt Shoultz (BU Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology); Ashley Taron (Executive Director of Brandon University Student Union), Linden Haubrick (BUSU Vice President Engagement), Candice Waddell-Henowitch (Project Lead, Associate Professor Department of Psychiatric Nursing, BU).
References
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