“Count on Me” Project: tackling violence against women at university games

Introduction: The university is an instrument of social change, capable of bringing new thoughts and critical analyses to the community. With the expansion of the feminist movement in Brazil, the discussion about gender relations has increased, with demands for symmetrical relations, juxtaposing university spaces to such demands. In this context, in the university games between medical schools (Intermed), violence against women has become evident, with the need for a center able to provide protection to students and promote changes in the accomplishment of such events. Based on this reality, the idea of the “Count on Me” project has emerged. Experience report: At the organization of “Intermed” 2017, a group of women proposed to construct an environment where the participants could find safeguard in an oppressor context. A support tent was created, in which complaints of transgressions that occurred during the event would be heard. To optimize the approach to specific complaints, training was carried out together with the Special Police Force for Women’s Assistance for the project volunteers, in addition to the creation of a network of which function during the event was: to provide an emergency care shift in the tent; Minute Book for the recording of complaints and ornaments to identify the volunteers. In 2018, the participants of “Count on Me” project helped in the drafting of the statute that regulates the organization of “Intermed”, assigning punishments to some types of violence. Additionally, this document formalized the requirement for a physical space for the project in all editions. Discussion: In a few years, the “Count on Me” project established itself as an apparatus for the safety and well-being of the female participants. As violence against women is a public health problem, this innovative measure showed to be effective in confronting sexism. Conclusion: Even though the implementation of “Count on Me” project can be considered a success, multiple efforts are still necessary to make the university environment a fair one for all students, which depends on the volunteers’ engagement with frequent trainings, the education of male students regarding the cause, to the coordination of Medical Schools that have the obligation to provide the best possible environment for all students.


INTRODUCTION
Violence against women can be defined as "any act of violence based on gender difference that results in physical, sexual and psychological suffering and harm to women" 1 . It is a result of sexism, a type of historical prejudice that defends the domination of men over women based on a biological view of the subject 2 .
One of its components is sexual harassment, described in the Penal Code, in article 216-A. It is a crime that establishes the existence of an employment relationship between the agent and the victim, in which the harasser uses work hierarchy to obtain sexual advantages 3 . If the behavior is practiced on the streets or in other contexts, it configures another crime: indecent assault, defined as, for instance, "rubbing oneself against someone against their will, groping someone, touching an individual on any part of their body in a sexual manner, aiming at obtaining sexual gratification" 4 . The present study, regarding technical terms, addresses indecent assault. However, the term "sexual harassment" is used, considering its accessibility and universality in the media.
From the expansion of the feminist movement in Brazil since the mid-1960s and the beginning of questions about gender relations in the 1990s, the discussion about the female universe, gender and power relations has expanded, encompassing new aspects 5 . From this context, women, in their awareness-raising process, transformed personal and individual issues into political ones, and have organized themselves into politically active groups called "collectives" 6 .
From the perspective of feminist university collectives, sexist behaviors identified in higher education institutions (HEIs) should be reproached. Some scientific studies corroborate the existing disparity between genders in the university. A study carried out by the Instituto Avon/Data Popular, in 2015, with 1,823 students in Brazil on gender violence in the university environment showed that 67% of women acknowledged having already suffered some type of violence inside the university 7 . In 2018, in a survey carried out by the "USP Women's Office", at the University of São Paulo (USP), 13,377 students were asked about the university environment, and, of these, 71% considered USP a sexist environment, whereas 26% have already experienced moral violence and 7% sexual violencewith the latter being often related to the "parties" space 8 .
In the collectives, when trying to integrate HEIs to the demands of the new generations, the framework of the university structure started to be redesigned. For example, at USP located in the municipality of Ribeirão Preto, a Committee was established to investigate allegations of Gender-based Discrimination, Harassment and Violence Against Women (CAV-Mulheres USP-RP). In 2018, the committee released the "General guidelines for institutional intervention actions in situations of violence and discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation". Among them, there are guidelines for the comprehensive care of the victim, which relies on promoting the subject's autonomy in situations of violence, the commitment with the systematization of data related to what happened and the continuity of care, among others 9 .
In this context, considering possible interventions that could be carried out in universities in the Midwest (MW), some of the traditional events of institutions, such as interuniversity games, started to be rethought, aiming to adapt them to these new demands.
The university games between medical schools are known as "Intermed" games, being played in different parts of the country, in different editions. For the Federal District (DF), the micro-regional edition corresponds to "Intermed -DF" and the macro-regional, which includes the other schools in the Midwest (MW), corresponds to "Intermed -MW". Each edition is carried out by an organizing Academic Athletic Association (AAA). An AAA is a student organization with a sports-related characteristic, whose main objective is to promote sports practice in the university environment 10  Moreover, at the "parties" that take place during the event, it is common for the female players to have their arms grabbed, followed by forced kisses, inappropriate touches and physical intimidation. Furthermore, music is the most explicit and passively accepted vehicle of this type of violence 11 . For instance, a song played numerous times in past editions was "Helicopter", by DJ Guuga with the participation of MC Pierre, whose lyrics say: Thus, the female students who attend these events expecting to be entertained end up placing themselves in situations of fear and social disrespect by an important part of the students who reproduce sexist patterns learned in society.
The project emerged during "Intermed -DF", in 2016, when the report of a rape that would have taken place in one of the event's student accommodation areas was circulated.
At the time, a discussion was initiated about the need for a support center for women during the games. In the second edition of the same year, at "Intermed -MW", some students, who were organized independently from the event, distributed bracelets during the festivity, identifying themselves as a source of support for other female students.
In the following year, a group of women from the "Security and, under article 53, the participant who "is involved in fights or retaliation, physical aggression, racial offenses, sexual harassment, robbery or theft" may be suspended.
Furthermore, within the scope of the project's achievements, the statute formalized the obligation for the organizing AAA to provide a physical space for the project, in addition to bracelets and badges for its participants. The creation of an easily accessible physical structure to protect the privacy of the victims was also mandatory, aiming to create a permanent and lasting feature for the "Count on Me" project. As a center for critical analysis of society, the university makes room for the process of awareness-raising based on the personal and institutional perception of a structural problem such as violence. Within this context, it is important to address the behavior of the aggressor and of witnesses in these situations. According to a survey by Instituto Avon/ Data Popular, approximately 38% of male students admitted to having committed some type of violence, whether sexual, psychological, moral, physical or of intellectual disqualification based on gender 7 . Regarding the behavior of witnesses, a Nigerian study on the preparation of medical students to recognize and respond to gender violence showed that 59.8% of respondents believe that it is not a medical competence to be involved in how a couple resolves their conflicts and prefer not to act because they consider it an "invasion of privacy" 15 .

