We Are Men: Changing how young men think

Published: Monday, July 04, 2011

Will talking about rape through songs and a Jackass-style video change how young men think? Joan Smith looks at a campaign aiming to find out

A young man tries to vault a parking meter and falls flat on his face. A streaker races towards a sports pitch and collides (painfully, one assumes) with a post. A cyclist shows off, lifting his front wheels in the air and careers into a ditch. The soundtrack fills with raucous male laughter, followed by good-natured catcalls when a young woman walks past a group of young men in a skate park. "I tell you what - she could do with a good raping," one of them remarks casually. Everyone falls silent. The man who's just made the crack about rape protests: "What, man? I'm joking."

Words appear on the screen, making the startling claim that every nine minutes a woman is raped in the UK.

"That's not who I am," says a male voice. "We are man. Are you?"

Click here to read the full Independent article