Plan International demonstrates what it’s really like to walk like a woman via Cummins&Partners
Cummins&Partners and Risk Sound have launched a new campaign for Plan International to demonstrate what it really feels like to ‘walk like a woman’.
In a 2018 study* of 38 countries, including those with much higher homicide rates, Australia had the largest gap between how men and women feel about their safety when walking alone at night, with many women reporting they felt under threat.
Plan International Australia ambassador and host of Sexism And The City podcast Jan Fran said ‘Walk Like A Woman’ was breaking new ground in allowing men to step into the shoes of a young woman.
Says Fran: “Most men want to help girls and women feel safer, yet they have never thought about how their presence affects girls and women walking alone at night – through no fault of their own, men simply don’t know how it feels to be a woman.
“This immersive soundscape is really innovative, allowing men to not only see how it feels to be a young woman walking alone, and understand her fears, but also how men can change their behaviour to make girls and women feel safer.”
To tackle the issue, Cummins&Partners and Risk Sound have created ‘Walk Like a Woman’, an immersive 3D soundscape recorded with a series of omni-directional microphones that lets men experience just what it’s like to walk alone as a young woman. The track launches today as part of a playlist on Spotify and is supported by outdoor, catch-up TV, social and digital.
Says Michelle Canning, copywriter, Cummins&Partners: “Women have been told for decades to modify their behaviour to stay safe, but now it’s time for men to do their bit to help women feel safer too. This incredibly realistic audio track not only gives them first-hand experience, but is also a way to help rectify the problem, with simple behavioural change suggestions sourced from Plan International’s group of female youth activists.”
Says Liam Annert, sound engineer, Risk Sound: “When I was told of this idea, I knew recording the soundscape using binaural recording techniques would yield great results. I wanted the listener to feel completely surrounded by the sounds to get a sense of what it’s really like for a woman in that environment.”
Plan International Australia CEO Susanne Legena said Walk Like A Woman would speak to the growing movement of men who want to help young women feel safe, and be allies for gender equality.
Says Legena: “The tragic death of Aiia Maasarwe in Melbourne brought the issue of safety for young women to the forefront.
“We know from our Unsafe In The City research on street harassment that many young women are scared walking around their cities – some women in Sydney told us they avoid certain places, or stopped studying or working because they felt unsafe.
“Making our cities safer and more equal is critical to improving access for everyone to education, work and their communities, particularly girls and young women.”
Head to plan.org.au/walklikeawoman to find out how you can play a part in making women feel safer on our streets.
Client: Plan International Australia
Agency: Cummins&Partners
Sound House: Risk Sound
Sound Designer: Liam Annert
Creative Director: Sarah McGregor
Senior Copywriter: Liam Jenkins
Copywriter: Michelle Canning
Art Director: Ben Horewood
Designers: Ellena Mills, Sarah Skotnicki and Amber Hunter
Senior Integration Manager: Kara Brumfit
Integration Manager: Bec Gehrig
Connections Planning Manager: Will Millar
Digital Designer and Developer: Chris Staring
30 Comments
Cannes Deadline: March.
D&AD: Tomorrow.
The blog is like an Australian alarm clock for award deadlines.
And the causes are forgotten the day after.
It’d be sickening if it weren’t true.
In winter its pitch black when I get off at my unlit Sydney train station stop and walk the remaining 15mins home. The fear is always there. You turn your music off. And you stay alert. If a man is walking behind me I’ll often walk the long way around to the main road. Not sure this campaign solves much, but its good to start a conversation.
Seeing as 63% of homicide victims are male, if the agency actually gave a crap about gender equality then this campaign would be focused on violence against men.
http://theconversation.com/men-are-killed-at-a-greater-rate-than-women-in-australia-what-can-we-do-to-reduce-their-risk-78251
Good intentions. Horrible idea(s).
You literally want a man on a jog to cross the road to avoid passing a woman? Or a man should ‘check’ their phone as they near a woman to not risk the possibility of eye contact?
There is no doubt that there is a serious problem with the safety of woman, and any possibility of men taking the time to put them selves in the shoes of women is a good thing. I just think you’re demonising men, not with the films but your actual suggestions (the website).
PS: hopefully that jogger doesn’t have to be an ‘active bystander’ he’s on the other side of the street, avoiding eye contact.
What percentage of women are killed by women?
Simple insight, tight execution, great education, a better world.
Why do you all have to overthink everything and rip it apart?
“Most men want to help girls and women feel safer, yet they have never thought about how their presence affects girls and women walking alone at night – through no fault of their own, men simply don’t know how it feels to be a woman.”
It does exactly that. I’ll definitely be thinking about this next time I’m in that situation.
Good job to those who started from a piece of paper and ended up with the campaign.
I think Jayzon, and his ilk, have completely missed the point here.
More men are murdered than women and yet, women still feel more under threat.
All this is asking is for you to behave in an empathetic manner and be aware of how others are feeling.
Sheesh, it’s like Gillette all over again
There are some cynics here.
The radio is powerful.
The idea is prescient.
The issue is real.
Well done to all concerned
Lovely idea but the execution doesn’t convey just how petrifying the reality can be. Even with some lovely sound design.
There are some cynics here.
The radio is powerful.
The idea is prescient.
The issue is real.
Well done to all concerned
And who’s killing those men, Jayzon?
Other
Men.
You want a campaign to show men what it feels like to walk as a man at night? Genius.
Assuming you were going to make a VR experience where you literally got to walk like a woman and then you ran out of money?
I’m with Jayzon. This is more libtard gender equality bs. The left has lost its way. So sick of the agenda to vilify (attack) men. Men are killed at twice the rate of women. Nothing is without risk. You wanna feel safe, lock yourself in the damn house. Don’t try and tell me how you feel is my problem. I’ve never attacked anyone. “some women in Sydney told us they avoid certain places, or stopped studying or working because they felt unsafe” – this is as bad as “unnamed sources say”. Fake fucking news. You keep up with this kinda crap, making men feel shitty at every opportunity – that’s what will lead to men lashing out. This is a junk campaign based on lazy thinking and it will backfire.
So some women don’t feel safe walking at night. Is it that strange to think perhaps men may like something to help them understand why?
And If you don’t need this and already understand why. Great!
Then there’s a few ways they say men can help out, like give them space and don’t cat call. This is obvious and something you already knew? Even better.
From some of these reactions you’d think they were telling men to walk with their keys out, hold their phone at all times or double check what they’re wearing. Now that sounds ridiculous.
When you rattle the fedoras of the men’s rights advocates enough for them to wipe the cheeto dust off their keyboards in their parent’s basement to abuse you…you know you’re doing something right.
Nice work. Be proud.
@Norm
The thing is Norm, if that’s actually your name, but I doubt it. I imagine it’s just some sort of poison pen nom de plume that subtly suggests your views echo the majority. Well, they don’t. For anyone over 35, Norm is the name of an obese cartoon character in the ‘Life. Be in it’ campaign from the eighties. Basically the takeout was Norm needed to get out more. Sounds like you do too.
The biggest thing that jumped out from the foamy spittle that was your comment, mashed together without line breaks as if it was a stream of consciousness guided by the light of right, or the Right, was the line ‘Don’t try and tell me how you feel is my problem.’
In other words, you don’t care about anyone but yourself. But maybe you have a sister, Norm. Or a mum, possibly. Maybe you have female friends, unlikely as that is. Or even a female partner. Or colleagues. Or any women, or girls in your life. Who, probably to a person, have experienced this sort of fear. But you don’t care about that, because you don’t care about them. It’s not your fucking problem.
Think about this though. Men have most of the power in society. Can’t argue with that. So if you’re so threatened by a few people thinking that women feeling unsafe at night is a problem, including women you love and respect; if you’re actually threatened by that, how tough are you really? Not very tough.
Aren’t you supposed to be tough, Norm? No-one’s vilifying men. They’re just attacking the aspects of masculinity that come at the expense of other people. Often at the expense of women. And sometimes at the expense of men. Masculinity is in the dock here, not you. And masculinity is man enough to take it.
So grow a pair, and take it like a man.
I have a male friend that has been followed home, jumped and robbed.
The sad fact is there are some people in this world who aren’t well and are happy to hurt others for their own gain.
That being said my friend mentioned above also often walks home alone at night without a care in the world. He has stated clearly that prior to his attack he hadn’t really considered he should be unsafe. He hadn’t thought about turning down the black metal he had blasting in his earphones, nor did he consider taking the main road and not the shortcut through the park because he didn’t consider himself vulnerable.
The campaign is about raising awareness in men around the FACT that every single woman who does travel alone at night do feel vulnerable. It’s about placing men in women’s shoes and building compassion and empathy.
Want to start a campaign about the death rate of men? GREAT! I encourage you too or perhaps support the campaigns that already exist surrounding this topic.
