Students, peer supporters and groupies gathered in Alumnae Hall to raise money (and noise) for a local rape crisis center.
On April 19 Betsy’s Friends hosted Rock Against Rape, a benefit concert featuring four local bands, a sex toy raffle and sexual health resources.
Tickets for the event were $12 each and were also open to Colleges of the Fenway students, with proceeds going towards the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC). BARCC was founded in 1973 and provides support and services to sexual violence survivors and their friends and family. Their services are free and confidential and their goal is “to empower survivors to heal and seek justice in ways that are meaningful to them,” according to their website.
The concert took place in Alumnae Hall, which was decked out with light-up balloons and an interactive community mural where attendees could express empowering messages related to gender, sexuality and consent culture. Tables lined the walls boasting ice cream, raffle prizes, sexual and health resources while peer supporters from Betsy’s Friends milled throughout the space.
Betsy’s Friends is an organization under the Violence Prevention Education and Outreach (VPEO) program within the REEF Center. It’s composed of trained undergraduate peer supporters who offer office hours, host weekly meetings and regular event programming such as sex toy bingo, movie screenings and pleasure trivia.
Four bands were the musical guests of the night, donating their time to support Betsy’s Friends and BARCC. Cherry Crisis, Rusty Mullet, Bug Slam and Sgraffito Kill each brought their punky, funky feel to the event.
As students filtered in, the bands began to take the stage, rocking the hall and even bringing down some dust from the ancient building’s ceiling. Breaks between bands were filled with announcements of raffle winners, eliciting shrieks of excitement from the lucky few racing over to the prize table to claim their goodies. Some of the many prizes included sex toys, stuffies and coloring books.
At the end of the night leaders from Betsy’s Friends announced the concert had raised $1100 for BARCC.
Blending a celebration of music, sex positivity and survivor support, the event created a comfortable fun atmosphere to an otherwise quiet Friday night on campus.
More information about the VPEO program, Betsy’s Friends and on-campus resources can be found here.
