EMS Purple Thursday - In support of survivors of relationship violence and abuse

EMS will be participating in Purple Thursday this week (Oct 21)! The University event is organized by the Gender Equity Center to bring awareness to support for survivors of relationship violence and abuse. Women in EMS (President Kelly Matuszewski) is organizing a social media event and collaborating on the effort to light up EMS in purple lights. Look for EMS spaces to be lighted up in purple on Thursday, and find more information on digital signage throughout the college and in email below from the Gender Equity Center. Our participation is in alignment with our ALLWE Implementation priorities, specifically action items to address sexual violence and Red Zone of Danger.

Interested in participating?  Here are easy things that you can do:

• Wear purple this Thursday, October 21.

• Light up your space in purple on Thursday. Purple light strings and rope lights in purple are easy to find now in the Halloween decorations section of many local stores, and readily available on Amazon. A few strings in the office, especially in places visible from the hallways and exterior of the building would be all it would take. You may also want to print and post the attached flyer and the “Resources” PDF to help highlight the event. We really want to not only explain why all the purple lights, but highlight resources for survivors as well.

• Support the Women in EMS undergraduate organization’s social media event by encouraging your students (particularly undergraduates) to participate. WEMS is encouraging members to send selfies/pictures of themselves wearing purple in their GroupMe to show student support! Through this, their main goal is to advertise resources from the Gender Equity center to students. They will be sending in pictures to the Gender Equity center to be posted on their social media platform. For students who would like to join the WEMS ListServ and GroupMe to get involved, here is a link to an interest form with a QR code to the GroupMe. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfP0ClzPkSOfnf4HNG4AfDBeTpszFZJ43vdxeeZdQlVxeTTlw/viewform?usp=sf_link

• Participate in the Gender Equity Center’s University social media event. Community members are asked to take a picture of themselves wearing purple on October 21st, and to share the pictures on social media tagging @pennstategeneq and using the hashtag #PurpleThursday2021. Individuals are encouraged to tell followers why they support survivors by wearing purple. Participants who post a picture wearing purple tagging @pennstategeneq, will be entered to win a Gender Equity Center swag bag, complete with a t-shirt, consent pop socket, and much more! Purple Thursday flyers and social media ready files, as well as information on resources for survivors are attached, which can be shared on your social media.