Girl, Talk was a digital-first campaign that empowered women to respond to campus sexual harassment. The objective was to create safe and conducive spaces for living and learning by sparking conversations, engaging experts and sharing resources.
On 18 January 2020, the team invited all female undergraduates to join them at their first-ever panel event to learn more about barriers to responding to harassment, consent, and reporting harassment. Over 90 attendees heard from local activists including a spokesperson for AWARE’s Aim for Zero campaign, a psychologist, a legal expert, a university representative and survivors of campus harassment. Ms Monica Baey, 24-year-old undergraduate from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and advocate for survivors of sexual violence, joined the team as an attendee and panellist. “We’re slowly making progress. We still may not always feel safe on [the university campus], but it helps to know our options and sources of support,” said Ms Baey.
A highlight of the event included the virtual reality (VR) pilot simulation, which allowed the students to practice and respond to re-enactments of verbal harassment on campus, simulate their emotions and reactions in a similar situation without compromising on comfort and safety. The simulation was designed by the team and is based on real-life recounts from survivors who encountered similar situations on campus. Participants experienced scenarios as survivors or bystanders, such as receiving suggestive comments or unwelcome propositions for sexual favours from acquaintances, similar to real-life role play methods that have traditionally been used for sexual harassment prevention training in the workplace. The prototypes were developed with the support of local VR company Hiverlab.
Watch the video below for the campaign highlights.
The Highlights
Successful panel discussion events.
Although the launch event was an intimate event, it was a great start to the campaign. The team managed to reach over 90 attendees across two panel sessions. Attendees mentioned that they enjoyed the variation in perspectives across the panellists and that the topics were well chosen and tactfully discussed. “To know that the school is constantly stepping up with measures to deal with campus harassment is assuring,” shared one attendee.
Effective collaboration was key to the success of this campaign.
In addition, the team collaborated with different groups, individuals and organisations during the period of this campaign. From receiving advice from AWARE, to exchanging content tips with Students for a Safer NUS, to receiving Instagram Story mentions from Anita Kapoor, the journey has been filled with encouragement and support from many others.
The Memories
Reflection #1 – The Challenges
COVID-19 limited the campaign’s outreach.
The global pandemic COVID-19 threatened the reach and coverage of the campaign as the news had been saturated with stories about the virus. However, the team’s digital-first approach manage to reach far more people than they have targeted with their limited budget, as more people turned to social media platforms for information and entertainment.
Going online also prompted the team to convert anti-harassment workshop opportunities to educational animated videos, which was able to reach 9,398 unique views across YouTube and Instagram, far beyond the original set goal of 150 workshop sign ups.
Reflection #2 – The Takeaways
Technology is a great way to engage our target audience.
There is great potential for VR sexual harassment prevention training as compared to traditional role-playing methods. Ms Ong Li Xian, 23, NUS undergraduate described the VR experience as “innovative and useful”. “It made the scenario more realistic, allowing me to think about what I could do to prioritise my safety and comfort in such a situation,” said Ms Ong.
Thankful for all partnerships of this campaign.
The team has established numerous partnerships over the span of their campaign and received immense support from different sponsors and other female empowerment groups. The team have built together the foundation on which their partners can continue to champion the common anti-harassment cause, through usage of the campaign’s research and findings.
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