Boys' Reactions At Being Asked To Hit A Girl Will Melt Your Heart

The subject of violence against women has been tackled in a unique way thanks to a video from Italy.

Italian journalist Luca Lavarone produced a video presenting the difficult issue to a selection of boys aged between 7-11.

Pietro, Fulvio, Domenico and others were introduced to a young girl Martina.

First, they were asked what they liked about her.

Her hair, her eyes, even her hands were complimented by the boys; with one brave lad admitting he’d like to be her boyfriend.

Next, they were asked to caress her in some way.

The boys responded by gently stroking her arm and gingerly touching her face or her hair.

By this point, the boys were clearly a little embarrassed and more than one had started giggling.

They were then told: ‘Slap her! Slap her hard!’

The looks of confusion on their faces spoke volumes about how they felt at being asked to strike a girl.

One boy looked visibly upset at being told to do such a thing, while another laughed in disbelief.

Not only did none of the boys raise a finger to hit Martina, they were each very vocal about why.

“Why? Because she’s a girl. I can’t do it,” explained one.

Pietro stated simply, “Because I am against violence.”

One of the more eloquent kids paraphrased an old Italian phrase:

“As the saying goes: ‘Girls shouldn’t be hit, not even with a flower.’”

An aspiring pizza chef put it rather succinctly: “Why? Because I am a man!”

The three-minute video highlights not only the distressing issue of violence against women but how, as children, the notion of striking a girl is unthinkable to boys.

Produced by Fanpage.it, the video feature was created in the hope that it could help put an end to domestic violence and has already been watched 1.5 million times in just two days.

In the EU, one in three women have experienced some form of physical or sexual abuse since the age of 15 according to a survey published in March 2014.

What do you think of the video’s message? Let us know on Twitter.

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