Twelve Days to End Violence Against Women is officially underway.

About 40 people gathered at noon Tuesday in the Pit at Yukon College to kick off the annual campaign on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Organized by Les EssentiElles and the Victoria Faulkner Women’s Centre, the campaign comprises 12 days of discussions, workshops and film screenings about violence against women.

The campaign has a different theme every year. This year, the goal is to “Call it What it is” – to use proper language when describing violence.

It “reminds us to examine the words we use to describe violence against women,” said Hillary Aitken, the women’s centre’s program co-ordinator.

“Sometimes, even when we don’t mean to, we all use words that portray violence as a mutual action and therefore place unwarranted responsibility on the victim.

“These words contribute to a culture where violence against women is, at best, hidden and, at worst, accepted and normalized.”

Aitken pointed to the purple, yellow and pink campaign posters hanging in the Pit as a demonstration of how “ridiculous” inaccurate language can seem in some situations:

If a man hits with you a frying pan, is it called cooking?

If a person hits you with a two-by-four, is it called carpentry?

If you rob a bank, is it called a financial transaction?

“Why is it that when a person is assaulted with the genitals of another, it is called sex?” asked Renée-Claude Carrier of Kaushee’s Place, the women’s transition home in Whitehorse.

“This is what the base of this campaign is. Let’s use the accurate language to describe what’s actually going on. Maybe that language is harsher, but that language is more accurate.”

She suggests using words like “rape” instead of “sex” and “wife assault” instead of “relationship problems.”

Elaine Taylor, minister responsible for the Women’s Directorate, became emotional when she addressed the crowd, stressing the importance of offering a positive social response to women when they disclose violence against them.

“Whether it’s saying, ‘Thank you for telling me,’ or offering to provide assistance, to offer that social response very much focuses upon and honours the dignity and resistance of a survivor of violence,” Taylor said.

Yukon statistics on violence are alarming.

Rates of violence against women are three to four times the national average.

Kaushee’s Place is accessed three to 10 times more than its provincial counterparts. One in four women in the territory will be sexually assaulted in her life.

And nationally, a woman is murdered every six days. Only about 10 per cent of sexual assaults are reported to police.

Aboriginal women are three to four times more likely to be victims of violence than non-aboriginal women.

This is scary, said Tosh Southwick, Yukon College’s director of First Nations Initiatives.

She thinks of her daughter.

“I need our community, I need our territory, I need our country to tell her that she matters, to tell her that she’s important, and that when this happens, it’s serious, and it will be dealt with,” Southwick said.

“That there will be a consequence, regardless of whether that violence is perpetrated against a First Nations woman, an Inuit woman, or any other woman.”

Calls for a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women are a demand for change, she said.

Thirty-eight women in the Yukon are part of the more than 1,000 missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada.

Aitken noted a recent shift away from placing responsibility on women to prevent violence against women, with men’s growing involvement in the cause.

“For many years, violence against women has been portrayed as a women’s issue, and the work of ending gendered violence has fallen to women’s organizations,” she said.

She commended White Ribbon Yukon for the role it’s played in recent years in encouraging men to take a greater responsibility in ending violence.

While 97 per cent of the perpetrators of sexualized assault are male, the majority of men are not offenders, Aitken said.

The White Ribbon Campaign runs parallel to the 12 Days to End Violence, and asks men to wear a white ribbon and take a pledge that they will never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women.

Steve Roddick, the organization’s co-founder, also spoke at Tuesday’s event.

“Because most perpetrators are male, we have a unique role in setting a higher standard for what it means to be a man and how we can work with other men to address this issue,” he said.

Men can sign the pledge online at whiteribbonyukon.com/pledge. White Ribbon volunteers will be handing out ribbons during the campaign.

The 12 Days to End Violence campaign events schedule is online at victoriafaulknerwomenscentre.blogspot.ca.

A ceremony to commemorate the local missing and murdered indigenous women and the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women will take place at noon Dec. 5 at the Elijah Smith Building.

The campaign will end Dec. 6.