The campaign: “The right standpoint against violence“

This was the motto used by the bff to conduct a campaign between March 2007 and December 2008. The campaign aimed to make people aware of the issue of violence against women. One major problem is that many women affected by violence remain silent because they are ashamed, or do not know where they can get support. The campaign set out to help end this silence.

On March 7th, 2007, the campaign kicked off in Berlin with a press conference and a reception, at which politicians and prominent figures were present, among them the former Minister of Justice, Brigitte Zypries, and celebrity chef Sarah Wiener. On this occasion, many of them gave their standpoints. The campaign then moved on through many federal states. At the same time, member centres of the bff and many other activists carried out several actions within the framework of the campaign.

Being part of the campaign

Many standpoints against violence cropped up during the campaign. All those interested had the possibility to express their attitude towards the issue of violence against women and show it by publishing a sentence or a slogan against violence as their standpoint. The standpoints were uploaded to the picture gallery on the bff homepage together with a photo of the people’s legs and/or feet.

The patroness of the campaign was the then Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Ursula von der Leyen. Further supporters included, amongst others, TV chef Sarah Wiener, comedian Hella von Sinnen, actress Michaela May, Federal Ministers Zypries and Schavan and the US-Consul General Eric Nelson.

The success of the campaign

The standpoint against violence campaign was a great success.

More than 3,000 photo standpoints against violence on the bff website, about 100 local standpoint actions in 12 federal states, a standpoint brochure, standpoint posters and standpoint postcards bear witness to the impressive result of the campaign.

The main goal of the campaign was to make society aware of the still-taboo issue of violence against women. This was achieved with great success and became apparent in that the general public was made aware of the topic and in public statements made by many politicians and professionals.

The women’s counselling centres of the bff benefitted from the campaign. They carried out many actions at municipal or federal state level – often together with other networks against violence. Their important work thus became better known. This in turn had a positive impact on women affected by violence because they could thus receive important information on support services in their vicinity.

On December 9th, 2008, the closing event of the campaign for the federal state of Lower Saxony took place in Hanover. With more than 850 standpoints, Lower Saxony was the leading federal state in terms of standpoints. To mark the occasion of this event, the then Minister for Social Affairs, Women, Family Affairs and Health of Lower Saxony, Ms Ross-Lutmann, awarded prizes to selected standpoint winners.

The campaign was also taken to the international level and was adopted by the city of Vienna in 2009.

Actions and documentation on the campaign

The campaign has officially been closed by the bff but standpoint actions still take place locally. It is a result we are particularly proud of. The bff standpoint posters and the campaign box, which contains further material for conducting campaigns locally, can be borrowed for standpoint actions – or perhaps you would like to have a poster just for yourself.

You can take a look at the posters here:

The supporters

Many people supported this campaign through their voluntary commitment and sponsorship. Without their support, we would not have been able to conduct the campaign. We would like to express our sincere thanks to all supporters.