We reviewed the #WeGetConsent campaign over summer, and are excited to share the outcomes of our consultation work with you.
Your PG Officer, Nathan, will be holding new monthly town hall meetings open to all postgraduates at Warwick to discuss your priorities for the year ahead. The town halls will be held on the second Tuesday of each month, beginning with October 12th at 1pm.
The Pride Library is home to a growing collection of fiction and non-fiction books relating to LGBTQUIA+ identities, people, culture and related issues.
As part of our project to review and improve the #WeGetConsent campaign we'd like to invite you to complete this short (5 question) survey, which should take no longer than 5-10 minutes.
The Playing Out in Canley team is very happy to invite you to be part of the first Canley Parade on the morning of Saturday 4th September 2021, winding its way through the streets of Canley before the Canley Big Lunch that afternoon.
We would like to hear from students with an interest in organising and running a termly swap shop in the SU.
Consent is the process of discussing boundaries and what you’re comfortable with during sex. It is important to make consent part of every sexual encounter to establish clear boundaries and create an enjoyable experience for all parties involved.
This coming Monday will see the long awaited 2021 instalment of the annual summer sixes charity hockey tournament with fun, food, and fundraising firmly on the agenda.
This update includes: preferred pronoun fields, the Queering University programme, sanitary bins in all toilets, and Campus Pride.
The ‘Queering University’ project will support staff and students at Warwick to develop, implement and sustain queer pedagogies, as well as broadening them across the university. It will encourage teaching & learning practices that are inclusive of trans and LGBTUA+ people, and provide greater understanding to those in the classroom setting.
For as long as I can remember, ‘no’ has got bad press. ‘No’ been associated with negativity and denying. No meant you couldn't get what you wanted, and weren’t allowed what you’d asked for. But what if we change the marketing around ‘no’ and its uses?
There has been a long history of dichotomising the sexual experiences between men and women. I want to put the focus on women’s experiences and list some ways in which we can embrace our own autonomy and sexuality.
If some men menstruate too, why are there no sanitary bins in men’s toilets? This question was at the heart of a paper presented recently to the University’s Social Inclusion Committee by student officers.
My journey to being body positive is still a work in progress. I hope this short little blog will make at least one person feel better. Remember, you are amazing as you are and you need to take care of yourself and your needs, always!
Linda talks about her experience with bulimia and her realisation that for a long time, she was forcing her body to be a way that it was not meant to be.
Even in normal circumstances addiction can be scary and difficult to manage, but throw a pandemic into the mix and things must be overwhelming! I’m grateful today that I not only found recovery before Covid hit, but that I haven’t felt the need to use or drink as a result of it.
The safest way to take study drugs is not to take them at all.
However, to support you in making an informed choice we've put together some top tips to stay as safe as possible during exam season.
The mental health crisis at universities is undoubtedly getting worse, so the chances of you dating someone like me is pretty high.
When I started at Warwick and began to talk more openly about sex and relationships with the friends I’ve made here, I realised that almost all of them had experienced similar things to me.
If you have been impacted by sexual and/or domestic violence read Lisa’s statement explaining her role and how you can contact her.
Back for another summer of fun, Campus Pride is a digital celebration of LGBTQ+ history, people, culture and related topics for education staff and students across the UK, delivered by a collaboration of over 40 students' unions.
The Report and Support Team are running 19 Live training sessions between Weeks 2 and 10, with a range of times available to suit everyone's calendar. The sessions will be an hour long and provide an understanding of what support is available for you or someone you know at Warwick.
Here are some events by our societies across the month. We encourage you to sign our pledge and sign up to the active bystander training. You may not be a part of the problem, but you can definitely be a part of the solution.
Following the success of the 'What Your Disabled Students Want You to Know' panel for staff in term 1, Warwick Enable and the Disabled Students' Officer are collaborating again to organise a second event focusing on mental health conditions.
Since coming to university, I have often been confronted with how much my experience as a student with a visual impairment differs from that of my fully sighted peers. I am an English Literature student who owns no books.
When most people hear the word “consent”, they associate it with the word “yes”. If someone says yes, it’s seems to be an obvious sign that they are comfortable & wish to proceed. But there are other things to consider!
Does losing your virginity change you? Generally, the answer is no. However, what does change when you become sexually active is how you feel about your periods, if you have them. Their meaning changes. The sight of blood in your underwear is no longer an annoyance, but a relief.
