Hypodermal syringes, assaults ... In the United Kingdom, women in danger at night<

An exclusive Yougov survey carried out for The Independent, has shown that today, 63% of women who walk alone at night feel "always" or "often" in danger.The safety of women in public space at night is a subject that appears more and more at the heart of the debates, influencing certain political measures.Our editorial staff went to meet Rose Lewis, from the Sistah Space association to try to understand where this problem comes from and how to fight against.

63% of British women feel insecure in the street at night.A worrying but not surprising figure in view of recent murders' cases like that of Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa, Bibaa and Nicole sisters and the multiplication of cases of drug addicts in the Night Boxes.

Since the assassination of Sarah Everard, a tense climate has reigned around the question of the security of women in the United Kingdom.The murder had, in March, provoked revolts (link) whose anger had been further fueled following the announcement of the Bill Policing Bill confident, among other things, more power to the agents of the Metropolitan Police, the policeLondonian (link).Relations between women and the police found themselves particularly degraded by this case, especially since it was followed by numerous denunciations of cases of rape and sexual assault in the ranks of the police andThe misogynist words made by the chief of the police of Yorkshire, Philip Allott, who had then "bailed" Sarah Everard to have "left" by Wayne Couzens, his rapist and murderer.This ambient distrust also reaches the political sphere where the list of ministers accused of rape is only lengthening.In the street, at work or on the benches of Parliament, British women feel in danger, discriminated, invisible and demand a rapid and significant change.

An insecurity problem that widespread despite the release of speech

In March, our readers explained that they felt much more safe in the streets of the English capital rather than in Paris, but the distinction could tend to fade for several months.The ONS published a report last week indicating that England and Wales had recorded a record number of rape cases in 2021 even though the overall crime level is down.According to figures, recorded sexual offenses increased by 8% in June 2021 with 61,158 cases of rape, the highest annual figure ever recorded in British territory.

At the same time, the Yougov Institute published a report indicating that women feel much less safe when they come home alone at night than three years ago.Almost two -thirds of them now feel in danger, an increase of 17 points compared to the 46% of 2018.Today in the United Kingdom, one in five women choose never to walk alone at night, a proportion twice higher as for their male counterparts.In 2018, a third of women told the Institute to take precautions to protect themselves from sexual assault when they came out.In 2021, this figure rises to 41%.

Many ordinary daily activities are felt as potentially dangerous for a single woman: the number of women fearing to feel insecure during a first appointment went from 15 % to 28 % in three years.Regarding the practice of an outdoor sport in a public space, the figures went from 14% to 21%.

Recently, a wave of hypodermic syringe bites to drug students in nightclub scares women on both sides of the English Channel

Going out in a nightclub, another triviality of appearance, but which quickly becomes a privileged inspection place for many ill-intentioned men.Recently, a wave of syringe assaults is raging in the United Kingdom and begins to arrive in France.The GHB in drinks was already a sadly known risk by women who go out in the evening, even experiencing an upsurge in recent weeks in France in certain metropolitan and medium -sized cities.Protect your glass, keep your hand above when you don't drink, never take your eyes off or entrust it to someone, have become reflexes for many women.But today, they run a new risk: hundreds of cases of students, and sometimes students, drugged without their knowledge by nightclub injections using hypodermic needles have been reported to the forces oforder for a few weeks.

For women, it is almost automatic to feel concerned and to project yourself in the face of a sister's assault.In the United Kingdom, the recent murders of Sarah Everard and the sisters Henry and Smallman reminded many women that their worst nightmare could one day come true."For black women for example, the murders of Bibaa and Nicole have been very traumatic because they feel directly affected and there is not much data concerning the assaults and rapes of black women.»»

The feeling of insecurity grows in British women and Rose Lewis, advisor to domestic violence in the association Sistah Space, explains to us that in addition to these big titles that worry, this feeling is aggravated by details related to the environmentin which women live. « Le problème d’insécurité n’existe pas que la nuit»» affirme-t-elle d’entrée, et « varie selon les quartiers (...) If the street is badly lit or not at all lit, if you know that we will not meet a police officer at the police station in the area, these data have an impact on the feeling of insecurity of women.What is missing today for many women is information, knowing where to go if they are in danger and knowing that there are services to help them around.»»

