By Sophia Lashmar, Year 12
Everyone’s Invited is a UK-based organisation that has given multiple talks and run workshops at LGB on the topics of rape culture, consent and safe relationships. They aim to expose rape culture through conversation, education and support. Thank you to Alex for her time in answering our questions!
What made you want to join Everyone’s Invited?
Whilst at university, I discovered the organisation which was going viral on social media at the time. I had always been passionate about these issues, but seeing the term ‘rape culture’ being used really resonated with me. I decided to write my dissertation on the topic of rape culture, and mentioned Everyone’s Invited in my work, highlighting how important it is to platform the voices of victims and survivors. This encouraged me to contact the organisation and start working with them.
What would you say is the mission of Everyone’s Invited when they go into schools?
The Everyone’s Invited mission is to expose and eradicate rape culture with empathy, compassion and understanding. Our education hopes to find solutions, problem solve and engage all individuals in this important conversation. We focus on society instead of individuals, providing a non-judgemental space to reflect, challenge and change.
What is your advice to our students?
My advice would be to be kind to yourself as well as others. It can be really overwhelming being a young person in today’s environment, balancing school, family, and friends, as well as growing up surrounded by intense amounts of media! Being more empathetic to others and considering our peers’ experiences are really important things to do if we want to have productive conversations around this topic.
How can we educate ourselves?
There are lots of ways to educate yourself, it could be by reading or watching documentaries, but something I would advise would be to ask questions! Ask your teachers, ask each other. The best way to learn is to be inquisitive and constantly question the information you are receiving. We can also learn more from others by asking about their experiences and the challenges they might face.
How can we bring about change?
Change can’t happen overnight, and it is sometimes difficult to enact change! Change takes time, commitment and patience, so it’s important to remember this when we are trying to enact change. My advice would be that change can happen with the help of lots of people. Getting as many people as you can involved in an issue can really help move it towards your end goal. You can do this by making sure that your movement or idea considers all individuals and that everyone can resonate with the cause and care for the issue, as well as feel comfortable with sharing their experiences.
How can Everyone’s Invited hope to grow and influence more people?
Everyone’s Invited was a movement created for young people, by young people. It has grown exponentially since its inception back in 2020. In order to continue this growth, we must continue to centre the voices of young people, victims and survivors. Ensuring that we have students informing our education, giving us feedback, and exploring their own ideas with the help of Everyone’s Invited is what will keep our organisation at the forefront of change.
What can individual schools and their student councils do?
Schools can centre student voices and involve students in decision-making by giving students responsibility and purpose. Students can work to foster a community amongst their peers, one that challenges the very foundations of rape culture and seeks to be the generation to stand up to this culture. This isn’t an easy task! But by constant communication and openness from students and staff we can start to change the current systems that are in place.
Advice on how to be ‘upstander’ ?
My advice would be to focus on everyday activism. Being an active upstander is something we have all done at some point in our lives. Whether it be reflecting on our own language or having discussions with our friends on difficult topics, we are all able to achieve the title of being an ‘active upstander’. For some practical advice, I would encourage your friends to watch a certain film or documentary with you if you are struggling to start a conversation. TV shows such as Sex Education and Heart Stopper tackle issues around consent and growing up in today’s world, use these fantastic TV shows as a way to start a conversation with your friends!
What do you see as the major problems facing our age group? What are the causes and solutions?
There are lots of issues facing young people every day, but one thing that sticks out is the pressures from social media. It is really difficult to avoid social media, but a solution I would give would be to encourage critical thinking. Remember that people will create reactive content in order to get a reaction from their audience. We shouldn’t let content like this inform our assumptions about the world and others. When scrolling through social media, remember to ask questions such as Why is this person making this content? What is their intention when spreading this information? How is this content trying to make me feel? Where are these opinions or facts coming from? These are really important questions to consider when we experience anything on social media!
