If you saw a woman pushing and shouting at a man in the street, would you step in?
If we see a woman getting pushed about on the street, we intervene, right? How about if the woman’s doing the pushing, and a man is the victim?
In the video below by media agency Dare and shot near Hyde Park in London, Irish actress Crissy O’Donovan is first shouted at and pushed by her ‘boyfriend’ Liviu Romanescu (also acting).
The results are predictable, and what any of us hopes we would do - members of the public are appalled, and step in, threatening to call the police and telling Crissy: “You don’t have to put up with that”.
Then, Crissy and Liviu switch roles. Crissy swears at him, shoves his face and pushes him with some force against a railing, before repeatedly hitting him of the arm and telling him he is "pathetic".
The public's reaction is eyes down and gaze averted, except for those who laugh.
“We were sitting in the office talking about the Jay Z and Solange video, and how the media reacted by blaming Jay Z,” Andrew Bevan, who has a creative role with Dare, told breakingnews.ie.
“The media wondered what he said to provoke her reaction. We thought that was really strange.
“It got us talking about domestic violence against men, and we decided we wanted to do something to highlight the issue. So, we looked for a charity to work with.”
That’s when Dare contacted The Mankind Initiative, a charity that provides help and support for male victims of domestic abuse and domestic violence.
“We’re really pleased that this has started a debate around the fact that violence is violence,” said Andrew, who added the crew hoped to do more work to raise awareness of the issue.
** In the clips below from The Mankind Initiative’s YouTube channel, James and Derek speak about their experiences of domestic abuse.
“The first time I went into a police station to ask for help, she’d hit me over the back of the head with a marble chopping board.”
“I used to get kneed in the groin sometimes, and she’d spit in my face.”
@hiBevan I am so overwhelmed by the response you got. Congratulations. X
— Crissy By The Sea (@CrissyOD) May 25, 2014
Waking up to find out that 2 million people have viewed me overnight is unsettling.
— Andrew Bevan (@hiBevan) May 26, 2014
Crissy, who hails from Ringsend in Dublin, is a recent graduate of the Oxford School of Drama. She has worked in theatre in Dublin, Wales, Spain and New York. She also earned a diploma in theatre and performance from the Inchicore College of Further Education.
Crissy describes herself as a “Reactor/Actor/Improviser”. She needed all those skills for this shoot.
#ViolenceIsViolence
HT: Metro UK
