Health and Safety | DanceSafe

Being Accused of Consent Violation: How to Respond & Repair

WeLoveConsent Toolbox Series: Repairing a Consent Violation Through Ownership, Apology, & Accountability By: Sloane Ferenchak, MA, WeLoveConsent Coordinator Edited by: Kayla McAdams, MSW, MEd; Stacey Forrester, Good Night Out Vancouver; Rachel Clark, DanceSafe Education Manager As a human being, it is inevitable that you will make mistakes. Even if you consider yourself to be a consent wizard, at some point you will cross a boundary or violate someone’s consent, despite your best efforts and intentions not to do so. So how do you respond when you’re told by someone that you’ve caused harm, or you realize that you’ve crossed someone’s boundary? What’s...

Injection Attacks: Are They Real?

The verdict: Injection attacks (being unconsensually stabbed and dosed with a drug) are extremely improbable at best.

Astroworld: DanceSafe’s Evaluations

DanceSafe unpacks the Astroworld tragedy and evaluates what happened.

Anxiety, Grief, & Partying

By: Rachel Clark, Programs & Communications CoordinatorEdited by: Sloane Ferenchak (#WeLoveConsent Coordinator) & DanceSafe Staff We’ll start with the obvious: Everyone on the planet has been impacted by COVID-19. Living through a global pandemic is a traumatic event. Our minds function under the premise that certain things are the way that they are, and having those pillars jostled (or removed entirely) lays a foundation of uncertainty. Basic, fundamental facts about what it means to be alive in the world have been threatened by COVID -- this is traumatizing, and it is a shared trauma between billions. We are now all in a...

#WLC Toolbox Series: Supporting Sexual Violence Survivors

As much as we wish it weren’t true, sexual violence IS a problem in nightlife, EDM, music, and festival community. Based on your responses to our recent Instagram story poll, 60% of you have experienced sexual harassment or assault in festival or nightlife settings and 74% of you have witnessed someone being sexual harassed, touched without consent, or dosed. This means that if you are not a survivor of sexual violence yourself, you likely know someone who is. If we believe in consent culture and are connected to our sense of compassion and empathy, we should want to support...

Consent, COVID, & Dating

By: Sloane Ferenchak, #WeLoveConsent Coordinator; Gina McGrath, Consent Culture Initiative Founder/CEO; & Ashley Stafford, Consent Culture Initiative Executive Director If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that life during a pandemic is difficult to navigate! The risks associated with COVID have required us to use communication skills that are specific and detailed when discussing contact with friends, family, coworkers, roommates, etc., which is a very new practice for many. Although these conversations may feel awkward, thinking of them like “safer sex” conversations (or conversations about consent) can highlight their importance and help them make more sense - especially...

#WeLoveConsent: Do Year Resolutions

Happy Do Year from #WeLoveConsent Have you ever flirted with someone who wasn’t sober? Has someone borrowed your things without asking? Have you had a sexual encounter with someone who was way older or younger than you? Received an uncomfortable and unwanted hug from a stranger - or a relative? Been the person who gave that hug, and felt uncertain afterwards about whether it was well-received? These scenarios are all examples of the areas where consent isn’t as simple as just a “yes” or a “no.” Most people have heard the word “consent,” and most people think that they really...

Why Does DanceSafe Release Test It! Alerts?

By: Rachel Clark, Programs & Communications Coordinator Greetings, DanceSafers! As many of you know, we routinely release Test It! Alerts that detail the appearance, location, and contents of adulterated drugs around the country based on Erowid’s DrugsData Project and community-submitted entries. We believe that this information on its own is useful and important - however, we also want to ensure that our community understands the true purpose of these alerts, which is more than simply being aware of the current nature of the drug market. Why does DanceSafe release alerts? Test It! Alerts are not intended to indicate that a certain form of...

Ketamine Bladder Damage – What You Need to Know

Using ketamine can be fun, and recent studies have shown it to have antidepressant effects. (1) But using it too often can damage your bladder and result in a serious condition known as Ketamine Bladder Syndrome (a.k.a. Ketamine Cystitis). Your bladder is a round sac behind your pelvic bone that holds urine. It is about the size of a grapefruit, but can stretch much larger when full. When ketamine and its metabolites enter the bladder, they damage the epithelial cells of the bladder lining.(2) (3) These umbrella-shaped cells are designed to contain the urine, but if they become too damaged, urine...

DanceSafe partners with Rave Scout Cookies to bring harm reduction education to underrepresented underground communities

DanceSafe National has teamed up with Rave Scout Cookies to release the First Aid + Survival Guideline handbook and the live-stream of digital events, which will feature harm reduction tips for various popular recreational substances, including anecdotal accounts from DanceSafe leaders and others in the community. The now-and-again publication will also explore a broad spectrum of topics related to marginalized underground rave heritage and subculture. The current edition of the handbook discussed GHB use, harm reduction tips, and ways the popular party drug is being stigmatized in the scene. Rave Scout Cookies is a multimedia underground electronic music platform devoted...

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