AWARE, a women’s rights group in Singapore, has put up a follow-up statement on Sunday, Nov. 17 to reiterate and expand on its position about the new crime prevention posters on outrage of modesty.

The organisation wrote that the crime prevention posters only say that the act of outrage of modesty is "expensive", but do not say it is wrong.

What happened chronologically

AWARE had originally brought attention to the campaign on Nov. 14 in a brief comment, saying that it was concerned about the visual motif of the price tag on the molester’s hand, as well as the tagline, which reads: “2 years' imprisonment. It is not worth it.”

The group wrote: "Why are we putting a price on sexual violence at all, like it's a commodity to purchase and consume? Would one year's imprisonment be "worth it"? Or six months?"

On Saturday, the police issued a statement in response to AWARE, saying that the group had misunderstood the purpose of the campaign.

On Sunday's post, AWARE reiterated: “Putting a price on molest likens the victim to an object on a store shelf that can be purchased if one is willing to pay the price.”

In its Sunday post, AWARE clarified that it was spelling out its position more fully in this second statement, which it didn't in the first.

And the original post was not targeted at the Singapore Police Force.

AWARE's intentions were to contribute constructively to the ongoing public conversation about sexual violence in Singapore.

Language of posters

In the latest post, AWARE wrote that language, both visual and verbal, plays a huge part in shaping how culture views sexual violence, even in very subtle ways.

Acknowledging that the topic is a complex and emotive with nuances that cannot be presented in a single poster, AWARE wants to discuss the negative impact that public education materials may have on women and sexual assault survivors, even when these implications are unintended.

Putting a price on molest, AWARE wrote, likens the victim to an object on a store shelf that can be purchased if one is willing to pay the price.

AWARE said: "The poster does not say that this act is wrong, only that it is expensive."

This analogy has the effect of erasing the experience of the victim and any viewer’s empathy for the victim.

AWARE came to this position as it takes a survivor-centric approach and would like to see all ads, public-service or otherwise, informed by that belief.

AWARE said survivors have, in fact, written to it to share their discomfort with the posters’ messaging.

AWARE also acknowledged that it understands that these posters are part of a series that also target theft of property and rioting, and the price tag approach may work for those crimes.

AWARE open to feedback

AWARE wrote that it has worked with the police as well as law and home affairs ministries in the last few years to enhance sexual assault laws and reduce the trauma faced by sexual assault survivors, and it has seen progress made.

It called the new posters "a significant improvement from some of the older 'outrage of modesty' posters", which had taglines such as, "Don't get rubbed the wrong way".

Those appeared to place responsibility of preventing sexual harassment on the potential victim, instead of on the perpetrator, AWARE wrote.

AWARE said it is providing its take publicly as these posters are out in the open and the organisation is open to feedback.