Don’t Be That Guy Campaign Launched | Audrey Ellard Walsh

Last Tuesday saw UCC Students' Union in association with the Feminist Society launch the 'Don't be that Guy' poster campaign, bringing to UCC and Cork a highly effective international sexual assault prevention campaign. This campaign, which is also currently running in TCD and NUIG, argues that messages that target the victim in rape cases can contribute to and increase self-blame in sexual assault survivors. This campaign operates with a different approach - targeting the possible offender, and thus avoid victim-blaming.SU Gender Equality Officer and Auditor of the Feminist Society Sian Cowman welcomed attendees to the launch of the campaign which aims to change the culture of victim blaming in sexual assault cases, by placing the focus on men instead, changing the conversation from “Don’t wear that skirt/drink too much/walk home alone” to “Don’t rape”.Speaking to The Express about the campaign, Sian says “Many sexual assault prevention campaigns target women's behaviour, urging them not to drink too much or not to walk home alone. These kinds of messages mean that women can blame themselves if they do suffer a sexual assault. The idea that women are 'asking for it' is simply ridiculous. The purpose of this campaign is to shift the focus from women to men, who are statistically more likely to commit sexual offences.”Speakers at the launch night, which took place in ORB 212, were Mary Crilly and Colm Dempsey. Mary is the Director of the Sexual Violence Centre Cork. The Centre has been providing services to survivors of sexual violence since 1983 and Mary has been working there for much of that time, giving her a broad insight into these issues here in Cork. As well as service provision, the Centre works on research, education and training, awareness raising, and policy advocacy. Colm is the coordinator of the "Violence against Women 365 International Poster Exhibition" as well as being the director of Ireland's National Child Protection Training Centre. Colm has extensive knowledge around the complex issues of violence against women and children from both professional and academic perspectives.Mary spoke about the culture of self- blame surrounding rape cases, while informing the audience of her experiences over her thirty year career in dealing with the fallout from sexual assault. She was anxious to stress that the victim is never to blame, regardless of the situation, a theme which recurs through the posters used in the campaign. “I believe if a girl gets drunk she should wake up with a hangover and nothing else”, Mary said recounting examples of cases she has seen, in which 80% of victims assaulted knew their attacker. In many cases, the perpetrators claim that the girls were “asking for it” or that it was not rape. With slogans like “Just because she isn’t saying no, doesn’t mean she is saying yes” and “Just because you help her home doesn’t mean you get to help yourself” argue the opposite.As coordinator of the poster exhibition, Colm Dempsey further detailed the history of the posters, which come from a Canadian campaign Sexual Assault Voices of Edmonton (SAVE). Whilst it is believed that up to 90% of rape and sexual assault cases go unreported, there was a recorded 10% drop in reported cases in Vancouver in the wake of this campaign- a sign that the message is getting home.According to Sian the campaign “is not intended to target all men as potential offenders, but rather to get people thinking about the boundaries of sexual consent.”. Posters will be visible around campus and in affiliated night club venues for the duration of the campaign. The posters are also available for free download at www.savedmonton.org. For more information, students can contact Sian at gender@uccsu.ie