“Let us try to change the world”
Young survivors like Abrianna Morales don’t just endure the trauma of gender-based violence—they also have the solutions
The headlines about girls are dismal: Rates of depression and anxiety are up; more girls are being forcibly displaced than ever before; and assault still runs rampant. But that doesn’t discourage 22-year-old activist Abrianna Morales—because she knows that while girls may bear the burdens of these problems, they also have the solutions.
“I always think about this line from the young poet Kristin Chang: Godhood is just like girlhood: a begging to be believed,” says Morales, who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “We’re not only begging to be believed, but we’re begging for adults to let us at least try to change the world.”
Morales knows that struggle first-hand. She was sexually assaulted at the age of 15 by a teacher at her high school. As she shares in the film below, many of her peers didn’t believe her when she spoke out; “I faced a lot of social ostracism,” she says.
At first, she had a hard time finding resources aimed at her. “Too many marginalized young women like me don’t have a network for justice or for healing,” Morales says. So at just 16, she created her own organization, Sexual Assault Youth Support Network, to support, empower, and connect young sexual assault survivors.
Morales’ story is part of a larger narrative that’s often ignored. “Too often girls are positioned as passive victims in need of saving or as heroines standing up in one single act of resistance,” says Rosa Bransky, CEO of Purposeful and co-author of Stories of Girls' Resistance, the largest global collection of oral and narrative history of adolescent girls’ activism. “But that narrative obscures girls’ lived experiences of spurring, leading, and sustaining social transformation.”
It’s not easy for young activists. A Plan International study finds that one in 10 have faced threats of physical violence as a result of their work, while 15% have experienced online harassment and abuse. For LGBTQ+ activists, rates of anxiety are especially high.
The solution: continue to listen to, and support, the youngest organizers. “Young feminist activists are the future and we need to listen to them and support them,” said Monika Niroula, co-manager of programs at FRIDA Young Feminist Fund. “Girls and gender-expansive youth will help us create the future we not only want but the future that we need.”
Watch Abrianna’s story here.
Resources:
FRIDA Young Feminist Fund: Resource Mobilization Toolkit for Girls, Young Women, and Trans Youth (2017)
FRIDA Young Feminist Fund: The Young Feminist Leadership Toolkit for LGBTQI+ organizers in West, East, Southern, and Central Africa (2023)
Purposeful’s Stories of Girls’ Resistance (2023)
**DISCLAIMER: The Meteor and Ford Foundation gratefully acknowledge the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime, for allowing us to reproduce, in part, Engage Survivors. This video was produced by Video Action, Inc., and supported by Contract No. GS-23F-0094K, Order No. 15PVCD18F00000502, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this video are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
