Book IWD Speaker: Verena Arps-Roelle

Seasoned expert combating sexual violence with focus sexism, stereotypes & sexual harassment

Verena Arps-Roelle is a leading expert, activist, and consultant in the prevention of sexualized violence, sexism, stereotypes, and discrimination across workplaces, organizations, media, and society.

Her work is grounded in professional expertise and lived experience – and that is exactly why it works. Verena does not talk about problems from a distance.

She names them, dismantles them, and equips people to act.

Through her work, Verena empowers individuals and organizations to recognize abusive dynamics, challenge normalized sexism, and take responsibility – instead of looking away.

Her approach is intersectional, power-critical, and practical. No buzzwords. No symbolic gestures. Real change.

Her programs focus on exposing and dismantling power imbalances, questioning supposedly “normal” structures, and creating cultures that actively protect boundaries, dignity, and diversity.

She makes visible how sexism, stereotypes, and discrimination are reproduced every day – in language, images, recruiting processes, media, advertising, and organizational routines. And she shows how to interrupt them.

Key workshops include:

1. Recognizing, Naming, and Ending Sexualized Violence

Participants learn to identify sexualized violence, harassment, and boundary violations in all their forms – verbal, non-verbal, digital, and physical. The workshop addresses legal frameworks, responsibilities, and civil courage, while centering self-determination, intuition, and safety. The goal: acting clearly, confidently, and without self-blame – for oneself and for others.

2. Language and Power: Communicating Positively and Effectively

Language is never neutral. This workshop examines microaggressions, subtle exclusions, and the everyday power of words. Participants learn how communication shapes culture – and how gender-sensitive, respectful language can actively prevent discrimination, strengthen teams, and interrupt harmful dynamics instead of reproducing them.

3. Sex Sells? Not Anymore! – Rethinking Visual Language, Media, and Design

In an increasingly complex society, we need images that do not reduce, sexualize, or stereotype – but reflect reality. How do design, advertising, and media reinforce inequality? How can visual language balance attention, diversity, and responsibility? Participants explore how sexist imagery, one-sided representations, and normalized violence shape perception – and how to develop new, gender-sensitive visual concepts that are effective without objectifying.

4. Gendersensitive Recruiting – More Talent, More Competence, More Diversity

The skills shortage is real. The unused potential is enormous.

This workshop exposes how recruiting processes silently exclude FLINTA* persons, men with non-normative life paths, and people outside traditional profiles – often unintentionally, but effectively.

Verena’s work is practical, clear, and unapologetically political.

She equips people with tools that can be implemented immediately – across sectors, hierarchies, and contexts.

Her focus: empowerment, accountability, and solidarity. All workshops are available online and in person (Germany) and can be delivered in German.

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