The "so what can we actually do" thread...

[ImSoNotTelling]

Hello

Following on from the thread about changing the law on rape to grant anonimity to the accused, a few people have started to think about what we can do to get involved, to actually try and change stuff.

So I guess this thread is for suggestions, ideas, and for people to link up to actually try to change things.

So far we have someone possibly standing for pariament!

So come on everyone.

What's the plan....

Marking place. Would love to help.

I miss all the best threads. I Believe You is fucking brilliant.

Gosh this is alll very exciting!

I believe you is fab. (Nice one len!)

Website great idea - has anyone bought teh domain name? I don't mind doing it.

Does anyone know how to build websites? I did my first one recently and used a joomla template but it is very basic.

What is this petition? is there a link? I'm not on twitter or facebook and feel like i'm missing something!

Also re getting high profile feminists to support - what i think is - if we really want people to engage with it, incuding teens and men, we need standard slebs rather than just feminist ones - actresses and pop stars and that sort of thing. And what would be really good - footballers. Now that would be quite something. We need to get the message out past the people who already get it.

The bus idea is a really good one, one of us needs to call up TFL (I guess it would be london?) and find out how much it costs. i don't mind doing that too if people want me to They might have a list of costs for all of their space - on the tube and everything.

Now. Anyone know any slebs or journalists? Anyone got connections to publicise this?

"I believe you" is fantastic. Could technically be called Stop Rape, but with "I believe you" as a domain name/FB page name/twitter tag/badge slogan etc.

Like Stop the War and the Not In My Name slogan, but with the slogan even more prominent.

This is an excellent thread and I would love to help if I can. I don't have twitter (it baffles me tbh ) but I have posted the link to my Facebook page in the hope that some of my FB friends will sign and repost.

Shall I tweet her? She is a friend of a friend so worth a shot

Have signed the petition.

I thought that for it to be valid they had to collect addresses of the signatories?

What about under the general name Stop Rape (or whatever) having a few different slogans focusing on different rape myths? So, different slogans on different buses (eg).

So #1 is ?I believe you? ? followed by statistic about rape rates or conviction rates. How about these others:

#2: ?It?s still rape? ? regarding rape by a (ex or current) partner, which as we all know is the commonest form, or rape of someone who was drunk/asleep;

#3: e.g. ?We don?t lie? ? something about false claims being much less common than is widely thought;

#4: something about how rape is NEVER the victim?s fault ? perhaps link to that awful campaign about licensed minicabs. Oh and the skinny jeans!!!

#5: "No means no" - women don't ask for rape, or fantasize about it.

#6: something about how consent must be verbally expressed and not presumed through clothing, silence or behaviour.

Clearly I need some help coming up with snappy slogans for 3, 4 and 6!

Oh and nothing wrong with Stop Rape, but maybe it should focus on dispelling rape myths first, because surely that?s the whole key to this. Like ?Rape Facts?, ?Rape Truths? or ?The Truth about Rape??? There is already a general public awareness that rape is wrong and should be stopped, iyswim, but rape myths break it down into a few smaller issues, making it easier to think about. Because of this I don?t think Stop Rape would incur as much interest as something which looked at it from a ?new? (to many people) angle. They won?t take rape in itself more seriously until they understand the truth behind the myths, because at the moment these myths obscure the reality and actual seriousness of rape?

I think TFL is a great place to start, as are Twitter, Facebook and petitions. We do need high profile people attached as that's who the public will respond to best. Sadly i don't know any celebs. I also think we should write to all major broadsheets once it's up and running to draw attention to it, perhaps in the context of a news story. Once a presence for the campaign is created in London through the transport network, it will spread to the rest of the country through the newspapers which are published there.
And I hate to say it but the Sun is pretty influential. If they were seen to mention the campaign it would probably be a big step.

How about "It's not (or it wasn't) your fault" (similar to I believe you, although could be misinterpreted I suppse?) for #4 and "yes means yes" for #6?