However, it is very important to be aware of the above in order to avoid finding yourself in uncomfortable situations such as: being pressured into a relationship you don’t want, contracting an STI, or worrying about a potential undesired pregnancy.

For this reason, this Valentine’s season we decided to offer a platform to our students to share their stories, without having to feel ashamed. Our campaign included a quiz activity in the SU Foyer every day between Monday and Wednesday. ISC volunteers used the quiz to raise awareness about different myths around sexual health as well as about the existent help services.

We ended our campaign with a panel talk on Wednesday evening which was completely International, with representatives from Sexpression, LGBT+ committee, ISC and Serena, the current Women’s Officer.

But why did we do this? You may ask.

Well, because it is essential to challenge the taboos that prevent students from living happy and healthy relationships and sexual lives.

Because we want students to have a positive relationship with themselves and others and be confident to access all the support they need to achieve this end.

Because we want you everyone to remember things like the fact that sex is a personal choice that needs to be accepted by others, that protection is a priority for yourself and your partner, and that nobody has a right to judge you for your sexual orientation.

We’re proud to have started this conversation, and in case you missed the campaign and the information, but you would like to find out more about this all and share the knowledge, please know that there are loads of sources online, in the SU at at the UHS.

From our end, we would like to particularly highlight that:

> Sexual Health Sheffield, based in the Royal Hallamshire hospital, provides free and confidential information and advice, Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) screening and treatment, as well as a wide range of contraception methods.

> Contraception is freely available to you under the NHS and at the University Health Service. Condoms are also freely provided by the Student Advice Centre in the Student’s Union.

> There are many accurate and informative online resources that can help you navigate healthy relationships, sexual health and gender. Some useful links include:

• http://www.tht.org.uk/sexual-health/Sex,-reproduction-and-gender
• http://www.zanzu.de/en — A very comprehensive guide on sexual health and relationships produced by the German government. Available in 11 languages

Much love to you all!

Serena Cavasin, Women’s Officer

Ana Popa, International Students’ Officer

Jade Askew, ISC East Asian Representative

All You Need To Know About Sexual Health & Healthy Relationships was originally published in Sheffield Students on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

38. That’s the number of days left til the New Year.

38 days til this torture of a year is finally over.

From the highest number of deaths recorded in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the Refugee Crisis, to Brexit (and Theresa May becoming PM), to Ched Evan’s acquittal, to Trump’s election as POTUS, to the loss of many beloved celebrities that actually gave us some hope about this planet, 2016 has been bleak — seriously bleak.

Yet, there is a group of people that never gives up the fight and is always ready to mobilise with newly found energy. These people are student activists.

Student activists have often be portrayed unfairly by both mainstream media and student media as silly, delusional, loud and annoying, but in my experience that hasn’t necessarily been the case.

The student activists I have met and work with daily are engaged, committed, passionate people who want to see and create a society that is just and equal. They are the kind of people who will email you the day after the dreadful election of an hateful orange-tinted man proposing a campaign on love and tolerance — and who will eventually do something about this idea. They are the people behind the vigil of solidarity with Polish Women who saw their reproductive rights come under significant threat from the government, the people behind the motion recently passed at SU Council to show solidarity with Standing Rock against the North Dakota Pipeline and environmental racism, the students who protested cuts and fees at the National Demo, and the people who start petitions, organise campaigns, and everyday committ a lot of their time to leading representative and political and campaigning committees. You know who they are, and so do I.

Being conscious of this wealth of activists, but also being aware of the difficulties that can prevent students from becoming truly active in what they are passionate about due to other committments, I have organised a programme of events inspired by the international campaign 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, for students and staff to come along to and leave feeling more confident about being able to make a difference.

This is a campaign that I am personally very passionate about due to the pandemic status that violence against women has in my country (and that has affected many of my friends) and in many other countries (sexual violence on campus should ring a bell). And, because my Officer remit is liberation I have chosen to adopt a broader understanding of gender-based violence that takes into account homophobic, and especially transphobic violence, since they are both perpetrated against those who defy gender norms and costitute, together with violence against women, one of the most common and silently tolerated violations of human rights.

You can read more about the SU 16 Days campaign and find the full list of events that are part of it here, but in this post I would like to flag how it has been great to have so many of our student societies and committees join the campaign (shoutout to Women’s Committe, LGBT+, Mental Health Matters and Welfare Committee, Film Unit, Stop the Traffik, and SheffMUN Soc).

Unfortunately the campaign has been off to a slower start than expected, but there is a lot more to come! Workshops, a free screening of the Oscar-nominated and award-winning film “Water”, the Reclaim the Night march and rally this Friday, and a candlelight vigil in remembrance of all lives lost to gender-based violence in partnership with Hallam! Again, for more information about all the events check out: https://www.facebook.com/events/1146470155438378/?active_tab=discussion.