Warwick SU’s Hidden Histories alternative lecture series seeks to explore often-erased stories of oppression and resistance. It gives a platform to academic narratives and discourses which are often neglected or even deliberately erased from mainstream curricula, and opens these discussions up for students from any and all disciplines to access and engage in them.
As a student community, we are actively building safer and more inclusive spaces. We're proactively educating ourselves and others about consent, and are responding to the endemic issues of sexual violence, harassment and domestic abuse by empowering our community with the knowledge, skills and confidence to intervene.
It’s a good idea to discuss what you’re into before having sex. You may have very specific kinks, or you may just favour certain things over others. It’s important to talk about your interests so that you and your partner both know what to expect.
"Whilst the queer community certainly has by no means perfected consent, I think there’s a lot that people of all sexualities can learn from queer culture and experiences."
Consent is a clear, consistent, coherent, enthusiastic and voluntary YES. If you do not have this, you do not have consent.
Read my 14 guidelines to consent for more.
I am diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, and an eating disorder. This combination of differences and issues has made my time at university more difficult, sometimes insurmountable, often darker. It has meant things have not been easy. However, I believe that this does not have to be the case. I believe people with mental health issues and neurodiversity should be able to thrive in academia.
If some men menstruate too, why are there no sanitary bins in men’s toilets? This question was at the heart of a paper presented recently to the University’s Social Inclusion Committee by student officers.
As it’s Disability History Month, I wanted to talk about my experiences as a student dealing with an invisible disability that people don’t always expect to be a ‘disability’: my mental health condition. In fact, for people in their 20s, the most common category of disability, more widespread than physical, social or cognitive disabilities, is a mental health diagnosis.
This Pride Week we’ve compiled some great opportunities to engage with LGBTUA+ history, inclusion, and education!
In celebration of Trans Awareness Week we've organised events to progress trans education & inclusion work at Warwick.
All students should be able to engage with quality teaching & learning in a way that allows them to learn effectively and feel safe doing so. We have been working with the University to represent you on this basis, and want to share with you some of the actions we have taken.
The Black Liberation Project (BLP) is a forum for Black students to access information on all things Black Liberation. Read about its launch this Black History Month.
Find out what we have planned in celebration of Asexual Awareness Week
As part of the recruitment for new members to the LGBTUA+ Taskforce, we’re inviting expressions of interest for the positions of postgraduate students' representative, and the student co-chair.
As a global institution, the University of Warwick has a duty to confront its colonial past and acknowledge the violent colonial legacies of figures that are celebrated on campus. Radcliffe Conference Centre is named after Cyril Radcliffe, the first Chancellor of Warwick University, who was also responsible for drawing up the borders in 1947. The new borders that were imposed led to the death and displacement of up to 16 million people.
Now a collaborative project between 42 students' unions from across the UK, the Campus Pride 2020 project continues to organise events into July and August.
The University of Warwick LGBTUA+ Taskforce and Warwick Students' Union have today sent a joint letter to the Prime Minister and the Minister for Women and Equalities in response to concerns that the government may be slowing (or reversing) progress on trans rights in the UK.
One thing that stands out about discussions of body positivity is that still within such a discussion, there are missing bodies. To put it another way, there are bodies who exist at the centre of this celebration, and those who are made to exist at the margins.
Guest blogging for the EveryBody campaign, hear from Nick Cherryman how sport helped him become #BodyPositive.
We have worked with Coventry Integrated Sexual Health Services to be able to offer new student-led sexual health clinics on campus. Students will be able to access self-testing for chlamydia and gonorrhoea, signposting to local sexual health services, and free safer sex materials such as condoms, lube, and dams.
Eat well. This doesn’t mean “eat nothing but salad like a rabbit” (who am I kidding) but try to make sure the food you eat makes you feel happy both at the time of eating, and the time 45 minutes after eating.
Change your study space by working at your dining table in the morning and your bedroom desk in the afternoon.
Warwick International Higher Education Academy (WIHEA) and the Students’ Union worked in partnership over the summer to produce trans-inclusive teaching & learning guidance for those who teach at Warwick.
It’s always advisable to be on good terms with your neighbours, so we’ve developed a series of postcards to make it easier for students to introduce themselves to new neighbours.
