#CallItOut

As part of our work to tackle violence against women and girls, we have launched the #CallItOut campaign.

The aim of the campaign is to encourage people to have the confidence to challenge misogynistic or inappropriate behaviour towards women when they see it.

This can be anything from name calling to unwanted touching and includes behaviour such as cat calling and wolf whistling, leering or persistent staring, sexual propositioning, sexually explicit comments, or sexual gestures.

We know that it can also be the case that the behaviour of someone who displays contempt or disrespect to women in these ways can escalate and they will become violent or abusive so it is important that anyone displaying this kind of attitude and behaviour is dealt with.

Detective Inspector Adam Gascoigne, from our high-risk domestic abuse unit, is leading the campaign and said: “We know that many of us have unfortunately been in a situation where we have witnessed behaviour towards women that has made us feel uncomfortable but it is often difficult to know what to do about it.

“The aim of this campaign is to educate people on exactly what kind of behaviour is inappropriate as well as giving people the skills to challenge it when they do see it. By standing by and saying nothing you can actually be encouraging this kind of behaviour so it is important that people are able to call their friends out and let them know when they are being out of order.”

We want to spread the word that everyone can be part of the change and help to drive this kind of behaviour out for good.

We’ll be encouraging people to challenge their friends if they see or hear any inappropriate behaviour towards a woman.

We can tackle this together. Be the change and #CallItOut.