The projects was/is to raise public awareness and informally educate about sexual harassment taking place in daily lives of European Women. We not only gave a safe space for victims to be heard, but also a platform to challenge harmful judgements/ and typical accusations (eg:"its cause you were wearing this dress, and laughing a lot") that block freedom of speech and self-defence, consequently shutting out many victim stories; stories that are emphasised on blaming the victim instead of the perpetrator. The final goal was and continues to be the ability to stimulate empathy, specially solidarity among women, through both direct dialogue and digital storytelling. To achieve this, we created audio-visual exhibitions, podcasts and a special evening (both partners) for open discussions, we sought to shift societal attitudes, promote accountability, and encourage a culture of respect, equality, and support for victims and their stories. Ultimately, we curated dialogue that leads to long-term change in how harassment is perceived and addressed. Our participants, encourage the open discussion event to take place at least once a year, finding it helpful to both raise awareness and feeling supported.
After hearing many stories from friends and colleagues about how they had been repeatedly been experiencing sexual harassment & assault, we found the necessity in raising awareness in this reoccurring issue in Europe, by implementing a non-formal socio-cultural education project, that could reach all.The idea was inspired by the #MeToo movement; but with a different touch, ours included the argument of "victim-blaming" narratives, and creates a space where the victims can share their stories without being afraid of being judged, for what they were wearing/behaving, when they got harassed. We used psychologically and scientifically proven studies about how sexual harassment in public spaces can cause women anxiety, depression, afraid of job environments, and suicide in extreme cases. Hence, we aimed to empower survivors of sexual harassment by giving them a platform to share their stories and be heard without judgment, as well as raise awareness in aim to prevent future incidents, judgments, and the stigma of freedom of speech in this rarely spoken topic, which still seems to remain taboo in Europe to speak freely about.During our field research, we were surprised that the women who were afraid to speak up were native EU women.