To help me not feel the need to go on random websites, I find it useful to have something non-distracting to passively entertain me in the background.
Sharing your pronouns is a great way of normalising the non-assumption of people’s gender and pronouns. Some simple ways of doing this include wearing a pronoun badge, and including your pronouns in your email signature.
after a task is complete, reward yourself with a small treat, or a 5-minute break. This way, you will look forward to completing the set task.
When you feel stressful clean your room and areas around you. The stress will get released with time and you will also utilize the time that would have otherwise wasted unproductively.
We know that it is often easier for a victim of hate crime to seek support from their peers, so we’re offering training for anyone who would like to understand how to best support someone who has experienced hate crime or incidents of hate.
If you can’t reset your sleeping pattern (hi coronavirus) think about how your day is divided and when your meals should be so you don’t end up endlessly snacking and clocking off for the day too early.
Week 9 is Pride Week at Warwick, and we have a full week of events for the LGBTUA+ community and their supporters.
Have a reward: When finishing a revision task, reward yourself with some chocolate or whatever suits you. This will provide a dopamine kick to train your brain into wanting to accomplish more tough tasks.
Emergency red cords installed in accessible toilets across the university campus allow users to call for assistance if they fall or are otherwise in need of help. To work effectively these red cords need to hang freely all the way to the floor. Unfortunately, they sometimes get tied up or looped around fixtures within the facilities, which ultimately endangers users.
Opposite to usual: if its worth doing, its worth doing badly, both for studying and general life. Its better to read 1 page or learn 5 definitions than do nothing.
After realising that both I and my friends have struggled to do our daily work and been super unproductive, we started to schedule ‘study dates’. Just set a time to when you will both be studying.
Have you ever wanted to find out something about sex or intimacy, but weren’t sure who you could ask? The Let’s Talk project brings together students from across Warwick to answer students’ questions about sex, relationships and consent.
It's vital to clear your designated workspace. There's nothing more satisfying than getting organised, so make sure you can revise quickly and efficiently by having your work station ready.
Sunlight is great for making you feel awake, helping you to sort out circadian rhythm. An added boost is the vitamin D and general well-being benefit of getting some fresh air.
Write a to do list every morning and aim to tick off everything you planned to achieve in the day. Don’t forget to also include fun tasks to motivate yourself, your to do list does not just have to be work.
My favourite way to work from home is setting up a cute workspace. Finding cute scented candles around the house, a clean and clear desk and cute stationary are all essentials when working from home.
Learn a new skill. I have picked up programming again although I am a social science student with zero coding background, however, after committing several hours to it (which is nothing during quarantine) I found it is much easier and more powerful than I previously thought!
I think the best studying suggestions I could give would be to make sure you run into things that you need to revise in your daily routine. This could be post it notes or a chalk board etc.
Exercise every day, spread out throughout the day. This could be skipping, doing press ups, going for a run. Go for a walk, ideally in nature if you live near a park or forest, every day.
In my three years at uni, I’ve tried it all: ‘chill’ music playlists, lo-fi beats, classical music, throwback tunes… But I am now 100% convinced that I am most productive when I listen to nature sounds (rain sounds are my favourite) or brown noise.
I use the KanBan listing method for my checklists which lays out your tasks so much better! Having it sorted into to do, doing, review and completed makes it look much less intimidating than as one long list!
Start the day at the same time and do yoga, mindfulness or exercise practice to refresh body and mind, and give a day off in your week to recover energy.
Because of the lockdown, we have been forced to work from home and that can sound impossible. Unachievable. All habits and routines are gone, along with the quiet working spaces and academic environment. But after all, is it that hard to recreate these, at home?
To keep focus on my studies, I installed LeechBlock, it is a simple tool that you could add to your favourite web browser and include in it the main pages that usually distract you.
Stay hydrated - drinking water will help you focus and improve your general health which will have a positive impact on your studies.
My tip for studying at home is to take regular breaks!
During quarantine, it’s really hard to stick to a routine, at least during term time lectures make me adhere to somewhat of a routine (or countless texts from friends in the library asking me where I am after promising for a morning study sesh the night before)
At the start of each day, set out a plan of what you would like to achieve by the end of it.
Study WHEREVER YOU FEEL WORKS BEST FOR YOU! If that is your desk, amazing, want to study in bed? Do it.