DISCUSSION
Furthermore, violence is also a public health problem. must be initiated at the HEI itself, defending its students, even against institutional violence itself. However, knowing that most Brazilian HEIs do not have experience in the adoption and implementation of policies to combat violence against women, the use of the CAV-Mulheres USP-RP guidelines is suggested as a basis for the articulation of policies.
Unfortunately, as the "Count on Me" project is an association of more than a dozen schools, it is unlikely it will become a program to be implemented in a standardized way in the medical schools. However, within the scope of possibilities of each school, it is possible, and recommended to develop programs with the same intention of creating a place of embracement for victims of violence organized through partnerships between women's collectives and the courses' coordinators.

AUTHORS' CONTRIBUTION
All authors contributed substantially to the study conception and planning; drafting and critical review of the manuscript; and participated in the approval of the final version of the manuscript.
Regarding the structuring of the project, in order to systematize and standardize assistance, the Minute Book was used to record the approach used during the embracement. Furthermore, its inclusion as a mandatory instrument of "Intermed" through the LICO statute, makes its inclusion as a natural constituent of the event a tendency.
However, the "Count on Me" project has some limitations:

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
The "Count on Me" project provided an unprecedented environment in the MW "Intermed", during which it became possible to typify the most common transgressions that occur in the event, making it subject to interventions.
It is important to point out that the maintenance of the project's success in its purpose depends on the joint actions of the main agents involved in it: the organizing AAA must provide the physical space and materials to identify the female volunteers, in addition to the space for dialoguing during daily meetings; and the volunteers must maintain ongoing training on a regular basis for new participants, with continuous improvement, preferably with the support of DEAM. Therefore, the tendency is to improve comprehensive assistance to victims, with an effective response to transgressions.
As improvements to the project, better systematization of the incidents that occurred, such as the computerization of records, have been suggested, so that the transgression profile follow-up is not lost and, consequently, there is no harm to the possibility of intervention of the complaints.
Moreover, it is important that actions in favor of gender equality are not limited to university games. Medical schools must consider in their curricula the approach to gender violence as a public health issue, in addition to positioning the medical professional in this context as an agent capable of sociocultural change. The fight against this type of violence