By: Ahmad Hadid
College students need to be proactive in campaigning for narratives of resistance to sexual violence. This is because cases of sexual violence are increasingly occurring on campuses. One way to spread the movement against sexual violence is by campaigning on social media through digital posters.
From this background of thoughts, students from the Press Division of the Sharia Economic Law Students Association IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon in collaboration with Umah Ramah held graphic design training with the theme “Resisting Sexual Violence” at the IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon TV Laboratory, on Thursday, September 21 2023.
The Chief Executive, Farhan Al Farish, said that the graphic design training activity was carried out to provide soft skills for students to actively participate in voicing anti-sexual violence. The hope is that if they are able to create, students can carry out digital campaigns that can be shared on various social media platforms.
“Cases of sexual violence are increasingly common. Several organizations on campus have also started to take part in anti-sexual violence movements. One of them is by distributing pamphlets containing complaint numbers for cases of sexual violence. For me, this graphic design training with the theme of anti-sexual violence is a concrete work that shows the Sharia Economics Law Student Association strongly rejects all forms of sexual violence,” he said when contacted after the event.
The training was attended by thirty young people from various campuses and communities in Cirebon. Some participants said they were coming from outside the IAIN. There were teachers, students, and many others.
The trainer, Prasetyo Aditya, presented an explanation of the basic principles of graphic design by providing several examples of popular design works. Not to forget, he also emphasized the importance of raising concerns on sexual violence as one of the design themes that the participants would create.
“In this era, graphic design works can be carried out without having to have special skills in drawing. Thousands of stock templates are available in the applications. Just arrange it. Therefore, what needs to be done for people who cannot draw is to sharpen their ‘visual sense’. “You can look at as many design references as possible so that this sense can develop and can be used in daily design work,” explained the Umah Ramah Graphic Designer and Activist.
The Director of Umah Ramah, Asih Widyowati, who also gave a speech before the training took place, appreciated this activity. “Sexual violence, whatever its form, is a crime against humanity. Therefore, everyone must be pro-active in voicing the anti-sexual violence movement. “Umah Ramah will always support all works against sexual violence,” she said.
Several participants admitted that they were enthusiastic about taking part in this activity. Apart from campaigning for social issues, the ability to design digital pamphlets is also useful for various types of business promotions and sales of goods or services. They felt happy because they could immediately learn and practice to make their own designs.
One of the participants, who is a teacher, Khawa, admitted that she was interested in taking part in the training because it raised the issue of sexual violence. For her, this violence is a crucial and difficult problem to voice out.
“I was interested in joining this because of the issue it raised, namely sexual violence. Cases of sexual violence are a crucial problem and it is very difficult to voice them out. “Graphic design can be an alternative to campaigning against sexual violence in an easy and light way,” she said. []
This article was translated by Napol Riel.