LONDON (CU)_The Sexual Harms and Medical Encounters (SHaME) research project together with the Women of the World (WOW) Foundation, organised the first ever Shameless! Festival, a one-day event which brought together activism and art to change attitudes towards sexual violence. The festival line-up included several distinguished speakers, including WOW Founder Jude Kelly, founder of Black Minds and UK Slam champion Rachel Nwokoro, prizewinning author Professor Joanna Bourke, award winning podcaster Sangeeta Pillai and best-selling author and survivor Winnie M Li.
During the reception recognising the event, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, delivered an impassioned speech calling on men and women to “truly unite” in order to forge a violence-free world. “We need to get the men in our lives involved in this movement. We do not, in any way, hold all men responsible for sexual violence. But we do need them all on board to tackle it,” she said.
“After all, rapists are not born, they are constructed. And it takes an entire community – male and female – to dismantle the lies, words and actions that foster a culture in which sexual assault is seen as normal, and in which it shames the victim. So let us all leave here today and try and get the men in our lives to participate in building a ‘shameless’ society,” the Duchess added.
During her address Camilla shared some alarming…
