Back in May 2021, Stylist launched our initiative #AFearlessFuture, calling on the Home Office to launch an ongoing, high-profile, expert-informed public campaign about men’s violence against women and girls. You, our readers, emailed your local MPs, asking them to put pressure on the government to focus proactively on preventing male violence against women and girls – joining thousands of others demanding wholesale cultural change in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard. 

These demands came because people were exhausted and enraged by discussions about women’s safety that focused on how women could protect themselves from male violence. 

Rather than advising women on how to keep themselves safe, we, and the public, urged politicians to speak directly to men: putting the onus on them to change their own harmful behaviour and call out other men if necessary. The aim was to get the government to invest seriously in dismantling the wider cultural norms that cause and tolerate abuse, with the end goal of stopping male violence against women before it starts.

Now, after tireless campaigning, there has been a breakthrough. The Home Office has launched the first part of a multi-year national communications campaign designed to challenge perpetrators of several forms of abuse – including street harassment, coercive control and unwanted touching. 

Titled ‘Enough’, the campaign consists of a short film to be broadcast on terrestrial TV and on social media, in which ordinary people are seen challenging men and boys who harass, abuse or assault women. There will also be social media ads; an audio trailer that will play across radio stations, streaming services and podcasts; and physical billboards and posters displayed in bars and on streets, public transport and university campuses.

These ads direct members of the public to a website providing information on topics including how to intervene safely if you witness harmful behaviour. There is also a section offering advice to perpetrators of gender-based abuse who recognise that they need to change.

“This is an ambitious campaign and we hope and believe it will have a real impact,” said safeguarding minister Rachel Maclean MP at an event to launch the initiative at the Houses of Parliament on Monday 28 February. 

She observed that previous public health campaigns around seatbelts, smoking and drink driving had shown how these measures can genuinely help shift public attitudes and behaviours – adding that the government wanted to “send the message loud and clear, that we will not stand by while women and girls are suffering”.

The ‘Enough’ campaign has been informed by responses to the government’s public consultation on violence against women and girls, which received an unprecedented 180,000 responses last year – mostly following the horrific murder of Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police officer. These responses showed that women across the UK were desperate for the government to invest in measures that would change the culture around male violence against women and girls from the ground up.

The campaign has also been shaped by the insights of individuals and organisations from the women’s sector – including more than a dozen who signed Stylist’s original open letter to the Home Secretary in 2021 calling for just such a campaign.

At the event to launch the Home Office’s campaign, the mood among experts from the women’s sector was broadly positive. There was relief that the government is finally putting money into tackling male violence against women at the roots, and acknowledgement that experts and survivors with a wide range of perspectives and backgrounds had been listened to during the creation of the campaign.

However, this hopefulness was tempered with caution that the campaign will need significant funding for many years, and be supported by many other forms of prevention work, to make a difference. Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), warned that the campaign must be “long-term, properly funded and shaped by specialist organisations, including those led by and for Black and minoritised women”. (It’s worth noting that there was no meaningful funding for prevention work in the government’s latest budget, prompting EVAW to criticise Chancellor Rishi Sunak.)

“This is a really positive first step towards that deeper cultural change in attitudes that we think are the root cause of violence against women and girls,” Isabelle Younane, head of policy, campaigns and public affairs at Women’s Aid, told Stylist. “We hope this will lead to greater investment from the Home Office and government in culture change.”

Anthea Sully is the CEO of White Ribbon, a charity that engages with men and boys to prevent violence against women before it starts. She praised the government’s campaign, but echoed that it must be followed with significant funding for other forms of prevention work.

“There’s a need to work with young people, for example, so they are aware of what behaviours are acceptable and what are not,” she said. “Schools are a key place for this work to be undertaken, and there’s just not enough investment there at the moment.”

Since Stylist launched our call for #AFearlessFuture in 2021, there has been an increased focus on the power of public campaigns to challenge the misogynistic attitudes that drive and enable male violence against women. Police Scotland created the powerful ‘That Guy’ anti-sexual violence campaign last autumn, while Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham recently launched his own #IsThisOk campaign challenging sexual harassment in public spaces. 

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has also announced that he will be launching a campaign in March that speaks directly to men and boys about seemingly ‘harmless’ attitudes and behaviour that can lead to intimidation, threats, and violence towards women and girls. “If we are going to truly fix the problem of violence against women and girls we need to see a fundamental cultural shift which puts the onus of responsibility on men,” Khan said.

None of these initiatives will bring about instant change, but they are important first steps in shifting the culture around male violence against women and girls. 

If you supported Stylist’s call for #AFearlessFuture, you’ve played a vital role in getting us to this point. There’s so much more to be done – but for now, thank you.

Images: Getty/The Home Office