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ThisHasToSTOP is a model for transforming communities
A journey starts with single step, so don’t be afraid to start small, if you need to. But the most effective interventions benefit a multi-faceted approach that targets three key stakehlder groups – perpetrators, bystanders (or allies) and the wider community.
Theory into practice
Our model targets three key stakeholder groups – Perpetrators, Bystanders and the Communities.
You’ll find more detail in What works?
How to take action
This section helps you put ThisHasToSTOP theory into practice with advice, guidance and links to intervention materials – all are available free as part of the Toolkit.
Disrupt and counter
Perpetrators
In Redbridge, the PSPO provides a useful tool to hold perpetrators to account, enabling council enforcement and police officers to hand out fixed penalty notices. It had an immediate impact and stop on the problem behaviour.
Sexual harassment bill currently not enforceable so provides a stop gap for it to be made an offence and have consequences in the interim
Unmissable public awareness – promoting the PSPO
The launch of the PSPO provided an opportunity to raise awareness and promote the new enforcement powers. We know that social norms, together with a sense of being observed, are powerful behavioural drivers so we wanted to make the most of the PSPO by raising awareness.
Redbridge was able to make a commitment to blanket coverage of the borough’s key shopping streets using lampost banners. These introduced the ThisHasToSTOP brand and highlighted the key changes in enforcement – ‘Cat calling is an offence’, ‘Unwanted touching is an offence’, and so on – enabling us to create widespread awareness across the borough of the new changes.
Alongside the banners, a signature poster campaign featured local police officers shot in recognisable Redbridge locations, creating a resonant visual representation of local enforcement.
The awareness campaign and PSPO served as effectively the first phase of ThisHasToSTOP – ‘Disrupt and counter’ – and functioned as a line in the sand showing the borough as ‘no place for abuse’ and preparing the ground for the next phase - ‘Enlist and equip’ - which would involve engaging men and Step In, which involved a massive push to introduce anti-sexist learning in schools as well as workplace and community-level training in being an active bystander.
Redbridge police officers took part in a poster campaign to promote the new PSPO, which also showcased local landmarks. These posters can be localised – please chat to a member of our team.
These lamp post banners can be customised to suit your local context and brand. Please ask one of our team for details.
Enlist and equip
Bystanders
In future, women should never have to face VAWG alone. Our allies have a vital role to play in helping to model positive behaviours, shift social norms and drive culture change, as well as being ready to intervene when necessary.
ThisHasToSTOP focused on recruiting two main types of allies:
Male role models, including youth and community leaders
Active bystanders, or anyone who’s willing to ‘Step in’ when they see someone being harassed.
Real Men
We approached local male community leaders who were willing to become the faces of ThisHasToSTOP’s Real Men sub-campaign. They were all chosen because of their commitment to fighting VAWG as well as their ability to serve as role models for positive masculinity. They ran workshops, appeared in TikTok videos and featured on our poster campaigns.
The ‘Real Men’ were all chosen for their commitment to fighting VAWG as well as being role models for positive masculinity.
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Active bystander training
We also developed ‘Don’t stand by, Step In’ a simplified active bystander training workshop and related materials. This has been taught in schools youth clubs and workplace, including reaching over 600 staff employed Redbridge.
Each person trained is not just equipped to intervene but also conscientised, given the chance to take a fresh look at misogyny and harassment and develop a better understanding of what women are experiencing every day.
Young people taking part in the pilot for the Step In Bystander workshop.
Start new conversations
Our communities
Tackling misogyny and VAWG requires culture change, which must be deep-seated and long-term. We saw a fundamental need to equip people across the community with awareness, concepts and understanding, while also providing forums and prompts for discussion.
While we were confident that the awareness campaigns were reaching deep into local communities, we wanted to explore ways to take the conversation further.
‘Pyramid of Sexist Violence’ table talker
Sexual violence exists on a spectrum and so-called ‘low-level’ behaviours, such as cat-calling and staring, are often justified as harmless or ‘just a bit of fun’. But these apparently lesser offences serve as the foundations for a culture where disrespect and harassment are normalised.
The table talker is a piece of printed cardboard that is inexpensive to produce and can be folded into a pyramid that can be placed anywhere where people gather, from community centres and workplaces to coffee shops and school cafeterias.
The ‘Pyramid of Sexist Violence’ links low level offences and the wider culture of misogyny and sexist violence and abuse and is intended to give people concepts and prompts to explore these complex issues in a social setting. They also help to underscore the value of the wider campaign, with its focus on these seemingly inocuous sexist behaviours.
The table talker is free to download as a print ready PDF file in the Resources section.
The Pyramid of Sexist violence table talker is available to download as a print-ready PDF file.
Step In for schools
Long-term culture change requires empowering the next generation, but rising alarm over the ‘manosphere’ and the increase of misogynistic incidents in schools show that it’s more vital than ever to equip young people with the tools and language they need to counter harmful misogynistic narratives while fostering positive ideas of allyship and respect.
An ideal resource for teachers wanting to tackle this vital topic, Step In for Schools is an ambitious spiral curriculum programme that traverses four crucial years in young people’s school career, from Year 6 in Primary, through support with Transition to Secondary and then years 7-9 at Secondary School.
Each year course consists of 7-10 lessons in PowerPoint format, together with a teacher’s pack, certificate template and supporting materials. The lessons are rich in audiovisual materials and cover topics such as online harms, the radicalising algorithms and the need to treat others with respect.
Learn more about the programme and access the materials below.
Our secondary school classroom materials include a series of videos shot on real life CCTV – this shows a dramatisation of the key roles in a harassment encounter, enabling students to interrogate the actions of the perpetrator, the victim and two bystanders.
Step Into Secondary focuses on supporting young people as they transition to Secondary School.
ThisHasToSTOP brand pack
The pack includes logos, guidelines, illustrations and support and is available on request for organisations ready to delivery a localised ThisHasToSTOP programme.
A project roadmap for Councils
Effective change requires long-term planning and commitment, so the ThisHasToSTOP project roadmap breaks the process down into manageable steps, serving as a blueprint for delivering a local VAWG programme.
