I think we often focus on the things media does wrong, but sometimes it's good to highlight when it's “getting it right”, so I though I would pass along this link from Gender Across Borders: Getting it Right when it Comes to Anti-Rape Campaigns. This is important, because there are a lot of ways that sexual violence prevention, particularly in mass campaigns has been done wrong:

1. Blaming the victim: I’ve presented Norwegian media’s efforts to “warn women” about sexual violence rather than discuss systematic problems and rape culture. GAB’s post references theS*M*A*R*T campaign, which similarly blames victims for sexual violence by giving women steps to avoid being sexually assaulted, because “rape happens”.

2. Triggering: Both of these ads could be triggering for some survivors, but the efforts of Cabwise in London (shown to me by a friend) are unquestionably triggering and creating of an unsafe environment for survivors. *warning, as I said, this ad is very triggering.*

3. Glamorizing sexual violence: Joelynn recently wrote about how sensationalism makes her feel unsafe to tell her story as a survivor, and I think it’s a really important consideration in mass campaigns. There have been mixed opinions on the “This is not an invitation to rape me” campaign, also out of the UK, but I think there is definitely some problems with sensationalism.

And that’s why I’m glad Gender Across Borders presented this ad from Go Belfast as a way to promote sexual violence prevention “right”, and I definitely agree with them: