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  • What is a Bystander?

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    • Bystander or Active Bystander?


      There are likely a number of times throughout your life when you may have seen a situation, heard a comment or seen a post online, that you felt was inappropriate, discriminatory or harmful. These incidents can have an impact on those involved, on those who witness the incident and flow-on effects to setting a community standard of inappropriate behaviour. 

      When you are faced with such an incident, you can help make a difference. 

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    • Bystander

      Someone who sees a situation or incident but does not engage; they are aware of a situation but do not get involved. 

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      Active Bystander

      Someone who sees a situation or incident and does something to intervene: they keep situations from escalating or disrupt problematic situations.

      Image (c) UniSA

    • Being a bystander is easy – one can simply walk away from a problematic situation. Being an active bystander is more challenging because this requires you to get involved. Active bystanders can enact change and make a difference.

      What would you do?

      Most people if asked whether they would be a bystander, or an active bystander, in any given problematic situation would say that they would be an active bystander.

      Ask yourself now, if you saw something problematic happening, would you intervene? Of course, you would! Or at the very least, you would want to. However, it can be a challenge to put those intentions into action in the heat of the moment. There are barriers that can inhibit individuals from acting when they see a problematic situation; we will explore these later in the module. 

      By taking action, being an active bystander, you are making a difference. 

      In this learning module, we are focusing specifically on how to be an active bystander in the fight against everyday sexism. By noticing what is happening around you, and speaking out when you see problematic and subtle forms of sexism, you can send a clear message that such conduct is not okay and help contribute to a more equal and respectful community.

      Image (c) UniSA

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