Get Savi.
An introduction
Being a bystander
Have you been a ‘passive bystander’?
Most likely, even without thinking about it
e.g. walked past an accident, heard an
alarm go off?
 Why don’t we intervene?

‘The Bystander Effect’
“Someone else will do something about it”
 “It’s not my problem”
 Safety (paramount)
 Social/peer pressure (esp. amongst men)
 What do we do or say? Where do we go to
ask?
…similar to gender based violence

What is gender based violence?

Gender Based Violence is used by the
GET SAVI reference group as an
umbrella term to describe acts,
behaviour and attitudes that undermine,
threaten or hurt others due to their (real
or perceived) gender or sexual
orientation
Statistics
81% of LGBT people experience verbal
abuse
 1 in 5 women will experience gender
based violence
 1 in 4 women students has been
subjected to an unwanted sexual
experience while at university or college

Gender Based Violence Bystander
Programmes

Traditionally focus is on victims or
perpetrators

Bystander programmes an innovative
approach to challenging attitudes

All bystanders potential allies in preventing
gender based violence
Gender Based Violence Bystander
Programmes

Bystander does not commit or condone
violence

…however inaction may contribute to the
violence
‘Get Savi’

Successful programmes in American Universities
(Jackson Katz, Kentucky Green Dot)

12 hour course, online resources and a short
taster session developed by LGBT Youth, White
Ribbon Scotland, Rape Crisis Scotland, Scottish
Women’s Aid and Zero Tolerance

University groups undertook pilot of Bystander
Programme
What causes gender
based violence?
Constellation of influences
The goods we buy
The music we listen
to
And I love your lack of self respect. While you're passed out on the deck.I love
my hands around your neck
Nickleback
Ha-ha, that bitch though I was gonna feed her
Turnt out I feed the fuckin' crew know what I'm sayin'
My wolves gotta eat know what I'm sayin', fuck it
Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All
The jokes we tell:
What's the odd thing out: meat, eggs, wife,
blowjob? Blowjob - because you can beat
your meat, eggs or wife, but you can't beat a
blowjob.
Life with a woman is like a pack of cards - you
need a heart to love one, you need a
diamond to marry one, you need club to beat
her and a spade to bury the bitch
Or…not at all
Symbolic annihilation
When do we see trans people in the
media?
 Or gay people?
 Or women?

Types of GBV
-
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual people
Trans people
Women
Allport’s scale of prejudice
Intervention
Intervention is more than do or don’t




If a friend is unhappy we might ask what’s wrong
If someone has taken their turn out of line we might
stop them
If we see someone struggling with a push chair, we
might ask if they need help
If someone’s being unfair, we might tell them
they’re out of order
We intervene all the time, but we might not
see it as intervention
RECOGNISE
 Acknowledge the situation is making you
uncomfortable
ASSESS
 What is happening?
 Is it safe for those involved?
 Is it safe for you? Emotionally and physically?
RESPOND
 What can you do? Anything? Nothing? Something in
between?
Intervention can mean:

Directly challenging
 Distracting
 Delegating
 Delaying
Direct
distract
intervention
Your safety is
paramount.
Delegate
Delay
•Directly challenge
•Approach someone directly and challenge their
behaviour
•Distract
•Try to distract the person from the situation
•Delegate
•Contact an authority figure
•Delay
•Look for a time when it’s more appropriate to challenge
Scenarios and strategies

A friend of yours has just started
seeing someone new. You meet them
for the first time and notice that they
make quite a lot of jokes about your
friends weight. What could you do?

You’re at a football match with
your family and your team are
losing-badly. When the star
player falls over, you hear a close
relative shouting “Get up you
fairy!”. Their homophobic abuse
gets worse and worse and you’re
feeling pretty upset by all this.
You know this relative is a kind
person normally.

You’re walking home and a young
woman is walking in front of you, you
stop at the traffic lights. A car pulls up
and three men lean out and start
shouting at her. She is clearly upset.
What do you do?

You’re having dinner with your
grandparents and your Grandmother
starts talking about the clothes that
young women wear. She says that “they
look like they’re asking for it” what do
could you say?
What people told us
“it has made me think a lot more on how best
to handle potentially volatile situations and
how to be more safe without having to
compromise on how I socialise”
 “I would definitely recommend the course to
other people as I think it's really important and
significant to discuss the ways in which
negative attitudes and jokes really have a
larger impact on society's values and opinions”
