Two years ago something terrible happened.
A 16-year-old girl was raped by no less than 11 men, most of them adults, in the shocking gang rape that took place in Eilat.
This story did make waves in the media, but the unimaginable ease with which the attackers escaped punishment led Nadav Salor, Mordechai Bronstein and Yael Rapoport, all three of whom come from the worlds of production, to act to raise awareness of the issue of violence and sexual harassment against women, and this time from the angle of men talking to men.
The first campaign, called #This_Is_My_Problem, gained wide exposure and this week, ahead of the International Day for the Fight against Violence Against Women, the second campaign, #תשאל_את_אמא_שלך, went live.
The purpose of the current #תשאל_את_אמא_שלק campaign, which was produced entirely voluntarily, was to call on men to take responsibility for their role in the campaign and to raise awareness of the fact that violence against women is a problem for all of us, men and women.
The way to do it this time is through discourse and dialogue with your mother or a significant female figure.
"Every man has some kind of woman in his life who suffered or still suffers from violence and sexual harassment, whether it's a mother, sister, friend or partner," says Nadav Salor.
"You have to understand that violence against women is also a men's problem, whether they produce it or they watch it from the sidelines. After all, we all want to live in a healthy and protected society for everyone who lives in it."
Why did you choose to appeal to men?
"Over the years, women have made a conscious process that is an example and model for creating personal and social change, they fought for themselves because they understood what they deserve, starting from the most basic level of security and protection to the right to be present in key positions and to realize themselves on a personal and professional level."
"Women have always been at the forefront of this struggle, but we have never seen men come and say: there is a problem here that we are creating, so let's give it emphasis; let's create a partnership in this struggle. As human beings, we need the familiar, in the initial interaction we connect with whom that looks similar to us visually, and when a man stands in front of a man there is openness and listening to the message, I wish this would change and in the future we will simply listen, no matter who is standing in front of us."
The first campaign was distributed and translated into several languages and received extensive coverage in Israel and the world, and was even re-filmed in countries such as Brazil and Romania, which unfortunately also suffer from high rates of gender-based violence.
"After the first campaign, when we saw to what extent it reached and how much it touched people, we realized that we cannot sit quietly and that we want to continue to convey the messages and deepen this issue because it contains many layers. We present a very specific element within this phenomenon but it certainly does not end there Because this is a very specific media, we are very limited in conveying the messages, because how much can we squeeze into a minute and a half? Despite this, we tried to create an emotional and profound aspect."
How did you recruit the participants for the campaign?
The campaign was produced entirely voluntarily and everyone who participated in it, from the subjects to the photographers, did so entirely voluntarily.
Nadav recalls: "It was a long road. We are all private people with other occupations. We do come from the worlds of production, but in order to pick up something like this completely voluntarily, a lot of determination was required. We met, picked up the phones, approached a lot of famous people and celebrities and encountered a lot of refusals. There were moments when we thought it would fail , even after we already had the materials, but alongside this were amazing men like Hami Rodner, Yermi Kaplan and others, who agreed to stand in the front of this move. The very fact that the campaign was created is a significant achievement because it is not a commercial campaign that has budgets at its disposal, everything was on a good basis The hearts of men and women and this shows that we are in the right direction."
How do you measure the success of such a campaign?
"Success is a subjective matter, but as a body without any funding that is based on the kindness of private individuals, the mere fact that there is media coverage, or that a company like CTV expressed a willingness to broadcast the campaign on their screens on billboards, is a tremendous success," says Nadav.
"We see shares on social networks and it creates discussions. We receive feedback from teachers who
want to present it in schools, because we bring to mind a discussion about an issue that concerns us all."
And putting pressure on the treatment and enforcement factors becomes crucial.
"I think a lot of people don't do the context and the understanding that violence against women has many layers. It starts in the most basic place of confidence to walk down the street or get into a taxi, and continues to the problem of the lack of representation of women in the circle of decision-makers. You can't think that the problem is only violence, It is wider, and if we don't stop this phenomenon then it will escalate. We need a balanced society and for that we must protect the rights of women and their representation in all key positions, whether it is in leadership or anywhere else. This must continue to be preserved and developed until we reach - 50 50. There is no reason for it to be less."
Interested in helping?
Join the distribution group of #this_is_my_problem
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