Occupy McKeldin 2023 Highlights Intersectionality in Sexual Assault Survivors

A sign displayed at Occupy McKeldin on April 14, 2023 (Yugo Hines/The Black Explosion)

The University of Maryland’s Prevent Sexual Assault (PSA) group hosted its annual Occupy McKeldin event to educate and support survivors of sexual assault this past Friday. This year’s event emphasized intersectionality, community silence and inclusivity.

Founded in October 2015, PSA was formed by seven women in order to create a support system and improve resources for sexual assault survivors on campus. Since then, PSA has grown into a well-known student-run organization that hosts several events throughout the year, including Occupy McKeldin. Students gather at McKeldin Mall to participate in activities, purchase goods, access free educational materials and listen to speakers.

Lola Hill, sophomore public health science major and Black women’s study member, has served as the Intersectionality Diversity and Inclusion co-chair for PSA since Fall 2022. Hill shared that since last semester, the organization has worked to decenter Greek life, incorporate intersectionality and provide a healing space for all types of survivors.

“My job is basically to make sure that the resources that we give out are inclusive of all communities and make sure that our activism is something that is inclusive of all people,” Hill said. “Because PSA was an organization that was founded out of, kind of, the sexual violence that occurs in white Greek life, but, obviously, white, cisgender, heterosexual women are not the only ones that are affected by sexual violence.”

Inclusivity and intersectionality were two major themes of this year’s Occupy McKeldin. Several educated speakers were invited to participate in the event and discuss the roles their identities played in their recovery from sexual violence

According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, members of the LGBTQ+ community are at higher risk for sexual violence. Approximately 21% of transgender, genderqueer and gender-nonconforming college students have been sexually assaulted. This rate is 3% higher than those seen in cisgender females and 17% higher than cisgender males. Ethan Levine, sociologist and author of “Rape by the Numbers: Producing and Contesting Scientific Knowledge about Sexual Violence,” shared how others had falsely attributed his identity as a transgender man to being a result of sexual assault and how that assumption actively hindered his recovery process. 

Aishah Shahidah Simmons, cultural worker and editor of “Love WITH Accountability: Digging up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse,” was another speaker invited to share her experiences with sexual violence. Simmons discussed how survivors from marginalized communities are often required to consider how speaking out may negatively impact others. This further primes victims to not speak up about future sexual abuse.

“We share the collective pain when individuals and institutions who are not from our communities commit harm against our communities without ever being held accountable,” Simmons said. “And yet, many still enforce communal silence about intraracial child sexual abuse and adult rape and other forms of sexual violence in the name of family loyalty, in the name of racial solidarity, on our campuses, in our communities and beyond.”