Men are painting their nails for sexually abused children, but will it help?

The movement was started when a man named Elliot Costello, met a girl named Thea in Cambodia while traveling with the NGO Hagar International.  She painted his nails. Later Elliot found out that Thea had been continuously raped for 2 years, since she was 8-years-old.

Thea’s story touched Elliot so much that he started the #PolishedMan campaign, using the painted nail as it reminded him of Thea.

On the #PolishedMan site, it stated that 90% of all sexual abuse against children is committed by men. By being a #PolishedMan, you are showing that you challenge that violent behaviour.

While it is great that men are standing up against something so horrific, we don’t see how painting one fingernail is going to help that much.

If you see a man with a painted fingernail, 1 of 2 things will happen:

You will stare at it for a bit and think it is weird, or you will know what it stands for and give them a nod of approval. There is a very slim chance you would walk up to him and ask him about the painted nail thus spreading awareness.

Most importantly, none of this actually prevents the rotten people of the world from continuing their sexual abuse.

It’s the #InHerShoes campaign all over again - Loads of support and awareness without actually achieving anything.

But that’s just my opinion. This campaign could be the catalyst needed to seriously tackle sexual abuse. We just have to wait and see.

What do you think about the #PolishedMan campaign?