Addressing sexual violence and abuse impacting LGBTIQ+ comms

Led by informed experts, the conversation will include public/street harassment, different kinds of sexual violence experiences and how myths/stereotypes can make it difficult to talk about sexual violence and access support.

You'll hear about research being undertaken by ACON to address these issues.

Register here.

Panellists include:

Shaez Mortimer (she/her): A PhD Candidate at RMIT University looking at interdisciplinary feminist and queer research about LGBTIQA+ people's experiences of sexual violence and seeking support.Shaez has been involved in national research projects for Our Watch Inc and currently with ACON. She has a background in community work and violence prevention and has developed training and resources about improving LGBTIQA+ victim/survivors' access to support services. Her work has been published in Current Issues in Criminal Justice, Australian Feminist Studies and Archer magazine.

Dr Bianca Fileborn (she/they): An ARC DECRA Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Bianca's research is broadly concerned with the intersections of space/place, identity, culture and sexual violence, justice responses to sexual violence, and queer criminology. Their current work includes examining victim-centred justice responses to street harassment, sexual violence and LGBTIQA+ communities, and sexual violence in licensed venues and the music industry. She's the author of Reclaiming the Night-Time Economy: Unwanted Sexual Attention in Pubs and Clubs, and co-editor of #MeToo and the Politics of Social Change, and the forthcoming Geographies of Gender-Based Violence.

Professor Nicole L Asquith (she/they): The Director of the Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies, and Professor of Policing and Emergency Management at the University of Tasmania. Nicole has worked with and for victim support and policing services for over 25 years, primarily in relation to vulnerable victims. Nicole is also the Co-Director of the Vulnerability, Resilience & Policing Research Consortium, and Secretary of the Australian Hate Crime Network. Along with Dr Isabelle Bartkowiak-Théron, Nicole has published widely on policing encounters with vulnerable people, including three books: Policing Vulnerability (Federation Press), Policing Encounters with Vulnerability (Palgrave), and Policing Practices and Vulnerable People (Palgrave). Based on her work with rural police, and her critical analysis of policing innovations in the last twenty years, Nicole will publish in 2022 on Critical Policing Studies (Routledge).

Eloise Layard (she/her): ACON’s Program Coordinator, Sexual, Domestic and Family Violence. Eloise works with community, researchers, and domestic and family violence organisations to increase community knowledge and awareness of sexual, domestic and family violence and to support inclusive practice and access to services. Eloise is a member of the National Plan Advisory Group and is also the co-convenor of the NSW LGBTIQ Domestic and Family Violence Interagency.

Sid Pettitt (they/them): A Trauma Specialist Counsellor at Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia with years of experience working as a social worker and within the NSW gendered violence sector. Sid is passionate about sexual and interpersonal violence within the LGBTIQ+ community and believes there's much more work that can be done in this part of the sector to dismantle barriers for LGBTIQ+ People.