But why not celebrate the people who worked on this campaign, put in many hours to raise awareness on an equally valid topic.
Boost other people up, don’t tear them down.
Hey Broflakes, you are not forgotten.
You have multiple one-punch campaigns. And government legislation in the form of mandatory sentencing and lock-out laws so you’re protected when you go out and get legless. You’ll be ok – just stop killing each other.
‘Men have the most power in society’.
Yes they do and they always will, you simpering moran. (look it up)
You wanna try and change basic physiology?
Put in a unisex toilet, fight for transsexuals to compete in women’s sports, run campaigns like this POS, see how much virtue you can signal and how you’re making the world so much better.
Let’s all pretend women are as physically strong as men and should never feel intimidated by someone born larger and stronger than them.
Because it’s all about how you feel, right?
Doesn’t matter that 99% of men aren’t ever going to attack anyone.
If a woman feels threatened, there must be something wrong with men… with society… right?
Find a way to abrogate the physiological differences between men and women and create your perfect gender-less world so that no-one ever feels put-out.
Good luck with that.
@@Copy Desk
Ok, just looking up ‘moran’ as instructed. Talk amongst yourselves.
Got it. Some sort of furniture store. Wow, ouch. You zinged me.
You really went off on a tangent there tiger. And so did your argument. I think the uni kids would call that a straw man argument, which is basically shifting the argument to something only peripherally related to the topic and then arguing about that. In this case physiology. Cool.
Take my hand and let’s have a wander through your points. Won’t take long.
No-one’s saying men and women are the same. No-one’s advocating for a genderless society. That sounds boring. What they are suggesting is that all genders deserve the same level of power in society, and all genders deserve equal respect and opportunity. Mind blowing, right?
I’m not sure how you got to ‘genderless world’ that from what I wrote, but I guess we’ll never truly understand the complexity of the human mind, especially yours.
Men and women are not the same physiologically. Sure, that’s not up for debate. Have a gold star.
Should all genders compete at the same sports? Doesn’t seem fair. Personally I don’t advocate for trans women to compete in women’s events, but I can see how you’d think I would based on me being a simpering moran. But again, that’s way off-topic.
You say 99% of men aren’t ever going to attack anyone.
But – and this is gonna knock your socks off, sweetheart – it’s not actually about what most men would do. Stay with me here because we’re gonna get logical.
Men are responsible for most violence in society (just ask jail), including almost all violence against women. Women know that, and it’s scary.
Because of this, all men – like 100% of men – pose a potential threat to women late at night.
Even if you’d die before committing an act of violence towards a woman, women on the street don’t know that. They perceive you as a threat. That’s just life. You can’t simply say to women they shouldn’t feel scared. They do, and that’s it.
Knowing that you present a threat, what can you do to make yourself seem like less of threat? That’s what this whole thing is about.
It’s not hard to give a woman space to feel safe at night. So be a mensch and do it. (look it up)
I think I love you.
@Dear Copy Desk
🙃
The truth is, a random man on the streets at night is many thousand times more likely to come to your aid if you are in trouble, than to randomly attack you.
It’s a sad indictment of the narrative that you are pushing that you feel the need to tar the thousand good men with the actions of the one bad guy.
Yes – bad men exist. Bad women exist too. It always has been and always will be.
I’m of the opinion that this paranoia against men as a group (I point to your statement about men being responsible for violence), is in fact counter productive. Because the good men, when asked to stay distant, are firstly less able to help and if this labelling of men as a group being inherently bad and dangerous continues – I fear they will be less inclined to help in the future as well.
@@copy desk
I’m not pushing a narrative, and I actually agree with you. Most men are more than likely to help. Saying men are responsible for most violence in society is completely different from saying most men are violent. Most men aren’t, and the numbers bear that out.
But still, late at night, alone on the street, a man can feel like a potential threat. Any man. Even the good guys.
This isn’t actually my opinion; it’s a fact; women get scared walking at night. Reading your last comment, it’s almost like you’re asking women to manage that fear by thinking about the low statistical probability of being attacked. But it’s hard to think your way out of feeling scared. Are you suggesting they should know better than to feel scared?
This isn’t a huge ask, getting decent guys (because they’re the only ones that will pay attention to this sort of message) to realise that shit, they can come across as a threat when they’re silhouetted against a streetlight at 3am, and then act accordingly. They’re not the bad guys, but they can remove all doubt by just crossing the road. You can still run to someone’s aid from across the road.
