British Military’s anti-rape campaign uses shocking sex photos

The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) is launching a poster campaign containing scandalous photos portraying men and women that have been raped by fellow military personnel.

One poster features a woman in a short red dress with an alcoholic beverage in her hand and a group of three men lurking in the background, with the caption “…she was asking for it.”  According to a report in The Independent, the warning to the military is that it is never acceptable to have sex with someone with consent.

The message of “The Consent Campaign” is clear, as the slogan on each photograph reads, “Don’t kid yourself! Without consent its rape.”

The campaign comes in response to a report released by the MoD, which states that some service members may not be fully grasping the concept of consent.

According to the report, “Although the policy within the Army is clear on what behaviors are acceptable, this is clearly not resonating with some service personnel. There is a possibility that some individuals simply do not understand that they are doing something wrong.”

Pink News argues that the posters go beyond the previous “no means no” concept of rape. The posters aim to raise the bar for sexual partners to obtain affirmative consent rather than the previous standard, which established consent if neither party said “no.”

On one poster, featuring a male and female, the female is lying in bed, while the male is standing. One the bottom half of the male is showing and he appears to be zipping up his military-print cargo pants after a sexual act. The caption reads “Yeah, she just lay there…but I had fun.”

Another poster is of a male with his pants to his knees in a corner appearing to be distraught. There is a close-up of the other male smirking and thinking “He’s gay, he would have been gagging for it.”

Katie Russell, spokeswoman for Rape Crisis England and Wales believes the images to be “bold, hard-hitting and, most importantly, really clear about consent.”

According to MoD reports, there have been over 400 rape or sexual cases reported in the past five years, not including those that have been investigated by civilian military forces. The MoD hopes that the campaign will reduce sexual offense in the armed forces with this updated campaign message.