Vigil for Sarah Everard (Debate)

Wed 17 Mar 2021, 10:43 (last edited on Wed 17 Mar 2021, 10:52)

I am really sad to see how many women in Charlbury feel unsafe when alone and outside at night, as well as in the daytime.

This is a very real problem -- and not just a recent one. I have on occasions been asked to accompany other women when walking up from Charlbury station when arriving late at night -- the dark patch on Dyer's Hill seems to have been a longstanding, and not just recent, fear. 

But it's important to say that these fears do need to be put in perspective. It's young men who are most in danger of a random attack from a stranger on our streets, but it is only males in certain ethnic communities and certain inner city areas who are taught to fear walking alone outside or encouraged to stay indoors after dark. 

Home is where women are most likely to be sexually abused, attacked and worse. But it is women who are socialised to feel safe indoors, and at risk outside. A man's offer to walk anxious women home from the pubs might be well-intentioned, but is not very helpful given that sexual attacks on women most often come from people they already know, rather than from complete strangers.

Perhaps one way forward would be for there to be occasional or regular classes in Self-Defence classes for women at the Community Centre, once it opens up again.

Such classes are not for everyone, of course. But, properly run, such classes are suitable for all sizes, shapes and ages of women. The classes that were on offer where I worked were Tae Kwon-do, but other alternatives are on offer in Oxford. See https://www.fit2fightback.com/women-self-defence-classes/ ;

Some Oxford Colleges subsidise these classes, and in these Work From Home days, perhaps communities might consider doing the same.

I did not continue with such classes for very long (and that was a very long time ago!), but even just taking a few improves confidence when walking outside, and might be a good thing to consider, along with improved streetlighting and the like.