When a sexual assault leaves you feeling ashamed, speaking up can feel like begging for attention. Neither is true. Both sentiments silence survivors and protect perpetrators.

The Beige Button Campaign Wearing a beige button quietly signals to other survivors that someone sexually assaulted you. Should all survivors wear these pins, the collective message will become impossible to ignore: perpetrators a’plenty walk among us. That visible wave pushes sisters and allies to speak out, organize, and demand systemic change. All of this, without you saying a word.

The Reality A broken, entitled person did this to you. Yet the legal system dumps the burden on you—the one carrying the trauma—to fund, fight, and prove your case for a minuscule chance at justice. Another person committed this crime, and it is never your fault. Our patriarchal system shields perpetrators and burdens survivors. It protects attackers, not past, present, or future victims.

Until assailants legally confess, publicly apologize, and actually take responsibility, you carry the weight of their crimes. A quiet apology that doesn’t lift the burden off your shoulders fixes nothing. It just “shushes” you while leaving you strangely empty.

This campaign flips the script. Instead of hiding the scale of harm, we force it into the open.

Why Beige? Our advisers warned that cutting out a patch of a perpetrator’s skin might cross a few legal lines. So we went with a beige-coloured button instead. Pick your shade if you’re making one yourself. Beige will stand in for privilege, male privilege, unchecked entitlement. Mundane enough to blend in. Malicious enough to hide in plain sight.

The Purpose 

• Tell without telling.
• Lay the responsibility where it belongs.
• Show survivors they’re not alone.

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Your Questions, Answered

Q: What’s the chuckle? what the fuck is funny about sexual assault?

A: Re-read why we went with beige. That’s fucking hilarious. Beige is bland as fuck, boring, and probably dim-witted. Laughing at beige also doubles as laughing at white supremacy. Pain fuels most comedy. Without laughter, we’d just cry, sob, and waste our strength. This patriarchal system is slowly killing us all. Laughter is the sharpest weapon we have.

Q: What’s the difference between sexual assault and rape?

A: The term sexual assault covers all non-consensual sexual acts, from unwanted touching to penetration.

Q: Isn’t that a big ask, that assailants “legally confess, publicly apologize, and actually take responsibility”?

A: Indeed. The solution? Don’t fucking sexually assault. Anyone. Ever. And if you do, find your backbone, grab onto your own testicles and find the courage to own it.

Q: What does the blue rim signify? 

A: The blue rim marks a breach of expected safety. It means someone you trusted—a parent, sibling, partner, friend, or family member—violated you. It also signals assaults that happened in spaces that should have kept you safe: your home, your school, a doctor’s office. You were supposed to be secure there. Not ready to name who or where? The plain beige button covers every scenario. You control what you reveal.

Q: What does “Happening now, accepting help” (blue rim, then red rim) mean? 

A: The blue rim plus red trim signals that you’re currently living with or near your abuser. It lets fellow survivors know you’re open to support right now, without requiring you to ask. You always control whether you accept help.

Q: Why is there no red rim around the plain beige button?

A: The plain beige button signals that you’ve survived sexual assault and you’re safe right now. It quietly tells other survivors they aren’t alone. Over time, wearing these pins will expose the widespread harm that too many unnamed, unaccountable perpetrators (mostly men) inflict on others (mostly women, girls, and boys). Plain beige and its different iterations will build the visibility required to drive systemic change.

Q: I’ve heard some people say that these kinds of experiences make survivors more resilient, what are your thoughts on that?

A: Fuck resilience. The term serves to placate. Instead of treating survival as some gift delivered by a clenched fist, let’s start talking about how broken someone must be to resort to sexual assault. Dude’s got two hands. Put them to better use.

Remember this: Rape doesn’t happen, it is fucking done.