Hi everyone,
This may seem off topic for the Shadowbox but given AFP's outspokenness on sexual/gender violence and grass roots movements I thought this would be a good place to post about this.
I'm putting together a campaign called No Blame No Shame, to end victim blaming in cases of sexual/gender violence. A recent study showed that over a 3rd of people in the UK believe that a rape victim is partially or wholly responsible for the attack if they are drunk. The amount of rapes being recorded by charities and the police is rising but the conviction rate is falling. In the UK it is less than 6% of crimes reported to the police, bareing in mind that most cases of rape aren't reported to the police this means just a tiny fraction are resulting in conviction. Recent studies have found that there is a rape in the UK every 6 minutes, in the US it is every 90 seconds. There is a rise in the number of attacks around Christmas time. For many reasons it is time to act. Now.
The campaign is setting out to do that most difficult of things, change people's minds. It will take the form of 3 videos and a performance/launch night in Cardiff, Wales. The videos will then be put on YouTube and forwarded by the ever increasing number of charities and organisations who are getting involved. Each of the videos will look at victim blaming from a different perspective and will aim to educate and raise awareness around the world.
There are many many ways that people can help out. Those in the UK can help out with the practical side of making the videos, check out the website to see what's needed. And everyone can help out by spreading the word, on Facebook, Twitter, via their Uni's women's group etc. The aim is to get as much awareness raised for the charities as possible, without costing them any of their very limited resources.
I just started this on my own because I couldn't take reading one more article about a rape case collapsing because the victim was being held responsible. Since then the response I've got has been overwhelming and deeply moving, people have been so enthusiastic, it shows that many people want these attitudes to change. Together we can make a massive impact on the world, and make it a better, safer and fairer place. So please check out the website
www.noblamenoshame.org.uk, like the facebook page, and please get in touch if you think you can help out.
Thank you all so much for reading.
Kit.
Author
Topic: Campaign to end victim blaming in cases of sexual violence (Read 354 times)