Children of the Street Society is a nonprofit organization that aims to prevent the sexual exploitation and human trafficking of youth. Our 2018 awareness campaign, created by Cossette Vancouver, highlights the importance of bystander intervention. Sexual violence is often framed as a women's issue; however, the overwhelming majority of the time, it is men who are the offenders. A Statistics Canada report published in July, 2017, demonstrates that there were 636,000 self-reported incidents of sexual assault in 2014. In this sample size, women and girls were the victims 87% of the time. Meanwhile, men were the perpetrators in 94% of the incidents.
As a result, Children of the Street Society's new campaign challenges young males to speak out against sexual harassment. We do not intend to shame males, but rather empower them to become allies and supporters of movements against sexual violence that were created by women. Shot like a Snapchat story, the PSA follows a disturbing scenario in which a young male is sexually harassing a young girl in a school hallway. But as the Snapchat story fades away, the viewer is left to see that there were multiple young boys who stood there in silence while the harassment took place. This is what is meant to disturb the audience, because silence = complicity.
Our new awareness campaign is linked to Children of the Street Society's "Redefining Manhood" program, which launched in January, 2018. The school-based program discusses toxic hypermasculine culture and “locker room” talk with the aim to reduce sexual violence through workshops challenging young males to hold each other accountable for their actions. The 60-minute interactive presentation encourages bystander intervention, while highlighting the importance of treating all peers with dignity and respect. In the wake of the #MeToo movement and increasing reports of sexual attacks on women by men, this innovative program is both a response and an intervention, providing students with an opportunity to learn and ask questions about sexual assault, consent, and challenging young people to help prevent sexual assault before it occurs. For more information, please visit: [ Ссылка ]