And so is @copy desk
Yes Copy Desk – honestly the best solution to remove that fear is by thinking about the low statistical probability of getting attacked.
When I get in a car I don’t get obsessed by the possibility of having an accident. When taking off on a bushwalk I’m not constantly on tenterhooks thinking about snakes either. Nor when I go for a swim in the surf do I panic about the possible presence of sharks.
Danger exists in this world, and obsessing about it just stops you enjoying life. Even worse – painting dramatic pictures in your head about random people standing beneath a streetlight simply creates a false picture about what living in this remarkably safe country is like.
And finally – I do have to call you out about your claim that you’re not pushing a narrative. A simple scroll through your comments shows a consistent insistence (Whoa! Rap lyric) that men need to change their behaviour.
Untrue. Good men do not need to change their behaviour. And neither do they have control over the behaviour of the bad men who, on very rare occasions, make the streets unsafe. Campaigns such as this are no better than virtue signalling and a chance for people like yourself to wag a self-righteous finger.
@@CopyDesk
So you’re just going to handball this one? Tell women their fear is unfounded and irrational then let them figure it out for themselves? Oh well. Maybe next time you find yourself walking lockstep a few paces behind a woman on her way home from the pub, you can relax in the knowledge that any intimidation she feels is in her head. Because you’re one of the good ones.
You don’t get it Copy Desk. You seem determined to wallow in victimhood, but you are a grown woman. You aren’t a victim. Nor is there a conspiracy among men to try and make you feel scared and unsafe.
If you are fearful about something – you do something to either minimise your fear or overcome your fear. That’s what we teach children. Insisting that other people need to change their behaviour just because you can’t cope with an extremely low risk activity (walking down the street) in one of the safest countries in the world, is either paranoid or extremely selfish, to be frank.
I remember being scared as a child of dogs, because one jumped at me at one time. Now – is it more productive to ask everyone to cross the road whenever they are walking a dog and approaching a child? Or is it better for the child to learn to accept their fear, undertake steps to overcome it, and get on with life.
Take matters into your own hands, just like everyone else does. If you shiver at the idea of walking down a street at night that’s fine. Take a taxi instead. Not a big deal. And everyone else who doesn’t have that irrational fear can get on with their lives normally just like those people innocently walking their dogs with children around.
Better than raising a drama about it, when there really isn’t a drama to be had.
@@CopyDesk
I was mauled by a St Bernard when I was ten. I expect people to keep their dog on a tight fucken leash when they’re around kids, people, whoever. This is not about getting people to modify their behaviour. It’s about courtesy and respect, and signalling to the other party that you acknowledge their desire to not engage, whether they’re scared of dogs, or you, or not.
And dude, I’m a dude. I used to advocate strongly for personal responsibility. That has started to change over the years.
The day after Aiia Maasarwe was murdered last month, I was sitting at a pub with the girls from work and they were asking each other ‘what do we do?’. Not in a societal sense, but in a very practical sense. How could they ensure their own safety at night? I realised their reality was very different from mine. Completely different.
They went to the vigil that night. I didn’t. Not my problem. It was more like a female solidarity thing, right? But then I felt embarrassed for thinking that. Why should it only be their problem? Because they were the ones at threat of harm? What a bullshit position. So I made the problem mine as well. Why not? We’re all humans, let’s share the burden of humanity and be kinder people, rather than walking around wearing a fucking ‘not my problem’ hat.
Drop the agro, Copy Desk.
I get it – you are too far down the rabbit hole of your own beliefs to pop your head above the parapet and admit that another opinion has merit. Your response is to lash out in anger. If that’s what you need to do to score ‘argument points’, fine. Bit juvenile, but whatever.
Look. Danger exists. I’ve never denied that. Aiia and that other girl who was a comedian – both incredibly tragic and no-one wants that to happen. But the idea that because a tragedy happened (incredibly rarely) that it suddenly becomes everyone’s problem because, like, feelings is firstly a bit of a hysterical over-reach and secondly probably counter-productive. It whips up fear and creates an unrealistic picture of the inherent ‘danger’ of the average man on the street.
Perhaps you might find this article useful:
https://theconversation.com/how-safe-is-australia-the-numbers-show-public-attacks-are-rare-and-on-the-decline-110276
We are an incredibly safe country. And tragedies happen to all sorts of people in all walks of life in all kinds of different locations and for all kinds of different reasons. Programs such as this and attitudes such as yours promote an irrational fear.