Don’t Be “That Guy”

In an effort to decrease incidents of sexual violence, Vancouver police are taking action into their own hands by placing blame into the perpetrator’s.

Don’t Be That Guy is the provocative new ad campaign created to stop sex assault in its tracks. Since “the campaign targets men willing to have sex with partners too inebriated to say yes or no,” the posters appear in men’s washrooms and bars around Vancouver.

Of course not all men take advantage of drunk women, but when you read that sex assaults have increased by 10 percent in just one year, you have to believe that some sort of action is necessary. Vancouver police and BarWatch, an organization “dedicated to bar safety,” are joining forces to protect women in situations where they may be more at-risk.

Feminist organizations are also backing the in-your-face campaign, hoping that men will get the message loud and clear. When you see a man helping a wobbly woman to the car with a caption that reads, “Just because you help her home…doesn’t mean you get to help yourself,” it’s certainly hard not to think twice.

Slogans like “Just because she’s drunk, it doesn’t mean she wants to f**k” may be offensive to men who would never have sex without consent, but the reality is that “about half the sexual assault victims treated at Women’s Hospital were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the offence,” according to spokeswoman Wendy Potter. Insulting or not, it’s better to err on the side of caution.

If anything, these images and slogans bring the serious issue of sex assault to the forefront of everyone’s mind. We can only hope the posters stop men from becoming “that guy.”

Contact the author here: tinybart@morningquickie.com