The Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS) is commemorating this year’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month by partnering with local soccer teams Club Marias Boston and Mosteiros FM for an outreach campaign, which aims to educate to community about sexual assault and the role we can all play in preventing it.

Throughout the months of April and May of 2019, Club Marias Boston, a local female Brazilian soccer team, and Mosteiros FM, the 2018 Massachusetts Amateur State Cup Champions team composed of Cabo Verdean-American players, will be wearing T-shirts designed by MAPS with the slogans “No Means No. Period” and “Silence is not Consent.”

“We wanted to redefine the concept of ‘locker room talk’, which is so often used to excuse all sorts of abusive language and behaviors,” said Dulce Ferreira, MA, MAPS Director of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services. “What better way than by partnering with these two teams – one female, one male – who are such positive role models for the younger members of our communities? Preventing sexual violence requires that we rethink our social norms and engage our friends, colleagues, and loved ones in the effort to change behaviors and laws. It’s up to all of us to promote safe environments and to step in whenever we witness inappropriate behavior.”

Mosteiros FM will wear the MAPS t-shirts during their first match this year on April 21, at the Ceylon Park in Dorchester. On April 28, the Cabo Verdean team heads to New York for a match. The Club Marias Boston team will play every Thursday in Revere, alternative Sundays in East Boston, and will be part of a championship in May.

“This partnership with MAPS is an opportunity for us to be the mentors we propose to be, to have a positive influence not only in the minds of the players but also to bring a positive impact to our community,” said Zenildo Miranda, owner and manager of Mosteiros FM. “We want to play an active role in educating our players about mutual respect. We want be part of a generation that is comfortable calling out and addressing negative behaviors and helping end sexual harassment, abuse and assault.”

During Sexual Assault Awareness Month, MAPS will also encourage local barbershops to join the awareness campaign by wearing the MAPS t-shirts in an effort to engage the men in our communities in this conversation.

MAPS, a longtime member of Jane Doe Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, provides culturally and linguistically competent assistance to survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence through its Cambridge, Brighton, Dorchester, Framingham and Lowell offices, in a completely free, confidential and culturally appropriate setting.