edmonton

Edmonton’s new rape prevention ads should be everywhere

The Edmonton police department is out with more anti-rape posters that are just as good as the first ones they released a couple years ago.

"It's not sex when she's wasted"

Between Edmonton’s efforts, the recent ads from Men Can Stop Rape, and those Scottish ads from a couple years ago, there are plenty of examples of how to create an anti-rape campaign that doesn’t actively support rape culture–and may actually help prevent sexual assaults. 

As the Edmonton campaign website explains, “Research is telling us that targeting the behavior of victims is not only ineffective, but also contributes to and increases self-blame in survivors. Instead, the SAVE campaigns targets potential offenders – ultimately the ones who hold the power and responsibility to end sexual assault.”

This campaign should serve as a model for everyone. If you’re considering creating rape prevention ads remotely like this one, think again, and please follow Edmonton’s lead instead.

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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