Why you should never give a cent to White Ribbon

If a celebrity has assaulted or raped a woman, White Ribbon (or should it be White Wash?) will still consider making him an ambassador, writes Nina Funnell.

Media personality Jessica Rowe has thrown down the gauntlet stating that the AFL are “absolutely gutless” and that Eddie McGuire should donate $50,000 to White Ribbon following his comments about holding journalist Caroline Wilson under water.

As a public survivor of sexual violence, you’d think I’d agree with Rowe. But while I’m all in favour of McGuire donating money to a cause that stops violence against women, I wouldn’t in a million years suggest that he donate it to White Ribbon.

Why? Because I and many survivors I know wouldn’t give a single cent to White Ribbon.

The problem is that each time a celebrity commits or excuses violence against women, we watch the same predictable script unfold. Perhaps a high profile athlete has glassed his girlfriend or a media personality has sexually harassed a woman live on air. Then quicker than you can say “opportunism”, the White Ribbon collection plate will be whipped out.

But the question to ask is this: how much of that “sorry” money is ever passed on to the support services that are assisting the victims in question?

And if White Ribbon is happy to pocket “blood money” by cashing-in on individual acts of violence against women, then shouldn’t they inject a hefty chunk of that money back into the frontline services that are expected to respond to the fallout caused by the initial violence? Services like domestic violence shelters, sexual assault counselling centres, or victim’s legal aid — you know, the pragmatic services that do a little more than host “awareness raising’’ breakfasts and the like.

Having volunteered on various boards of these sorts of organisations I’ve seen how crucial it is to provide that real-world, substantive support.

Yet the reality is that much of White Ribbon’s $3.7 million annual revenue is spent on self-congratulatory feel-good talk-fests and various other empty virtue-signalling initiatives.

And don’t get me wrong, they do a fabulous job of raising awareness about their own awareness raising. All those wristbands, lapel pins and nice sounding platitudes are perfect for politicians and news anchors who wish to accessorise their political correctness without making any meaningful investment in the issue.

Last White Ribbon Day they even managed to have a military transport aircraft fly around Australia with a lovely white ribbon painted on the tail. To raise awareness, you know? The glossy photo of the stunt is proudly displayed in their latest annual report in a section titled “Measuring Social Change”. (Who knew that something as simple as flying a logo around the country was a key strategy for deep and meaningful social change?)

Such deep and meaningful social change. (Pic: Supplied)

As the gender advisor to the NRL, Catharine Lumby, points out: “It’s not what blokes say when they’re suited up at White Ribbon events pretending to earnestly listen to statistics on the devastating impact of violence against women in this country that matters. It’s what they say in the locker room to each other. Or the pub.”

As veteran domestic violence worker Danny Blay writes: “White Ribbon has little if any support in the family violence or sexual assault sectors mainly because they have refused to reach out to the experts and their approach is simplistic. White Ribbon has turned out to be a fundraising club that made some blokes and a whole lot of politicians feel good.”

Of course that’s not to say that White Ribbon doesn’t help anyone. They do achieve some good work in schools and so on.

But they also do a stellar job of helping errant celebrities resurrect their careers after negative exposure in the press. All those public donation PR stunts.

It’s quite the redemption industry.

Indeed, call me cynical, but in many ways White Ribbon now provides an essential refuge for male reputation to rehabilitate and recover. They are specialists at critical intervention and damage control in a time of great personal crisis. When these male celebrities have no one else to turn to, White Wash, sorry I mean White Ribbon, provides a beacon of hope that can facilitate a narrative of contrition and redemption with or without genuine behavioural change.

On a more serious note, what’s genuinely concerning is that if a high profile celebrity has sexually assaulted a woman or committed domestic violence, White Ribbon will still consider making him an ambassador.

That’s right.

According to the Ambassador Position Description, men who “have a history of using violence” can be “very powerful, positive role models and Ambassadors”, provided they are no longer actively being violent. So the fact that a bloke raped a woman that one time? Well, that’s a White Ribbon boo-boo, but as long as he’s not raping anyone right now, what’s the problem? Men like Brock Turner have rights too, you know?

Equally concerning, if a current ambassador assaults a woman “the ambassador in question will be temporarily suspended from the program... and their name will be removed from the website Ambassador list”. (Weirdly, this ambassador list is no longer visible at all, leading various victim’s advocates to question the lack of transparency.)

But violent ambassadors are not out of the picture just yet. Because the website also states that suspended ambassadors who have committed violence during their ambassadorship can be reinstated provided they are “making genuine efforts to reform and make a contribution to violence prevention”.

Now what sort of message does this send to victims in the community? That abusive ambassadors will be sent to the naughty corner for a time-out, but ultimately allowed back into the ambassador program provided they can show “genuine effort” not to offend again?

Oh for crying out loud.

Of course that’s not to say that White Ribbon will let just anyone become an ambassador. Yes, even White Ribbon has to have some standards. And there is one particularly hideous breed of person who most certainly will not be permitted to sign up an ambassador: women.

Women, you see, are more suited to other unpaid, behind the scenes volunteer work. Where we belong.

If a high profile celebrity has sexually assaulted a woman or committed domestic violence, White Ribbon will still consider making him an ambassador. Seriously. (Pic: Facebook)

Can’t see what’s wrong with that? Well imagine for one second if there was an anti-racism charity, where all the plum positions were exclusively reserved for white people. Ethnic minorities were permitted to do unpaid menial labour behind the scenes, but the limelight roles were considered Whites Only spaces. Imagine too, how nauseating it would be to then watch those White People stand around patting each other on their backs, singing kum-ba-yah while congratulating each other on such a noble effort to “raise awareness” about the scourge of racism.

It’s also telling that of the nine bios of current board members listed in their last annual report, not a single one specifically mentions having experience in violence against women. There are financial wizzes, the former manager of Grace Bros Sydney city store, and one individual whose bio boasts that his “specialisation is human behaviour — Our motives, drives and belief systems, the things that make us buy, the things that make us buy in, and the things that pull our strings”.

And while the annual report discusses how much “brand awareness” White Ribbon now has (75 per cent, if you’re interested) speaking as a survivor, what’s not so clear to me is just how much substance there really is to the brand.

So Eddie, if you’re reading this by all means donate $50,000. But give it to one of the many organisations that work directly in supporting those of us who have experienced sexual or domestic violence.

Nina Funnell is an anti-violence advocate who donates money and pro-bono support to various frontline sexual assault and domestic violence services. This article is written in her personal capacity.