09 November 2015

White Ribbon Ambassadors Launch ‘Respectful Relationships’ Campaign

Five White Ribbon Ambassadors from Parliament stood together to launch this year’s White Ribbon Campaign by re-signing the White Ribbon Pledge to ‘never commit condone or remain silent about violence towards women’ and to talk about ‘Respectful Relationships’.

If you want to teach your children respect,” says MP and White Ribbon Ambassador Alfred Ngaro, “then teach them by role modeling and respecting their mothers. Love them and care for them, and they will learn from that.”

This year after community consultation, White Ribbon has created a bold campaign that asks men, what kind of guy do they want to be, respectful or violent?

“Most men treat women with respect,” says White Ribbon Campaign Manager Rob McCann, “but the biggest cause of violence is the belief that men have more rights and power than women. This campaign asks men to challenge those ideas and treat women how they would like to be treated, and let go of the feeling that we have to be in charge.”

The campaign also focuses on ‘male behaviour during conflict’ and demonstrates that communicating is key to a good relationship. “Conflict happens,” says Mr McCann, “but dealing with it respectfully makes all the difference.”

“Respectful relationships also require consent. We’re making it crystal clear, that there has to be an enthusiastic ‘yes’ to everything, otherwise there is no consent.”

To get that point across, White Ribbon has been given permission to host the ‘cup of tea’ video which has been viewed over two million times around the world http://whiteribbon.org.nz/sexual-violence-and-the-issue-of-consent/consent/. “We’re asking men of all ages in New Zealand to watch this video explanation of consent,” says Mr McCann.

“We want to make the information on consent as accessible as possible, so we’ve also created a ‘Toolbox’ which contains practical tips on how to treat women equally, communicate respectfully and have a respectful sexual relationship. We see this work as a protection against violence and we’re asking men to download the ‘Toolbox’ and then take The White Ribbon Pledge,” says Mr McCann.

Check out the campaign atwww.whiteribon.org.nz and download your Toolbox now.

ENDS

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