Campaign urges women to fight abuse together in Carnival

For the second year in a row, a campaign launched by magazine AzMina, called #CarnavalSemAssédio (“Carnival free of abuse,” in a literal English translation), is on. With the hashtag #UmaMinaAjudaAOutra (“a girl helps another”), the initiaitve warns women to stay on the watch for other women who may be facing harassment. Last year the focus was on men, and the campaign had featured the Practical Guide on the Difference Between Flirting and Abuse.

If women help each other, magazine director Nana Queiroz argued, we'll all be able to party it up safely.

The campaign suggests women, among other things, to offer a cup of water if another girl is seen vomiting at party, to make a fuss if she sees a man trying to kiss another woman by force or holding a woman by her arm, and to call her friends or call a cab is she finds a woman who has lost consciousness and is vulnerable to abuse.

Efforts against abuse

A similar campaign was devised in the state of Minas Gerais. Women who took part in a number of block parties in Belo Horizonte launched an initiative called “Tira a mão: é hora de dar um basta” (“Hands off: It's time to say 'enough'”), which aims to fight harassment during Carnival celebrations.

According to the text used as part of the campaign, a survey conducted last year by ActionAid found that 86% of the Brazilian women have fallen victims to abuse in public in their cities.

“The campaign has a light tone and seeks to show that female revelers are partying to have fun and that the line between flirting and abuse cannot be defined by the way a woman is dressed, her costume, or the way she dances,” the text reads.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira