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Description
There are many common myths and stereotypes about sexual violence and violence against women. According to research, 58 % of Czechs believe the victim is partially responsible for their rape based on their behaviour, attire or alcohol consumption. These beliefs make it hard for victims to come forward and seek support. The victim-blaming narrative, widely used in public media and social media debates, is often adopted by young people who have low awareness and knowledge about sexual violence. One of the reasons is a lack of a holistic approach to sex education in primary and secondary schools. That’s why we introduced our ''When they does not want it'' project. We want to give students a space to think critically about sexual violence and mutual respect in all sexual activities. We will roll out the project nationally, starting with a series of workshops on sexual violence prevention for primary and secondary schools. We estimate a minimum of 150 workshops for 3,000 people. We will work with an external team to create an impact analysis report based on the data gathered, which will serve as a basis for developing a comprehensive sex education methodology. We will work with partners to create an educational campaign to raise awareness of sexual violence. As an NGO, Konsent has been a key driver of public debate on sexual violence. Through our involvement in international and national initiatives, we will strive to redefine the current law on rape and push for education on gender-based violence in MŠMT''s Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality 2025-2028. The project reflects our long-term mission to eliminate sexual violence and rape. We''ll inform rape victims about the support available to them through our partners and related institutions (self-help therapy groups, legal aid, etc.).
Summary of project results
The project "When they don''t want it" helped us pursue advocacy efforts to correct the definition of rape in the Czech legislation. At the same time, we were able to offer our primary prevention workshops - sexuality and relationship education - free of charge to primary and secondary schools, which allowed us to reach schools that otherwise could not afford the workshop. A related campaign then helped spread the topics to the general public.
The project promoter organized 173 sexual violence prevention workshops at primary and secondary schools. 18 of these took place in underpriviledged areas. Promoter had an impact analysis made and measured the long-term significance of our workshops.
The Promoter (together with Amnesty International) achieved a redefinition of rape in CZ legislation. The new definition is based on any verbal or non-verbal expression of disagreement, compared to the original one, which considered only active physical defense as disagreement. The Promoter organized 3 expert debates on the topic of redefinition, met with 66 legislators and published a compendium of foreign good practice. The draft law, the wording of which we helped prepare, was unanimously approved by the Czech House of Commons.
The promoter commissioned a public opinion poll about redefinition and a qualitative analysis of the jurisdiction and sexual violence.
The accompanying campaign, esp. on socials, significantly strengthened our total reach, which was 694,124 people.
The project improved the rights of victims of sexual violence. Approx. 12,000 rapes take place in the Czechia each year. According to the old definition, up to 70% of cases did not constitute the criminal offense of rape. This will now change thanks to the redefinition.
For 3,621 students who went through our workshop, communication skills, openness, informedness, respectful attitude and critical thinking about topics related to sex and intimacy have demonstrably increased by up to 10%.