[Brussels, 14 February 2014] The Scottish Police launched the “We Can Stop It” Campaign, aiming at actively preventing sexual violence against women. It will last the whole month of March and mainly targets men and tries to raise awareness on what is actually rape.
Since 2010 in Scotland, the sexual offences laws explicitly recognize that sex without consent is a rape (even when the consent was given and withdrawn), and that both gender can be victims of rape.
The Police of Scotland, supported by civil society organisations including Rape Crisis Scotland, Assist, Scottish Women’s Aid and White Ribbon Scotland, has initiated recently the “We Can Stop It” campaign to raise awareness about rape and about men’s responsibility in it. This campaign will last all March long and comprises posters, adverts, and social medias, as well as actions in clubs and bars all across the country.
Differently from other types of awareness raising campaigns, the focus of this campaign is not on the victim. Instead of trying to prevent women from being raped, it revolves around men, who are the main perpetrators of sexual assaults and rape as the FRA survey has shown recently (97% of perpetrators of sexual violence against girls and women since they were 15, excluding a previous or current partner, were men. FRA survey, 2014)
This Campaign has various goals:
- To raise awareness on what rape actually is, (focusing on the notion of consent, and taking distance from narrow definitions based on the use of force as the constituent element of crime),
- To encourage men to think about the messages they hear about how men should act, and to reflect on their own actions, attitudes and behaviours
- To encourage victims to report the crime, reinsuring that they would be provided with assistance and that the offender would be prosecuted.
The EWL welcomes very favourably this campaign and its efforts to combat rape myths and roots.
As the Scotland Police,
“We believe together we can stop rape.
Do you?”
