As part of my illustration course, I've been working on a project to encourage use of different language to describe images of child sexual abuse. 'Child pornography' is a hugely offensive term as it implies that a child has willingly consented to an adult sexual activity - and it wrongly promotes a relationship between the victim, their abusive experience and pornography.
In consulting with the voluntary rape and sexual abuse support sector for their thoughts on promoting awareness about survivor issues, I was struck by the following quote,
'We'll always struggle. It's not sexy or cosy. And those who have not been affected by (rape or sexual abuse) will struggle to engage."
So, I thought it might be interesting to somehow subvert the notion of cosy, and here's what I came up with...
Let's Think Differently poster...
Let's Think Differently animated gif - please click on the image to view as the animation doesn't want to work properly here...
The campaign was intended to be aimed at police and other statutory agencies, but I think that the final solutions have a broader appeal. I'd love to hear any feedback or thoughts you have on the visuals or the overall campaign message, particularly if you've a strong opinion either way.
I'm thrilled to advise that the poster is soon to be used as part of a Christmas campaign for a survivor organisation - more to come on this soon!