What works for preventing sexual violence? White Ribbon’s New Report

Last summer, I was interviewed by White Ribbon for their latest report on ‘The Case for Investing in Primary Prevention: Ending Men’s Violence Against Women’ – essentially, why the Government’s VAWG strategy is never going to be effective without proactive investment into high quality work to prevent violence.

I spoke about our work at Our Streets Now reaching young people in places of education and sports, how we ensure that we engage boys effectively, how we challenge stigma and shame that survivors face, and the challenges of making effective change within a school environment.

It is really encouraging to see so many of the principles we advocate for laid out in the report, as well as a shout out to our work with the Welsh Government. Here are some highlights:

Backing a ‘Gender Transformative Approach’

A gender transformative approach is one which tackles the root causes of sexual violence and namely, our ideas about masculinity. There’s a strong evidence base pointing to the fact that individuals with traditional views on gender are more likely to perpetrate sexual violence. Evidence on intimate image abuse revealed that boys are celebrated for sharing girls’ images and that this reinforces their status as a ‘real man’. Gender transformative approaches invite young people to think critically about gender stereotypes and expectations.

Advice for Workspaces

The report advised that ‘to create lasting change, workplaces must look beyond compliance to drive proactive prevention efforts.’ Turns out the same root causes or gender transformative approach that is needed in schools, is needed with adults too. So often when we deliver training in a corporate setting, attendees are expecting slides on how to write the perfect sexual harassment policy, or how to follow a disciplinary procedure correctly. But, none of that is useful until colleagues understand the deep rooted reasons why most people never report harassment in the first place.

The Evidence Base is Patchy

Unsurprisingly, very little funding has been put in to evaluating prevention programmes to find out what actually works in the UK. The studies that exist are rarely intersectional, or take into account factors such as racism. However, the work the Welsh Government has done to fund Our Streets Now to run pilot prevention programmes in schools did get a shoutout, hopefully the UK Government follows suit. 

“In 2025, The Welsh Government funded the Our Streets Now year-long pilot in five secondary schools to assess the impact of sustained education from an external provider on attitudes within a year group. The project has had promising results, with 79% of participants feeling able to report sexual harassment compared with 53% at the beginning of the sessions. This partnership is an excellent example of how governments can support civil society to deliver strong interventions that improve understandings of VAWG and awareness of available support”

 Read more about our work preventing sexual harassment in schools here