#EchtMannelijk sets a new norm: real masculinity is about respect and responsibility, not dominance. With confronting messages in public space, the campaign opened a national conversation about safety and masculinity - on zero budget.
Sexual violence doesn't start with sexual violence. It begins much earlier: in everyday sexism, micro-aggressions, the silence among men, and a culture that waves away women's discomfort as "normal." #EchtMannelijk shows that real masculinity has nothing to do with dominance or entitlement, and everything to do with respect, responsibility, and protecting the freedom and safety of others. Our mission is to shift that culture: to intervene as early as possible on the scale of sexual violence, to activate men as allies, and to build a society that prevents violence before it starts.
The power of #EchtMannelijk lies in how directly and simply it hits the core of the problem. On zero budget, we started with a single trial post on social media to see whether the message would resonate: portraits of men beside the line "I help build a culture in which women also feel safe," alongside texts that sharpened the idea of masculinity in the context of (micro-)violence against women. The post was shared en masse. From there the message moved to billboards, message trailers, and digital screens in high-traffic places (train stations, city squares, highways) each carrying our first confronting question: "Ask a woman how often she feels unsafe."
More than half of Dutch women experience sexual harassment at some point, and one in ten experiences sexual violence every year (CBS, 2023). For many men, those numbers are shocking; not out of guilt, but out of genuine disbelief. Most have never asked the women in their lives how often they feel unsafe. That is the empathy gap: what is daily reality for women stays invisible to many men. Closing that gap is the first condition for change.
Rather than blaming or moralizing, #EchtMannelijk asks one identity-defining question: what does real masculinity actually mean? The hashtag deliberately challenges the traditional script of masculinity and invites men to rethink their role, to talk with the men and women around them, and to look critically at their own behavior. It targets the foundation beneath sexual violence: everyday sexism, peer pressure, and the silence among men. Phase one has a single goal — to open the conversation, shift perceptions, and create a shared understanding that change is needed.
Within days, #EchtMannelijk grew into a national conversation, across both media and the public. The campaign was covered by NOS, RTL Nieuws, Algemeen Dagblad, EenVandaag, Flair, MarketingTribune, and RTV Utrecht, among others, and was shared and discussed hundreds of times in comments, stories, videos, and community spaces. In total it reached more than 1,000,000 people via news outlets, radio, and social, with 130,000+ organic views on LinkedIn and hundreds of posts, conversations, and stories shared by citizens themselves.
One simple, sincere question shifted the frame: care, empathy, and responsibility are not weaknesses; they are the new measure of strength. #EchtMannelijk is not a campaign. It's the beginning of a culture where women feel safe, because men choose to be part of the solution.
Phase one proved the frame works: the question resonates, and the conversation is live. Now we're building the structural phase. Our whitepaper Masculinity: A New Beginning is coming soon, grounding the approach in more than sixty scientific studies. Alongside it sits the plan for the EchtMannelijk Alliance: a long-term coalition of government, municipalities, employers, and knowledge institutions working to shift the norm around masculinity at its root. From there, we're building toward a national platform and public campaign.
Download the alliance plan and follow the launch at echtmannelijk.nl.
Concept & Campaign
Ilia ten Böhmer
Behavioral Scientist
Nienke Veenstra
Marketeer
Glenn van der Geugten
Creative assistant
Amy Stuiver
Office
Manitobadreef 7C
3565 CH Utrecht
The Netherlands
Postal Address
Manitobadreef 7C
3565 CH Utrecht
The Netherlands