Man Up !

Men stepping up to stop sexual violence against women and children.

Media Release 5 November 2013

“Roast Busters” needs wider conversation

That a group of young men could “celebrate” their sexual exploitation of young women shows how far we have to go before we have a society in which women are respected, say leaders of Man Up!, a programme encouraging men to speak out against sexual violence of women and girls (see http://bit.ly/LFPOCh).

The self-styled “Roast Busters” targeted young women who were drunk for group sex and then posted details on a Facebook page. The group’s victims are understood to be as young as 13 years old. The group’s male members are believed to be aged 17 and 18 years old.

“Let’s be really clear about this”, said Neville Robertson, a member of Man Up! “Sex with a person under 16 is a crime, as is sex with someone who is too intoxicated to give their consent.”

“And in naming themselves ‘Roast Busters’, the young men are clearly communicating their desire to reduce women to pieces of meat.”

While the behaviour of these young men has drawn wide condemnation, Man Up! believes it is too easy to dismiss it as the extreme behaviour of an aberrant few.

“These young men are not growing up in a vacuum”, says Robertson. “They got the idea that this was okay from somewhere.”

“In fact, Man Up! believes that ‘Roast Busters’ are the logical outcome of widely held misogynist attitudes reflected in the ready availability of pornography, the sexual objectification of women and the everyday sexism which surrounds us on a daily basis.”

Man Up! is calling for the exposure of Roast Busters to be the opportunity for a serious conversation about these issues.

“Outrage about this behaviour is understandable and justified”, says Robertson. “But we also need to direct our outrage against the social conditions which helped to create it.”

Note: Man Up! is a programme of Stop Demand Foundation, which calls for action to stop sexual violence, sexual exploitation and sexual denigration of women and children.

ENDS

© Scoop Media