Sexual Abuse Prevention Network (SAPN) is a New Zealand

non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

that works in primary prevention of

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

. The organisation focuses its prevention efforts on education and is also involved in awareness raising activities. The organisation is governed by

Wellington Rape Crisis Wellington Rape Crisis is a support centre for survivors of rape and sexual abuse, their families and friends. It was founded in 1977 as part of a wave of foundations across New Zealand in the early to mid 1970s. Their work includes advocacy, educa ...

, Wellington Sexual Abuse HELP Foundation and WellStop.

History

The Sexual Abuse Prevention Network began as informal meetings between

, Wellington Sexual Abuse HELP Foundation and WellStop in the early 2000s. The collaboration was formalised as Wellington Sexual Abuse Network in 2011 and in 2013 the Network relaunched with the name, Sexual Abuse Prevention Network. in 2019 It Relaunched as "RespectEd Aotearoa"

Projects

Sexual Abuse Prevention Network is part of the Who are You? Steering Committee that manages the use and distribution of the Who are You? film and toolkit. The organisation runs a program for people working in the hospitality sector, including bar staff and security staff, to train them to identify situations that may lead to sexual violence and how to intervene. The tools to do so have been drawn from the social psychology research into the phenomenon of the

Bystander effect The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a social psychological theory that states that individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when there are other people present. First proposed in 1964, much research, mostly in the lab, has f ...

. In 2015, Sexual Abuse Prevention Network presented on this topic at the NGO side events at the 59th

UN Commission on the Status of Women The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW or UNCSW) is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the main United Nations System, UN organs within the United Nations. CSW has been described as the U ...

Advocacy

Sexual Abuse Prevention Network regularly speaks out on a range of issues relating to sexual abuse and

rape culture Rape culture is a setting, studied by several sociological theories, in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality. Behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, slut-s ...

, particularly on emerging issues of technology-facilated sexual violence. This has included the Roast Busters Scandal, the sharing of nude images without consent and dating apps such as

Tinder (app) Tinder is an online dating application, online dating and geosocial networking application. In Tinder, users "Pointing device gesture#Touchpad and touchscreen gestures, swipe right" to like or "swipe left" to dislike other users' profiles, which ...

and

Grindr Grindr () is a location-based social networking and online dating application targeted towards members of the gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community. It was one of the first geosocial apps for gay men when it launched in March 2009 an ...

References

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External links

Official Website
Violence against women in Oceania Human rights organisations based in New Zealand

History

Projects

Advocacy

See also

References

External links