Sexual violence research instigates change

The6-year researchproject culminatedrecentlywith SHaMEresearchershosting two book launchesand forming part of the panel discussions for Sophie Olson and Patricia Walsh's The Flying Child: A Cautionary Fairy Tale for Adults; and Kimberly Theidon, Dyan Mazuranaand Dipali Anumol's, Challenging Conceptions: Children Born of Wartime Rape and Sexual Exploitation.

Project Lead, Birkbeck Professor Emerita Joanna Bourke, shares her top tenprojecthighlights and achievements:

1. A global outlook
The SHaME projectwasunique because it exploredmedical and psychiatric aspects of sexual violence. The focus was global, with particular expertise of abuse in the UK, France, British colonial Africa, Spain, and North America. SHaME exploredissues ranging from child sexual abuse to adult survivors.

2. Shameless! Festivals of Activism Against Sexual Violence
The festivalswere a collaboration between SHaMEand gender equality charity The WOW Foundation. They took place in London and Rio de Janeiro and brought together academia, activismand the arts to confront and change attitudes towards sexual violenceand share ideas.

3. Publications
All members of SHaMEhave published extensively in journals, edited volumes, and the media.One major monograph came out of the project: Joanna Bourke's Disgrace: Global Reflections on Sexual Violence(ReaktionBooks), exploring thehistory of sexual violence and ways to create rape-free worlds.

4. Film
SHaMEhave produced numerousvideos, including interviews and recordings of our events.The most important was entitled 'SHaME: Stories of Survival', a documentary film co-produced by SHaMEand filmmaker Sophie MacCorquodale. It follows the stories of four survivors of sexual violence as they reflect on the aftercare they received. They call for more awareness and inclusion in sexual violence services.

5. International discussions and debates
The SHaMEteam have engagedwith survivors, victims, medical professionals, and other scholars globally. The most important have involved debates with people in the US, England/Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Greece, France, Germany, Spain, Norway, Belgium, Brazil, India, China, Australia, and New Zealand.

6. Public engagement
A great deal of attention has been paid to developing new and effective ways of doing public engagementaround the topic of sexual violence. This has included collaborative events focusing on how to create inclusive public engagement programmes with sexual violence survivors,and how to navigate ethics.

7. Safeguarding and inclusion
The SHaMEteam havefocused on how academics and stakeholderscan work together to overcome challenges to equitableengagement and to identifypositive steps towards empowering partnerships. Numerous organisationshave adopted SHaME's safeguarding and inclusion practices.

8. Policy and training
SHaME hascontributed to policy making, especially in the field of reforming the admissibility of mental health evidence in sexual violence cases,and training medical professionalssuch as health visitor practitioners, physicians, and nurses.

9. Collaborative workshops
Collaborative workshops with survivors, practitioners and academics about historicising sexual abusehave been a major part of SHaME'sactivities. Some of these events have experimented with using non-hierarchical and creative methods.

10. Additional events
SHaMEhas run manyevents, includingbook launches, film screenings, artists in residence, poetry readings, creative writing workshops, performances, blogs and podcasts, exhibitions, and reading groups.