Statistics provided by international health and human rights organizations, such as the WHO, UN Women or Unicef show a grim reality when it comes to sexual and gendered violence:
Sexual and gendered violence is a matter that affects individuals, communities and societies alike. Present in its many various forms in all cultures and walks of life, it ruins lives, destroys families, breaks trust and encumbers economies.
Our first interdisciplinary Sexual and Gendered Violence conference seeks to create a lasting network of professionals in all fields related to this topic, to isolate, discuss and explore the main issues, pressing matters and recent developments in this field of activity, to identify areas to be subsequently explored in further depth and to generate collaborative action that will lead to real, lasting change in the way sexual and gendered violence is perceived and approached in institutional settings and that will bring a useful contribution to the curbing of this phenomenon on a local and global scale. We welcome any relevant and insightful kind of 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.)
Themes:
Some of our suggested main issues to be approached include (but are not limited to):
Exploring the notion of Sexual and Gendered Violence and its varied forms (sexual abuse, sexual harassment, domestic and intimate partner violence, sex trafficking, child marriages, rape as a weapon of war, hate crimes against the LGBT population etc) – definitions, numbers, challenging existing assumptions, introducing new hypotheses, historical or anthropological approaches, local and global specifics etc.
Consequences and implications of Sexual and Gendered Violence – ranging from an individual level to a social, economic, cultural view.
Understanding and assisting survivors of sexual and gendered violence – survivor categories, narratives and profiles, case studies, innovative therapeutic approaches, institutional good practices, institutional dysfunctionality in assisting survivors.
Perpetrators – profiles, case studies, motivations, risk factors, innovative solutions for identifying and deterring them, punishment versus education/reformation etc.
Policy – existing and necessary policy programs, impact studies, local and global policy trends and their respective effectiveness, policy analysis and outcomes, unmet needs etc.
Legal Concerns – existing legal frames and their effectiveness, necessary laws, unjust laws, sentences for sexual and gendered violence, constructing and trying sexual and gendered violence cases etc.
Prevention – existing and necessary measures of prevention on a local and global scale, effectiveness of existing prevention mechanisms, best practices, the role of education in prevention etc.
Media, Technology, and Sexual Violence: (new)media role in the normalization or prevention of sexual and gendered violence, new forms of sexual and gendered violence via new media and technology, survivors and media exposure, media coverage of the phenomenon, media propaganda upholding state violence etc.
Professing in the field of sexual and gendered violence - issues, hardships, frustrations, communication needs, big and small victories and bright, hopeful moments of professionals working with sexual and gendered violence, with survivors, with perpetrators, in policy, prevention, health and healing etc.
Our main goal is to facilitate dialogue and spark innovative collaborations and discussions at an international level, in a dynamic and interactive setting. Thus, we welcome participants from all relevant disciplines, professions and vocations (mental and physical health professionals, educators, therapists, researchers, activists, counselors, social workers, policy makers, journalists, lawyers, politicians, volunteers, business owners, military personnel, correction institutions personnel, human resources specialists, historians, sociologists, psychologists, economists, anthropologists, social media experts, artists and many more)
What to Send
The aim of this interdisciplinary conference and collaborative networking event is to bring together academics, professionals, practitioners, NGO's, voluntary sector workers and many more in the context of a variety of formats: papers, seminars, workshops, panels, q&a’s, performances etc.
300 word reviews of your proposed contribution (paper abstracts, proposals for workshops, collaborative works or round tables, overviews of artistic projects or any other relevant forms of participation you are interested in) should be submitted by Friday 4th August 2017.
All submissions will be minimally double reviewed, under anonymous (blind) conditions, by a global panel drawn from members of the Project Advisory Team and the Advisory Board. In practice our procedures usually entail that by the time a proposal is accepted, it will have been triple and quadruple reviewed.
You will be notified of the panel's decision by Friday 11th August 2017.
If your submission is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your contribution should be submitted by Friday 17th November 2017.
Proposals may be in Word, PDF, RTF or Notepad formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in the programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords.
E-mails should be entitled: Sexual and Gendered Violence
Submission
Where to Send
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chair and the Project Administrator:
Kristine Seitz: kristine@kristineseitz.com
Project Administrator: viennaviolence@
For further details and information please visit:
