I Am My Bodyguard

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The Curse of Likability

The Curse of Likability Yvonne E. Mwende “We have a world full of women who are unable to exhale fully because they have for so long been conditioned to fold themselves into shapes to make themselves likeable.”  Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions —Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie    Culturally reinforced signals have dictated that women should not only

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Understanding Consent

Understanding Consent Yvonne E. Mwende Consent is permission for something to happen or an agreement to do something. Consent requires respect and communication. It includes knowing and respecting a person’s own boundaries as well as the boundaries of others. Understanding consent means that a person has the skills to leave a situation that doesn’t feel

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Taking Back Power

Taking Back Power Yvonne E. Mwende Being a survivor of sexual violence is a harrowing experience, especially aggravated by a sense or loss, of losing something that one can never recover. This loss can lead to a sense of hopeless despair, where one recedes into themselves. Perpetrators of sexual assault have an atrocious need for

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Reflections

Reflections By Yvonne E. Mwende Happy New Year 2020! Frohes Neues Jahr 2020! Yep, it’s a new year. Time flies. To begin this New Year, I thought to pen a reflective piece about my agency in the space of advocacy, especially on women’s advancement. Sounds off beat uh? “I thought I Am My Bodyguard was

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#OrangetheWorld: Prevent Violence Against Women and Children

#OrangetheWorld: Prevent Violence Against Women and Children By Yvonne E. Mwende “Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands against Rape”, is this year’s theme for the international campaign “16 days of Activism against Gender-based Violence (GBV) which starts on 25 November 2019 —International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to continue to 10 December

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Breaking Our Silences

Breaking Our Silences By Yvonne E Mwende “In the end we remember, not the words of our enemies but the silence of our allies,” Martin Luther King Most victims of sexual assault do not report cases of abuse until many years have elapsed. And in more than a few instances the silence is broken by

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