Sexual and Gender Based Violence
Qualitative exploration of sexual violence in the Brussels nightlife
Researcher: Danielle Fernandes | Supervisor: Prof. - Gily Coene
In the city of Brussels, the issue of sexual violence (SV) in nightlife spaces has recently reached public consciousness after reports emerged of personnel in well-known establishments perpetrating sexual assault using chemical drugs. The Instagram account ‘Balance ton bar’ has been instrumental in collecting testimonials from victim-survivors around experiences of sexual violence to raise public awareness and hold nightlife establishments accountable. Recognising the gap in scholarship on sexual violence experiences in European nightlife settings, an exploratory project has been initiated to develop an evidence-based understanding of SV experiences in the Brussels nightlife and the challenges and facilitators encountered when seeking support through a qualitative analysis of testimonials published on ‘Balance ton bar’.
Note- Due to the anonymized nature of the social media account, obtaining informed consent from each respondent was not feasible. Ethics approval was granted from the VUB’s Ethics Committee Human Sciences (ECHS) based on the utilization of publicly available social media posts for research purposes. A comprehensive privacy policy document outlining the data collection and management procedures can be found here: NL (183.96 KB) "word", FR (183.35 KB) "word", EN (179.88 KB) "word". Additionally, confidentiality measures were implemented by removing any potentially identifying information and the name of the nightlife establishment where the assault occurred.
Watch this space for insights from this study!
Communities Against Violence: Citizen-led development and evaluation of a game-based intervention to prevent sexual violence in Brussels
Research team: Danielle Fernandes (VUB) | Julie Van Garsse (ZIJkant vzw) | Gily Coene (VUB)
RHEA and ZIJkant vzw have initiated a citizen-science project to address sexual violence in public spaces through the development of a game-based intervention. A team of citizen scientists were engaged to co-create the content and format of the game intervention, with support from the game design team at De Aanstokerij. This project has received funding as a citizen science initiative with the European Commission-funded IMPETUS program. After a series of participatory workshops, a board game was developed to educate participants and provoke discussions on the theme of sexual violence. The game intervention is intended to generate awareness about sexual violence, challenge harmful norms and improve knowledge about bystander actions to address violence. The intervention will be tested through a series of game nights and pop-up booths in Brussels to determine its influence on improving knowledge, attitudes and bystander capacity