Rape Campaign #ThisDoesn'tMeanYes Wants To End Victim Blaming And Dispel Myths Around Consent

Rape Campaign #ThisDoesntMeanYes Wants To End Victim Blaming
PEROU

When a woman wears a short skirt or flirts with a man, it does not mean she's saying "yes" to sex.

New campaign #ThisDoesn'tMeanYes aims to highlight the fact that there are no blurred lines when it comes to consent.

Rape is rape, and the victim is never responsible.

"There’s a myth that surrounds women, a myth that embroils them: women who dress or behave suggestively, women who are playful or who act provocatively, women who flirt or openly discuss sex – they’re ‘asking for it’," the campaign's website reads.

"It’s an insidious fable, and it needs to stop. Every woman has the right to freedom of expression."

Government figures indicate 43% of women in London between the ages of 18 and 34 have experienced sexual harassment in a public space.

According to Rape Crisis, approximately 85,000 women are raped on average in England and Wales every year and 400,000 women are sexually assaulted each year.

The fear of victim blaming and not being believed can prevent some women from reporting rape or sexual harassment.

The #ThisDoesn'tMeanYes aims to tackle the issue.

The campaign was created by four feminists: Nathalie Gordon, Lydia Pang, Abigail Bergstrom and Karlie McCulloch, in partnership with Rape Crisis South London.

The four women took to the streets of London with photographer, PEROU, and photographed 200 women to show that "no matter what a woman is wearing, she is never ‘asking for it’ and the mentality ‘she wants it’ is fundamentally wrong".

Check out some of the empowering images below:

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