(For details on the campaign itself plus a link there's another blog on my page for that )
You can judge the worth of a society by how it treats it's most vulnerable members. Too often we take a group such as the homeless or drug addicts or criminals and we throw them and their problems in the too hard basket. Since complex issues can't be boiled down into something simplistic and palatable to both short term politics and an even shorter news cycle, these groups get left behind.
In this vein, Polished Man aims to take the issue of child sexual abuse and put it front and centre in the public consciousness. We cannot continue to pretend it doesn't happen. Overwhelmingly both physical and sexual abuse of children is committed by men. That's a fact.
So change starts with men. We need to redefine what is to be a man in the modern day and admit that as long as sexual abuse of children exists we are failing in our most important role - that of the protector.
I have a niece and two nephews ( aged 2 1/2, 5 and five weeks respectively ) and I would crawl through glass to defend them from harm. If you have a child or know a child that you would do the same for, then Polished Man is worth your time.
Polished Man is about 'manning up' for two weeks and doing something small so that kids don't have to experience the horror of abuse. If you are a man then paint one nail to represent the 1 in every 5 children that are annually victims of abuse and commit to breaking the cycle.
Thanks xx
