Creative guidance
Here are some points from our Activist Toolkit, to help with creating social media posts
- Use a “yes means yes” approach based on enthusiastic consent. Enthusiastic consent is about ensuring all parties are enthusiastically consenting to sexual acts. The question is not whether a person says “no” or consents out of pressure but whether they say “yes” or otherwise actively express that they want to have sex in a variety of verbal and non-verbal ways.
- Reflect different realities and diversity when you talk about consent.
- You can talk about consent in a light-hearted manner but please be respectful and mindful that rape is a serious crime with often profound impact on survivors.
- Keep it simple – consent is simple.
- Beware of reinforcing gender stereotypes and avoid using sexualised images to reach audiences or seek attention.
- Contribute to debunk harmful stereotypes and myths about sexual violence. Be aware that ‘myth busters’ can generate the opposite reaction if you put a lot of emphasis on the myth and not the reality.
- Use surveys on attitudes to show the reality. The reality is shocking!
- Be inclusive and respectful of people who don’t understand the issue but want to engage in conversation.
- Use humour – with respect: something that makes you smile or laugh is more likely to be shared.
- Lists can work well. For example: https://www.instagram.com/p/B7DtA3rB28O/
- Social media content that meets Instagram guidelines generally works on most other social media channels. For images, animations or videos, check online to ensure that you’re using the right format. For a still image, a simple square works well, but there are options for both landscape and portrait shapes. There are many online guides, such as https://later.com/blog/instagram-image-size/
Download the Activist Toolkit with detailed guidance to help starting and driving conversations about consent – it has lots of ideas, information and links to other resources. It’s also available as a blog series.
What’s happening in different parts of Europe
The campaign Let’s talk about Yes has different flavours in different European countries, here are some of them:
Belgium (FL): https://www.amnesty-international.be/samentegenseksueelgeweld
Belgium (FR): amnesty.be/jdiwi and www.amnesty.be/stop-violences-sexuelles
Denmark : https://amnesty.dk/emner/lighed/samtykke-lets-talk-about-yes
Italy:https://www.amnesty.it/campagne/iolochiedo/
Netherlands: https://www.amnesty.nl/wat-we-doen/campagnes/letstalkaboutyes/overzicht
Norway:https://amnesty.no/voldtekt
Poland: https://amnesty.org.pl/kampanie/tak-to-milosc/
Spain: https://www.es.amnesty.org/en-que-estamos/campanas/violencia-sexual/
Switzerland: https://www.amnesty.ch/fr/themes/droits-des-femmes/violence-sexuelle/violence-sexuelle
Regional: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2020/02/letstalkaboutyes/ and https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2018/11/rape-in-europe/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letstalkaboutyes/