#EchtMannelijk sets a new standard: true masculinity is about respect and responsibility. With confronting messages in public spaces, the campaign sparked a national conversation about safety and masculinity.
#EchtMannelijk (#RealManly) reframes masculinity. It shows that real manliness has nothing to do with dominance or entitlement, but everything to do with respect, responsibility, and protecting the freedom and safety of others. Sexual violence doesn’t start with sexual violence. It begins much earlier: in everyday sexism, micro-aggressions, silence among peers, and a culture in which women’s discomfort is dismissed as “normal. Our mission is to shift that culture. #EchtMannelijk intervenes as early as possible in the scale of sexual violence, activates men as allies, and builds a society where we stop sexual violence before it starts.
The power of #EchtMannelijk lies in how directly it targets the root of the problem in the most simple way. Because we have zero budget or partners, we started with one trial post on social media to see if the message resonated. It had texts that challenged or redefined what masculinity means in the context of (micro-)violence against women, together with men posing for the camera with the text: 'I help build a culture in which women also feel safe'. The post exploded after which the message appeared on billboards, message trailers, and digital screens in high-traffic locations such as train stations, city squares, and highways. Each displayed our first confronting question: “Ask a woman how often she feels unsafe.”
For us, this is not a one-off campaign. It is the first phase of a long-term, multi-layered cultural strategy. We now are trying to get durable funding to make this movement reality, starting with in-depth research.
More than half of Dutch women have experienced sexual harassment at some point, and one in ten experience sexual violence every year (CBS, 2023). For many men, these 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. The first phase of the campaign bridges that empathy gap. It makes visible what women already know, and what men need to understand in order to change.
#EchtMannelijk prevents sexual violence by addressing the foundation beneath it: everyday sexism, micro-violence, peer pressure, and the silence among men. Rather than blaming or accusing, the campaign asks a powerful, identity-based question: “What does real manliness truly mean?” The hashtag deliberately challenges the cultural script of masculinity. It invites men to rethink their role, to talk with men and women around them and to reflect on their behavior.
This phase one of our long-term strategy focuses on conversation and awareness: starting conversation, shifting perception, opening eyes, and creating the shared understanding that change is urgently needed.
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