Sexual violence response program (Ukraine)

Sexual violence is a weapon of war. Russian troops have rape in their arsenal alongside the bombs and guns in Ukraine. And this is our feminist response.

Our organization - Feminist Workshop - has been working on sexual violence prevention for the past eight years. Right before the escalation of the war in Ukraine we were preparing sex education programs for schools. We find it extremely important to continue this work consistently during and after the war.

Sexual violence is a complex issue, and we, as the Feminist Workshop, want to address it in a complex way with short, medium and long-term strategic ways. We have to consider insufficient acquaintance of women and non-binary people about their reproductive health, lesser availability of contraceptives for large segments of the population, stigmatization of victims, many cases of incompetence and unprofessional conduct of the gynecologists, and taboos around the topic of sex in general. Women and non-binary people who suffered from sexual violence are often stigmatized, they don’t receive relevant psychological support. Sometimes people have stereotypes about emergency contraception. Usually, a woman is retraumatized during her testimony at the police office. She doesn't know where to find help.

We propose such solutions:

- Making and spreading information sheets and infographics instructions, illustrated materials about the urgent contraception;

- Making videos about different types of contraception and sexually transmitted diseases;

- Training for trainers on sexual and reproductive health and rights;

- Preparing the sex education programs for schools

- Advocacy for gender-aware medical and police services for those women and non-binary people who are affected by violence.

Feminist Workshop is a non-governmental organization founded in 2014. Our mission: creation of a space for the feminist community development in Lviv and Ukraine. We are a grassroots based organization led by young girls, women, LGBTQI and internally displaced people. Here you can find more about our work and activities we were carrying out before the current war: https://femwork.org/about-us/

Anna Shybyryn (aka Yosh) is a co-founder and head of Feminist Workshop, who has 12 years of experience organizing and community building. The morning Russia started the attack, Yosh was awakened by the sound of a siren that warned of an air attack. She came to the office of Feminist Workshop with other activists and started organizing to support people in Ukraine. Anna fled from Lviv (Ukraine) to the EU and currently continues to work remotely.