The Issue

The Goal – Working together to make a change

We want to reach a large number of people within North Somerset and Somerset County Council through our campaign and raise awareness about unacceptable behaviour towards women and girls. Our endeavour is to start a conversation that challenges ideas around the acceptability of sexual harassment in public places.

Sexual harassment has significant and widespread impacts, both on individuals as well as on society. Sexual harassment in public reduces women and girls’ freedom to enjoy public life, and can negatively affect feelings of safety, bodily autonomy and mental health.

Being sexually harassed can be a degrading, humiliating, and harmful experience, but the effects are damaging more widely. It helps to keep women and girls unequal by perpetuating a culture in which they are sexualised; it is the backdrop to a society in which sexual violence can be normalised or excused.

In the UK, as elsewhere in the world, men and boys are overwhelmingly the perpetrators of sexual harassment in public places. A study conducted by Promundo, a global organisation that works on masculinities and gender equality in 2016 (which included representative samples of more than 1,000 young men each in the UK, US and Mexico) found that perpetration of harassment starts young and takes many forms. Nearly one in three of the young men surveyed in the UK had made sexually harassing comments to a woman or girl they didn’t know in a public place—such as the street, their workplace, their school or university, or an online space.

Given that little research data is available on perpetrator of sexual harassment in the UK, it is understood that most perpetrators at times are unaware that their behaviour is unacceptable and has made a woman or girl uncomfortable or they are not ready to acknowledge that they are a perpetrator of sexual violence in society. Therefore, we encourage family, friends and peers to step up, speak up and challenge an unacceptable behaviour.

What can you do to make it stop and bring about a change?

It is often difficult to know what to say or do when someone you know has been sexually harassed or abused. The best thing you can do is make yourself available to them and actively listen to what they have to say. Strive to be supportive by not being judgemental, do not offer unsolicited advice, and finally let them know that it is not their fault if they blame themselves for what has happened.

Furthermore, you could use the following 5Ds to bring about a change:

• Decide: Recognise that sexual harassment and sexual abuse are both individual and community issues that we all have a role to play in their prevention.
• Direct: Let people know that their actions or language are unacceptable, explaining why it is not OK.
• Distract: Indirectly intervene. For example, interrupt, start a conversation with the person to allow their potential target to move away or have friends intervene.
• Delegate: If you spot a situation that worries you, find someone to help. This could be a more senior member of staff, someone in authority or a member of the family
• Delay: Wait for the situation to pass and check in with the individual. Take action at a later stage when you have had time to consider.