Page 10 - The Staunch Test

THE STAUNCH TEST

But for those of us who don’t go looking for darker material, what about the
effects of simply mopping up a daily fare of drama in which women are beaten,
stalked, sexually exploited, raped and murdered, without anyone really giving a
second thought about the effects? Surely, it’s time we realised that, negative
or positive, what we put out into the world via popular culture has an impact.

You get back what you put in. When it comes to violence against women, the
Staunch Test aims to start a conversation about just that.

3. What is the Staunch Test?

The Staunch Test is an easy way to note for yourself, discuss with others, assign
or check the rating of a thriller film or TV drama for violence to women. It can

also rate dramas that may not be classed as thrillers but whose content makes
them relevant to the Test. But it has wider aims and concerns.

The primary aims of the Staunch Test are:

To draw attention to how much violence against women appears on our screens

To provide the tools for rating films and TV drama for violence against women

To highlight how casually violence against women is used as a story device,
and to open conversations about why that is

To research the connections between excessive and continuous depictions of
on-screen violence to women and their impact on women in real life

To challenge the film and television industries to think hard about the issues, and
re-evaluate what gets made