White Ribbon Day raising awareness in Notts of domestic violence against women

Men across Nottingham are being asked to wear a white ribbon on Wednesday, November 25 in support of ending domestic violence against women.

White Ribbon Day is a worldwide campaign which seeks to encourage conversations around the abuse women face.

Equation is a Nottingham based charity working alongside White Ribbon to raise awareness.

34-year-old Frankie Skinner is Equations marketing coordinator and has a lead role in the campaign.

She said: “Usually we do a giveaway where we’re handing out white ribbons to men in the city centre – led by about 30 other men.

“It’s men that go out there each year and walk up to other men on the streets and have these conversations.”

Frankie is originally from Swindon but moved to Nottingham when she was 18 to study at NTU.

She acknowledges that although men also face domestic abuse – it’s women who suffer some of the more serious impacts.

“Victims of domestic abuse can be any gender but we cannot ignore that the majority of survivors are women.

“16 to 24-year-old girls are most at risk and that can have a long term impact not only on their academic attainment and what they can go on to achieve but also their mental health.”

Lockdown means this year’s event will be different – but the core aim remains unchanged.

The charity suggest buying a white ribbon online and printing off their free poster to put up at home.

Jeff Buck, 65, is a White Ribbon ambassador from Nottingham who’s volunteering plays a key role in making the campaign a success.

Speaking about his contribution Jeff said: “we’ve had some extremely positive conversations with men.

“Some don’t give a thought to domestic violence against women and it’s quite interesting to have a conversation around that and to make them aware of how widespread it is.

“Obviously this year we can’t be out and about but social media is really powerful and I’ve been using it to try and get the message out there as much as possible.”

Because people are spending more time at home there has been a dramatic increase in domestic violence.

On August 23 this year the local domestic and sexual violence helpline for women saw a 120% increase in calls from the same date in 2019.

Equation say that during the first lockdown the number of women killed each week by a current or former partner rose from two to five.

Frankie said: “Domestic abuse is not caused by lockdown – lockdown exacerbates it.

“It’s a pattern of behaviour that gradually gets worse.

“What lockdown has done is speed that trajectory up and because of the increased amounts of time together – the tensions of that make things worse.

“Domestic abuse is all about power and control especially at times during a global pandemic where people are going to be feeling that they have less control over other aspects of their lives.”

So what can men do?

Equation suggest several strategies.

They include wearing a white ribbon and supporting women who you think maybe being hurt by contacting the 24-hour domestic and sexual violence helpline on 0808 800 0340.

Jeff said: “We need to reach young people as they are at an age where they can change.

“If we’re able to change some of the attitudes of boys in particular then perhaps one day we can end domestic abuse and violence against women.”

For more information on the support available to victims of domestic abuse click here.

By Isaac Seelochan

Feature image credit: Equation