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Aussie Bands Send Powerful Message About Stopping Sexual Assault At Gigs

The 'It Takes One' campaign tells men "don't be a dickhead".

A startling number of Australian punk bands have recently had to speak out and criticise alleged sexual assaults and violence against women happening at their concerts, and a bunch of musicians have now banded together for a campaign called 'It Takes One' to fight the trend.

The idea has been spearheaded by Melbourne band Camp Cope -- who count three women in their ranks, and speak often about issues facing women and the LGBTI community -- who are just one of several bands to recently address unsavoury happenings at their concerts. They got some of their friends from the Australian music community, including the likes of Frenzal Rhomb, The Jezabels, Triple J host Dom Alessio, Luca Brasi, Clowns, King Parrot and The Bennies, to tell their fans that violence at concerts is unacceptable.

"We purposefully wanted a strong male presence in the video. Including all-male bands who tend to have a predominately male audience," Camp Cope said in posting the video.

"This was done because we believe that women are usually the victims in these incidents so it shouldn't solely be the responsibility of women to fix the problem. We feel it's important for men to speak to, and speak out against other men's behaviour and be positive role models to other men.

In the clip, bands speak out and urge their fans to be respectful, and to keep concerts a safe space for everyone.

"Don't be a dickhead. Don't punch people. Don't grope people, don't make anyone feel uncomfortable," Frenzal Rhomb guitarist and former Triple J radio host Lindsay McDougall.

"If you see it happening, stop it. Get in there, get your friends, call them out."

Camp Cope have spoken previously about unsafe conditions at their concerts. In May, the band called out men at one of their concerts who were dancing aggressively and intimidating female fans. They wrote about it on Facebook, and spoke to Howl and Echoes at length.

Luca Brasi, who are also featured in the 'It Takes One' video, have also spoken out about at least two incidents of assault which happened at their shows recently.

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