Today i Learned that i don’t know how to use a waffle maker

— Mathew Cornelius Sat Jul 13 04:31:01 +0000 2019

"It is up to men to leave women alone, to monitor their behavior, to stop thinking that it is acceptable.»

Faced with the growing number of syringe poisonings, a boycott movement of nightclubs was born under the #girlsnightin on Twitter.This movement is followed in nearly fifty cities and villages of the United Kingdom including London, Edinburgh, Bath, Liverpool, Bristol, Falmouth, Hull, St Andrews and Swansea.The participants claim the implementation of preventive measures to make the world of the night safer, such as compulsory excavations at the entrance to the clubs.

Rose Lewis would like to recall that it is not the women to stop going out.She believes that the change must be taken at the root of the problem rather than trying to cut the branches: "It is up to men to leave the women alone, to monitor their behavior, to stop thinking that thisit is acceptable.It is also up to the media to emphasize that this is where the problem comes from.It is up to everyone to make the safety of women in the street a central subject.Women should be able to go out without worrying about their outfits or the time it is.»»

Même les commentaires verbaux reçus dans la rue, qui ne semblent pas à première vue « dangereux»» à proprement parler, constituent un problème majeur pour la sécurité des femmes. « Quand une femme se déplace d’un point A à un point B en s’occupant de ses affaires, elle n’a pas besoin qu’homme l’interpelle en la « complimentant»» sur ses jambes.It becomes dangerous because the woman can be afraid, can feel vulnerable, disarmed.She must think of three, four things both in panic and in a very small period of time.She begins to worry about his security, to think about what to do if this man comes to talk to her.And that are situations that all women have been confronted.»»

Malgré tout, les femmes « se doivent d’être prudentes»», ajoute-t-elle."When we go out today, it is essential to be careful, to let someone know where we are, not to walk alone if we can.But women know this kind of thing very well.It's sad, but the majority of women know what the safest streets are, where there are the most passage.They take their precautions. Certaines sortent avec des sortes d’alarme, des bombes au poivre, savent qu’il faut faire toujours attention à son verre…»». Bien que la précaution soit de mise, au moins en prévention,la militante insiste sur le fait « qu’une agression reste toujours à 100% de la faute de l’agresseur»».She returns to the Sarah Everard affair showing that "Sarah had taken all possible precautions. Elle rentrait juste chez elle, était restée au téléphone avec une amie, était entourée de public»», ce qui ne lui a pas évité de se faire violer et tuer par l’officier Wayne Couzens. « Ce n’était pas de sa faute»» rappelle Rose Lewis, qui se bat pour que les femmes n’en arrivent pas à arrêter de sortir par peur : « Autrement, elles deviennent recluses»».

How to fight this insecurity?

In nightclubs, display campaigns against harassment and attacks already exist. La « Ask for Angela»» campagne est par exemple assez répandue. Il s’agit d’une sorte de « mot de passe»» donné à toute personne se sentant en danger dans une boîte de nuit. Celle-ci peut alors se rendre au bar et demander à parler à « Angela»» afin d’être prise en charge par le personnel qui peut lui appeler un taxi, rester avec elle… Mais ces mesures “pansements” ne seront pas suffisantes pour endiguer la vague de violences faites aux femmes dans le milieu de la fête et dans les bars.

A petition, which has already collected more than 170,000 signatures, circulates to claim a new law demanding that people wishing to enter a nightclub be carefully and systematically excavated at the entrance.Another, having reached 12,000 signatures, calls on the government to finance free drinking doping testing kits that give an instant result.In Manchester, a nightclub became, last week, the first to offer people on the spot thinking that they were drugged, urine tests.Measures that could prove useful to prove more cases of poisoning.If this kind of kits are available in certain police stations, especially in Devon and Cornwall, the health authorities encourage victims to be tested as quickly as possible, on site if this service is available because most of the drugs used leave the bodywithin 12 to 72 hours after their administration.

