Each day we will be sharing something new from the women's aid activism campaign:  

Today we ask that you encourage the men and boys in your life to reject macho stereotypes and embrace their emotional intelligence. 

Men and boys are negatively impacted by gendered stereotypes just like women and girls. The traditional image of a man as being strong, silent and unemotional is detrimental to males, who feel that they cannot express their feelings freely. This can lead to poor mental health and feelings of isolation and has led the pervasive levels of male suicide in our society, with men being three times more likely to take their own lives than women. 

Macho stereotypes can also produce men who are violent towards women. Reinforcing gender stereotypes creates power imbalances between men and women and puts women’s lives in danger. Minimising violence as ‘just what boys do’ creates a society where we do not challenge these stereotypes. So, we ask that you stop telling men and boys to “man up” and encourage them to be brave and talk about their feelings, not just for the women and girls in their lives, but for themselves too. 

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call 999 and ask for the police. Silent calls will work if you are not safe to speak – use the Silent Solution system and call 999 and then press 55 when prompted. If you can’t use a voice phone, you can register with the police text service - text REGISTER to 999.  You will get a text which tells you what to do next.  Do this when it is safe so you can text when you are in danger. Find out more.

Support Services:
Support Services are available and if you feel you are the victim of or at risk of domestic abuse, please consider accessing some the support services on this page. You can also submit a Report & Support request to the university via the reporting tool. We really want to support you through this time. 
 
 

·       Women’s Aid 

·       Refuge 

·       Safelives 

·       Men’s Advice Line 

·       Galop runs the National LGBT+ Domestic Abuse specialist helpline. 

·       Hestia – Refuge centre 

·       Chayn – Resource and Support Hub 

·       Imkaan is a women’s organisation addressing violence against black and minority women and girls. 

·       Sexual assault referral centres 

·       SignHealth provides domestic abuse service support for deaf people in British Sign Language (BSL). 

·       Stay Safe East provides specialist and holistic advocacy and support services to disabled victims and survivors of abuse 

·       SafeNet: Local refuge and support centre 

 

Children & Young People 

·       NSPCC Helpline 

·       Childline 

·       Barnardo’s