Hey, That's Not OK

  • Made By CUP With:
  • Community Partners
  • Tags:
  • Education,
  • LGBTQIA

Many youth of color–especially those who are queer, transgender, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming–experience gender-based violence at school. This guide helps students in NYC schools understand their options and get support.

Community members participated in the Hey, That’s Not OK launch event.

One in three young people in NYC schools experience gender-based violence from their peers. Gender-based violence can look like a lot of different things, but at its core, it’s actions and comments that attack a person’s body, gender, and other ways they present themselves. This includes slutshaming, pressuring someone for sex, intentionally misgendering someone, or online harassment.

For young people of color–especially those who are queer, transgender, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming–dealing with gender-based violence is difficult and confusing. Many behaviors that cause harm are often normalized in schools, making it hard for students to speak up. And the process of reporting an incident is complicated and time consuming, so most cases go unreported.

Girls for Gender Equity collaborated with CUP and designer Luisa Velez to help students experiencing gender-based violence in schools understand their options and get support. Hey, That’s Not OK breaks down what gender-based violence is and how to report incidents that happen at school. The booklet also includes ways students can get support and the importance of consent.

Girls for Gender Equity launched Hey, That’s Not OK at a town hall event in the spring of 2021, led by cis and trans Black girls and gender non-conforming and non-binary youth of color. Students talked about their experiences, led discussions with experts in the field, and shared their visions for the changes schools can make to end gender-based violence. Girls for Gender Equity is distributing the guide to students at schools across the city.

CUP staff, Siyona and Sucharitha, lead a team review of an early design draft.
CUP staff, Siyona and Sucharitha, and the project team review a mock-up of the project.

Check out the Project

Two spreads from Hey, That's Not OK.

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Project Collaborators

Community Partner

Girls for Gender Equity
Quadira Coles

Designer

Luisa Velez


Special Thanks

Special thanks to all the young people who made such thoughtful contributions to this project.

Funding Support

Support for this project was provided by The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and Council Members Brad Lander and Antonio Reynoso.

Product Details

3.5″ × 5.5″