On the political side, the mayor of London Sadiq Khan seems to take this subject seriously.After partially reopened the night metro in part to make women's trips at night safer, he set up a charter for women's safety at night.This charter engages the organizations that sign it to ensure the safety of women once the sun is lying.It has already been signed by nearly 400 London organizations.

Malgré ces efforts, Rose Lewis considère que « beaucoup plus de choses pourraient être faites»».For her, the priority is that the security of women becomes "a major subject in the media.This subject must be addressed continuously, not only when something horrible happens.Social networks do this very well by constantly relaying this subject but the other media, the paper newspapers, must also be put there.Even if it is only once a month, it is necessary to give continuity on this subject and to stop waiting that a woman dies or gets attacked.The media can have a huge impact.»»

"It’s very good to have a transport police force in London, but you never see them, or only in large city center stations, not in the stations that women use to go home."

In addition to the place held by the media and social networks, transport organizations, especially night transport, also have a role to play.Transports for London (TFL), for example, signed the charter for the safety of women at night and they set up poster campaigns.For Rose Lewis, these measures are still very insufficient: “It takes more staff to ensure the safety of women.When we are on a platform, underground, that our laptop does not pass, there must be someone on the spot. Autrement, si quelque chose se passe, c’est la panique et il y a bien trop de temps à attendre pour que quelqu’un descende sur le quai et arrange la situation»». Selon elle, l’important serait de mettre en place une sécurité déployée en permanence et pas seulement dans les grandes stations de la capitale : "It’s very good to have a transport police force in London, but you never see them, or only in large city center stations, not in the stations that women use to go home."».

In government, the concrete needs of women still struggle to be heard

Le gouvernement « multiplie les rapports, les discussions, les débats»» mais, pour Rose Lewis, « Il n’y a pas assez d’action.Our rulers must stop always doing what they think is good and listen to what women have to say to them.Women will tell them what they need, will show them what their problems are and what to put in place to solve them. Si le gouvernement écoutait, il n’y aurait pas autant d’agressions»» s’agace la militante.The night metro network was for example replaced after the petition of the young student Ella Watson, signed by more than 140,000 people. Elle avait alors expliqué qu'un « réseau de métro bien éclairé et bien connecté, avec une plate-forme de vidéosurveillance et un personnel de sécurité dûment formé, constitue la meilleure option de transport pour garantir que des millions de femmes à travers Londres puissent rentrer chez elles en toute sécurité, le soir et la nuit»».

Finally, the British government should also, according to our question, review the legislation concerning physical and sexual assaults against women. « La législation actuelle comprend des procédure trop longues»» regrette Rose Lewis, « Les femmes ne sont ni écoutées ni accompagnées.And the situation is even more deplorable when it comes to black women.»»

The relationship between women and the British police deteriorate more and more

After the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by police officer Wayne Couzens, after the many cases of rape, assault or sexist words in the ranks of London police, women developed a report forThe least suspicious to the police."But for black women, their relations with the police has always been so. Il y a peu de sondages et de statistiques sur le sujet, mais très souvent, l’attention portée à la plainte d’une femme noire est moins importante que celle accordée à une femme blanche»» témoigne Rose Lewis, grande militante en faveur des femmes non-blanches.The murder of Sabina Nessa in September had, for example, much less made the headlines than that of Sarah Everard, a few months ago.According to the Crowdtangle social networks analysis tool, a week after Sarah Everard's death, she had led twice as many publications on Facebook that there were after the death of Sabina Nessa and 50% more interactions with these publications.Disparities in reactions that tend to insurge activists like Rose Lewis, who see it as contempt for the fate of black women."The police question the veracity of their words. Il existe un grand manque de confiance entre les femmes et la police, mais quand il s’agit de femmes noires, le problème est vraiment différent»».