All events, unless stated otherwise, are open to everyone , of all genders — so please do invite (and bring) as many friends as you can!

If you can’t attend, but you still wish to show solidarity with the campaign, please invite your friends to the event, consider wearing orange (free deli mix in in New Leaf and Syrup in Coffee Revs if you do :)), wear with pride one of the 16 days badges you will find in the SU in the next few days, or add this twibbon to your social media handles http://twibbon.com/Support/16-days-of-activism-9.

Be aware, be active, be kind, be powerful, and build a brighter future for all of us!

The Way to Go: Student Activists, Human Rights, and a Brighter Future for All was originally published in Sheffield Students on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Today, Monday 3rd of October, the SU, together with the Women’s Committee, stands in solidarity with Polish women and girls striking to protect their rights from the government’s plan to ban all abortions.

Poland is already one of the countries with the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, currently allowing for terminations only in cases of rape or incest, or if the woman or foetus’ life is in danger.

But as if that wasn’t enough, the strongly conservative Stop Abortion coalition has recently proposed a near-total abortion ban that has been welcomed with support by the Catholic Church and the ruling party. The ban would permit terminations only when strictly necessary to save a woman’s life; it would aslo criminalise abortion in all other instances with up to 5 years of jail time.

What this means is not only that medical professionals would have to delay intervention for as long as possible and wait for a woman and her child to start dying before taking any action, but also that women suffering a miscarriage could be criminally investigated and that women and girls who are pregnant as a consequence of sexual violence will have no choice but to carry the pregnancy to completion.

The health and the lives of thousands of women are put at incredible risk under such a barbaric piece of legislation, since without access to safe abortions many will seek backdoor terminations or will attempt to perform an abortion on themselves when not able to travel abroad — desperate measures that are known to potentially have tragic effects.

For this reason, today Polish women will be wearing black, and instead of going to work, they will be joining protests.

In act of solidarity, we too will be wearing black, and at 4 pm we will meet on the concourse to demonstrate our support for this protest by taking photos of us and sending them to the Polish feminist organisations that have called for the strike (see FB event).

This vigil has been organised after one of our Polish students has expressed her will to participate in this protest while spending this term on Erasmus here.

As SU Officers, we are very proud to support this event.

In fact, one of the policies we follow as a SU is the Pro-Choice policy. This policy was approved by our members at SU Council and commits our organisation to take an active stance in affirming that a woman’s* right to choose needs to be recognised not only to be a (1) fundamental right, but also to be an (2) essential aspect of one’s bodily autonomy and (3) necessary to guarantee the maternal health of women worldwide.

Despite recognizing and respecting the cultural and religious differences of our International student population and the way these may impact some students’ stance on abortion (also appreciating that many of these opinions do not reside within an entirely pro-life or pro-choice camp, due to the spectrum of individual case-by-case situations that cannot be judged alike), we would like to once again emphasise that being pro-life in this current situation only condemns many women to resort to unsafe means, whereas being pro-choice means exactly what it says — having the choice whether to continue or terminate a pregnancy in a safe and legal way, which gives the individual the power to negotiate their relationship with their own consciousness, in their own terms and unrestricted by societal norms, even in a religious and/or in a ideologically diverse society.

Criminalizing women, shaming them and policing their bodies for whatever reasons, is not only misogynistic, but is the essence of dehumanisation .

This opposes all cultural-religious precepts of love, tolerance, forgiveness and non-judgemental attitude.

Today #WeAreInternational in one of the most powerful senses: standing in solidarity with Poland, while also sending our thoughts to our sisters in Ireland, Algeria, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Burkina Faso, and Paraguay who are unable to make key choices about their bodies and their lives because of inhumane restrictions on safe and legal abortion.

Having a choice and say on one’s own body should be a fundamental and independent right of any woman, regardless of colour, nationality or religion.#blackmonday#czarnyponiedzialek

#MyBodyMyRights

*For the purpose of the Pro-Choice policy, and in this article, the term ‘woman’ refers to a person who can get pregnant, of any gender.

Serena Cavasin, Women’s Officer

Ana Gabriela Popa, International Students’ Officer

Sheffield SU Statement of Solidarity with Polish Women on Strike was originally published in Sheffield Students on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If you’re a new student, your first few weeks at uni will be particularly full of excitement and new friendships and parties. A lot of parties. The Full Moon Party, Frat Party, Freshers’ ROAR, PopTarts, plenty of other various regular club nights, plus the countless house parties as well as society socials and white t-shirt pub crawls that, if you’re a party-goer like I was, you are likely to be attending up until Halloween before the reality of mid-term assessments finally sinks in.

I always had a good time in this moment of the year, especially — surprise, surprise — in my final year. You may wonder why then, and not when I was actually a fresher.

