Police back #WisToo campaign and call for end to gender violence
Ryan Nicolson
Police have backed a campaign that highlighted incidents of sexual violence in the isles.
The #WisToo campaign launched in August, sharing 66 anonymous stories of sexual violence or assault that have taken place locally.
Led by a 16-year-old girl called Rhea, the campaign sought to ensure Shetlanders were aware serious sexual offences occurred regularly in the isles, and were not restricted to the mainland.
Police Scotland has now given their backing to the campaign, and called for an end to gender-based violence in Shetland.
Inspector Martyn Brill said that the accounts detailed in the report were “shocking”.
And he added that what “disturbs” him most about the accounts, was that “there are individuals in our community who think it is ok to behave in this way.”
“My message to them is: this is not ok, it is unacceptable.”
Mr Brill said that the police were keen to let the public know they would “listen and we will investigate” reports of sexual violence like those detailed in the report.
Both Shetland Rape Crisis and Shetland Women’s Aid called for an end to the behaviours recorded in the #WisToo campaign.
Laura Stronach from Shetland Women’s Aid said the community needed to “call out the normalisation of sexual assault, coercion and rape”, adding: “These are not things women and children should ever have to live with.”
“The kind of behaviours exposed here are absolutely unacceptable and no one should have to go through any of these experiences.”
Peter Hamilton
Presumably if we want to limit harmful attitudes we need to treat woman and girls with more respect and give them the same opportunities for having roles of status in our communities. We could do worse than starting with Junior UHA.