It's Not About Vanity, It's About Visibility

Greetings, everyone. This, unfortunately, is not a chapter. It's more of a public service announcement(?) I guess that's the best description. As we all know, this is the month of April. And the beginning of April launched the third year of the RED MY LIPS campaign. What is this campaign you might ask?

RED MY LIPS is an international nonprofit organization that runs an annual global awareness campaign (RED MY LIPS) that has its supporters wear red lipstick throughout the month of April (Sexual Assault Awareness Month) to show support for survivors and start conversations with people in their lives. RED MY LIPS is designed to raise visibility and awareness about the realities and prevalence of sexual violence, while combatting rape myths and victim-blaming.

We convince ourselves that rape only happens to "those girls" who wore revealing clothing and "put themselves in that situation." This tendency to deny, shame, or blame survivors who come forward only serves to convince other survivors that they are wise to keep quiet, giving those who perpetrate these crimes free reign to continue doing so without consequence. Additionally, we frequently misunderstand rape and sexual assault as something provoked by uncontrollable sexual attraction or desire...instead of what it is: an act of domination, entitlement, and violence. This mentality was echoed in the infamous statement made by a Toronto police officer in 2011, when he said, "Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized," which triggered worldwide protests known as 'Slutwalks.'

Listen: THE PROBLEM DOES NOT LIE WITH TIGHT OR REVEALING CLOTHING, MAKEUP, OR "LETTING YOUR GUARD DOWN." THE PROBLEM LIES WITH ONE PERSON'S DECISION TO OVERPOWER AND VIOLATE THE BODY AND SPIRIT OF ANOTHER.

The wearing of red lipstick in April allows supporters to speak out against these damaging myths and victim-blaming attitudes. It allows us all to stand in solidarity with survivors and refuse to be invisible, refuse to be silent.

Now, I'm sure all of you have plenty of questions (if you're interested in this at all), but I will refer you to the website ( ). However, I will answer the unasked question: why red lipstick?

One of the most common misconceptions about sexual violence is the belief that it was provoked by sexual attraction/desire. This rape myth often leads people to blame victims based on how they look, the clothes they were wearing, how much makeup they had on, if they flirted with their attacker, etc. Since it is historically connected with sexuality and attraction, red lipstick seems fitting to battle these rape myths. Also, sexual violence is frequently seen as an invisible issue. Red lipstick is easily accessible, visible, and, as it is worn on the lips, encourages wearers to be both seen and heard.

If you're not comfortable wearing red lipstick, then there are a whole bunch of other ways to show support too. Visit the site and look at their ideas. Mostly, they want supporters to have RED LIP-PRINTS. Again, the website is

(Disclaimer: I got ALL of this information off of . I used some sentences verbatim, but I felt like they said it the best way and no matter what way I wrote it, I didn't feel like it would be able to speak to a person like it spoke to me when I read it.)

Anyways, I hope everyone at least CONSIDERS this. There's no money involved, just support. I'm doing it all month and I'm going to let as many people as possible know what it is and WHY. I wanted to share it with all of you so that you could make a difference too. I wear red lipstick because I feel that everyone should feel safe and beautiful. Why do you wear red lipstick?

(Again, super sorry this isn't a chapter but it needed to be shared. Hopefully, one will be up soon in my other stories. My musical is coming up next week so then I shouldn't be as busy. THINK ABOUT THIS CAMPAIGN!)

~Isabelle