If you come forward with a complaint or disclosure, we will take you seriously. We will believe you and we will listen without judgment. We will also refer you to appropriate services if you wish to take further steps. We see you, we hear you, we support you.
Our broken legal system, victim-blaming culture and social stigma are also barriers for sexual assault victim-survivors.
In reality, studies show that the actual number of false complaints are between 1.2 per cent and 10 per cent but it’s largely accepted the actual rate is at the lower end of that range.
Perpetuating rape myths is incredibly damaging. As a society, it is essential that we believe women who make sexual assault or violence allegations.
Our poster today declares that if you come forward with a complaint or disclosure, we will take you seriously. We will believe you and we will listen without judgment. We will also refer you to appropriate services if you wish to take further steps. We see you, we hear you, we support you.
We ask you to identify a contact person in your workplace or community for people to come to, and add their name and contact details to the poster.
If there’s no one who can be that contact, here are some here are some resources for victim-survivors to call:
Be sure to take care of yourself when supporting others — WIRE is here to listen to you as well.
Every year, between November 25 — the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women — and December 10 — International Human Rights Day — there are 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence.
This year we’ve created a series of posters for you to print out at work, home or your local library, and to put up in your kitchen, community hall, meeting room at work — wherever you like. Help create a world where women, nonbinary and gender-diverse people are safe, respected, empowered and able to make genuine choices in their lives.
Violence towards women, nonbinary and gender-diverse people is a community problem. Everyone in the community, from schools to sporting clubs, can play a role in changing the structures, norms and practices that lead to gender-based violence.
Some of these actions will be individual and some will be collective: gender-based violence is a structural issue that we all need to work together to address.