GetUp! Making a difference ...

"Last month, Laws' extremely insensitive comments to a listener who suffered sexual abuse as a child prompted a fierce outcry among the community, with nearly 40,000 Australians signing the combined GetUp and Destroy the Joint petition. Last week we surprised John Laws and 2SM by delivering the petition in person and requested that Laws speak, on the air, with Dr Cathy Kezelman, President of Adults Surviving Child Abuse. "

"Yesterday, Laws accepted your request and had Dr Kezelman on his show. She let him know why comments such as his are so detrimental to survivors of abuse and explained that by 'just making the suggestion that someone's provocative or talking about their appearance is suggesting that the victim has, in some part, a responsibility for what happened to them and that's never the case.' "

"To his credit, Laws admitted that "the size of the problem is greater than a lot of people would think" and conceded that as a result of the interview he is now 'better informed and better educated.'" 

"A huge thank you to Dr Cathy Kezelman for having the courage to speak out and educate John Laws on just how damaging shaming and blaming survivors of sexual abuse can be. "

"It's always important to recognise when someone does the right thing, so we'd like to commend 2SM and John Laws for honouring your request and endeavouring to learn more about how to avoid victim blaming in the future. "

"This is proof that together, our actions can and DO make a difference.  Keep up the fight to put the blame back on the perpetrators of sexual abuse. "

"Thanks for all you do! "

"The GetUp! team. "

PS. To hear the full 2SM interview click here: Dr Cathy Kezelman on 2SM, 10 April 2013