The answer is incredibly simple: there were a lot of things that I didn’t know when I moved to the UK and started uni. I arrived desperately wanting to make a good impression, “fit in” and get along with as many people as possible. And, trust me, it is this pressure that, whilst totally natural and understable, can push any of us to do things we don’t wouldn’t normally do, or to accept things that we are actually quite uncomfortable with.

But the truth is: you NEVER have to put up with, or do, anything that you are not okay with. Ever. You don’t have to, you should not, you must not — it can completely ruin the mood of an otherwise great night, and especially put you in (sometimes serious) danger.

So without further ado, let me speak some wisdom of the elderly and tell you a couple of things I wish I knew four years ago:

1. There is Safety (and fun!) in Numbers

The best nights out of my university experience have happened when I was in group of 5+ people. Going out in a large group not only makes for a better experience in terms of the number of people you will be able to share memories with, but also enables you to relax and worry less about your safety as it essentially guarantees that if you drink a bit too much someone will try to get you home safely.

2) It’s Totally Okay to Resist Peer Pressure

No, you don’t have to “down it” just because you are a fresher. You actually don’t have to drink at all, nor do drugs if that is what the people close to you are into. And if anyone makes fun of you because of that, or reacts badly, that’s a sign that you are not going to be great friends with them anyway and should stay away from them and their toxicity for the sake of your happiness and wellbeing.

3) You Wouldn’t Sober, You Shouldn’t Drunk — Alcohol is No Excuse for Bad Behaviour

Being drunk is never an excuse for intimidating or bullying anyone because of their gender, physical presentation, race, sexual orientation or nationality. It is also not an excuse for damaging or stealing property.

Moreover, and most importantly, being drunk, or the fact that someone you are with is drunk to the point of not being able to focus or stand, does not give you the right to impose yourself on them and put your priorities over theirs — they are someone who should be taken CARE of, not being taken advantage of. Particularly, in a sexual context, those who are drunk cannot consent, and sex without consent is legally classified as rape (!!!). Check this out.

4) You Have a RIGHT not to Be Harassed on a Night Out, and You CAN Speak Up Against It

Sexual harassment during nights out, although common, is totally unacceptable and needs to stop.

Unwanted physical contact of the likes of inappropriate touching, groping, pinching, grinding, as well as suggestive comments of a sexual nature, constitute nothing less than sexual harassment — which is a crime (Equality Act 2010).

Quite a few of us know this already, yet, due to the frequency of this type of behaviour, we are made to feel like it’s a normal and predictable part of any night out taking place in a crowded venue where the vast majority of people have had a few drinks. We are made to feel like it is something we should shrug off, something that complaining about will serve no purpose, something that if we are not ready to accept during a club night we should not bother with going out at all.

But it should not be like this, you have a right to have a good night and no one has the right to touch you without your permission.

Club creeps may never end up in jail for their actions, but there’s no reason why they should not be removed from venues. And you’ll be glad to know that if anything happens that makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe in our SU, we have pledged to have Zero Tolerance to Sexual Harassment, on top of having subscribed to the Good Night Out scheme. This means that if something or someone makes you feel uncomfortable, no matter how minor it seems, you can report it to any member of our staff and they will work with you to make sure it doesn’t have to ruin your night.

All complaints made to safety stewards and bouncers in the SU are taken extremely seriously. And by all complaints, I mean ALL, because while most reports come from women students, ANYONE, of any gender and/or sexual orientation, can be a victim of sexual harassment and we have a collective responsibility to fight the culture of silence and compliance surrounding it.

So by all means: make a fuss, tweet about #GropeFreeNights, report — let’s all put an end to this.

5) You Don’t Have to Walk Home Alone, even if Don’t Have Any Money on You.

The SU in partnership with City Taxis runs a Safe Taxi Scheme which allows you to hand your Ucard to the driver as deposit for your fare and pay for your journey later when collecting it at the SU Welcome Desk.

Or, in case you have cash (£1.50) on you and you identify as a woman, the SU Women’s Minibus is also an option.

6) There are Places to Go to When it all Gets a bit Too Much

Again, if you’ve lost your friends, your phone is out of battery or you simply need a break, look out for quiet(er) areas.

Soon in the SU you will be able to find a Time Out space during nights out by the Gender Neutral Toilets on the way to the smoking area (by the East Entrance).

Here there will be volunteers to help you have a fab night. There will be water, food and phone chargers, as well as a space for you to sit down and take a breather.

7) If Something is Not Right, You Don’t Have to Suffer in Silence

Here at the SU we really want you to have the best experience possible while at university, and our security will do their best to ensure your safety during nights out.

If you have an unpleasant experience or something difficult happens during or after a night out speak up and seek help immediately,

In day time our Student Advice Centre and the University Support and Guidance Team are here to help, so do reach out, and they will do their best to support you!

How to Have Memorable Nights Out at Uni Without Having To Compromise on Your Safety & Wellbeing was originally published in Sheffield Students on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.