Making it Safe to Speak about Sexual Abuse - Doris Tulifau

Doris explains how cultural norms in Samoa make it more important to create safe spaces for those impacted by domestic violence and sexual abuse.

Doris Tulifau is a survivor, educator, activist and organizer ensuring that there are safe spaces for our future generations to talk about trauma before they deal with it as adults. She founded the Brown Girl Woke feminist group that promotes young women and men to empower them on taboo issues happening in the Samoan community especially on domestic violence and sexual abuse.

While in college, she was invited to speak about the Pacific Island culture at a women’s shelter in California. The organization had a high number of Pacific Island women needing help in developing culture appropriate responses to domestic violence. As a survivor, she took it upon herself to research the issue specifically among Pacific Island women to no avail.

This led her to sharing her experience for the first time ever and embarking on a journey to finding the answer.

She enjoys reading books on black history in America, podcasts on hip-hop, culture and politics.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.