Can you think of a better medium to convey important violence prevention messages than stick figures?
I created some violence prevention bulletin board material for our residence halls and needed something visual. We have the MAC social media campaign posters, but I needed a way to create different scenarios showing people challenging inappropriate language, attitudes and behaviors. I really enjoy the look of the MAC posters, but they only cover three situations. Hopefully, this will be a way to get people to stop and read the material.
I’ll post the conversation with the street harasser tomorrow. I’ve also created scenarios addressing the usage of the words fag, whore and rape; how to support a survivor; challenging victim blaming, violent words for sex, and how to respond to an unfunny or offensive joke. If you have any ideas for scenarios or feedback, leave a comment below!
Update: I updated the layout based on some feedback and uploaded the new image above. I also drew my own stick figures. Hopefully, it looks more original than before! Click on the image to enlarge it.
July 27th, 2010 at 9:42 am
[...] Conversing with the street harasser July 27, 2010 mensantiviolencecouncil Leave a comment Go to comments Here is part two of yesterday’s comic post. [...]
July 29th, 2010 at 10:40 am
I like the idea. A little advice though: I’d flip the whole panel – so the people on the right are standing on the left, the cat-caller is on the right. This is because your text-flow is confusing. We read left-to-right so when I looked at the cartoon I began by reading a few of the cat-calls, then skipping to the middle-speech bubble… before realizing there was one way up at the right and starting again.
Secondly, your stick people are obviously ‘inspired’ by XKCD. That’s admirable, but a lot of people will take that negatively. I’d pick another inspiration.
July 29th, 2010 at 10:47 am
Thanks for the feedback. I may play around with the placement of characters and the text more if I continue to do these. You are right about the XKCD inspiration. I grabbed the first/best stick figures I could find posed in the positions I wanted. If I find the time to actually draw a couple myself, it may get changed for futures ones. I’m not expecting the figures to elicit intense reactions. However, if anyone knows of any accessible stick figures for future scenarios, I would be grateful and happy to look at them. If anyone wants to draw them for me, that’s great too! Thanks!
July 30th, 2010 at 8:53 am
Yeah, I love XKCD but I agree if this is too similar it will just confuse or irritate people rather than getting the intended message across. I honestly thought it WAS an XKCD until I looked at it closely.
I’d say it would be better to make your own stick figures… or better yet, why not actually open this up to artists out there and have *them* submit something. Heck, maybe Randall Munroe would toss one in and you’d get the real deal
PS. http://www.xkcd.com/513/
July 30th, 2010 at 11:43 am
I took your advice and drew my own. I will not give up the Humor Sans font though! If anyone wants to contribute any artwork to the site, stick figure or otherwise, feel free to send them my way!
August 13th, 2010 at 7:34 am
[...] that we just discovered on the Stop Street Harassment Blog. The comics were created by the Men’s Anti-Violence Council out of the University of Iowa. These comics will be placed on the bulletin boards of Residence [...]
August 13th, 2010 at 8:11 am
[...] that we just discovered on the Stop Street Harassment Blog. The comics were created by the Men’s Anti-Violence Council out of the University of Iowa. These comics will be placed on the bulletin boards of Residence [...]
August 17th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Yes I would agree with emma to change the panel around, the text was hard to read
August 17th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
i already changed the panel based on emma’s feedback. if i changed it now, it would be back to the way it was originally! what is hard to read about the text? if you click to enlarge the picture it is over 25 pt. font. let me know what you think would make it easier to read/understand. thanks for the comments!
February 1st, 2011 at 4:27 pm
[...] are 3 great anti-street harassment comics. I’m still mulling over the best ways to get more CMU/Oakland area women to report [...]