Photos from the Glittery March For Consent in Auckland

The Glittery March of Consent came about from a walk that wasn’t intended to get international attention, but did. Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller was celebrating New Years' at Rhythm and Vines festival with her bare chest painted in sparkles and glitter when an unknown male assaulted her. You’ve probably seen the video of her spinning on her heel and slapping him while friend Kiri-Ann Hatfield dumps a drink on him. As well as some quick action on the day, Madeline used the unplanned exposure to invite more discussion on the issue of consent. She co-organised the Glitter March For Consent which was held in downtown Auckland on Sunday. We went along to talk to people about why they joined the protest.

Kiri-Ann, 19

"I was with Madeline in the video. I was the one who poured the drink.

I’m here to protest against everything that’s going on, not just here but also what’s happening in America with the actresses. Everything has all happened at once and I think it’s a really good moment to try and bring up the discussion and try and change the point of view of some people and the society that we’re in right now. We really need to grow up, wake up to what’s happening around us.

Girls were just calling us 'slut'. Don’t get me wrong there were a lot of people going "good on you", but the amount of people who were just horrible—it was just heartbreaking. Like, how can you put a human down like that?"

Gabriel, 51

"I didn’t have a voice when I was 21 when something happened to me and its has impacted my life to this day. I don’t want my daughter and my sons live in that world. I want them to live in a better future, where we don’t have to march because consent is just something that accepted—a level of respect will exist where it doesn’t at the moment. Really it’s as simple as that. We complicate matters so much. I’ve got boys and we have raised them to accept that consent is the baseline if someone says yes great, if they say no you walk away."

Max, 21

"I came down here to support anyone who has been sexually assaulted or raped. Consent really matters. My whole friend group is so supportive of this and it’s good to see guys and girls here and any age. It’s awesome."

Dawn, 20 (left)

"I came because people I know who have suffered and I want an end to it."

Monita, 21 (left)

"I support this because of mana wahine, which is bringing power back to women. We’ve come here to support, tautoko, the kaupapa.

It was really interested to hear from some of the women who have had things happen to them. I could relate to that because I was at a party about four years ago and me and a group of friends were all sleeping. There was a man there who thought he could try feel the girls up next to him so I stepped him and I told him ‘Look what are you doing?’ He got up and he had his pants down. He was so embarrassed after I outed him. He took off after that."

Julia, 21

"I’m from the US but I’m studying abroad here for a semester. One of the classes I’m taking is a gender and sexuality and popular music class so were talking about the thing that sparked this happening. I’m always down to get glittery and always down to support consent so here we are."

Sylvia, 25

"I think it’s really important that we normalise nudity as something that doesn’t have to be sexual because if people are always seeing sexual connotations when anyone’s naked then I think that’s a big contributor to being assaulted."

Rameena, 24 (right)

"Our male friends made these for us—cool, huh? I’ve come down here today to support the people who’ve been sexually assaulted and march for them."

Janina, 38

"I think it’s so critical to get the message out there that no matter what we look like, you can’t touch without permission. I’m shocked by the comments that have come through from the article. It's shown me that this is still an age where people think that women’s bodies are not theirs."

Laura, 22

"I’m down here not just myself but for my friends and my community, speaking out against violations of consent. The number of friends that I’ve spoke to and found out the terrible things that have happened to them because they felt like they couldn’t say no, or they felt like people didn’t respect that. And seeing that everywhere in the community. I just feel like we need to do something to say to people actively 'this isn’t okay'."

Claire, 21

"I'm just pretty sick of going out and feeling like if I dress the way that I want and it’s a hot day or if I'm just feeling free then I am potentially not safe. I think that it’s time for that to change. It's 2018, lots of stuff is changing why can’t this?"

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