It was at a vigil in the Meadows last March that PhD student Rachel Chung spoke, as she says, “on the bullhorn”. A group had gathered to remember Sarah Everard, a young woman who had been kidnapped and murdered just two weeks earlier while walking home alone in London. Her death sparked a passionate national conversation around violence against women, and that passion was evident at the Meadows vigil, where everyone was asking the same question: what can be done about the threat of violence that women live with every day?
Rachel tells me, “I just looked around at the people gathered for the vigil and I was so angry and frustrated by the fact that we even had to be there, and to be mourning the loss of another woman’s life to male violence. But I also felt motivated, and I decided to make a promise over the bullhorn: if anyone there felt unsafe getting home that night, I would walk with them.”
After the vigil ended, Rachel was chatting about her promise with a friend, fellow Edinburgh student Alice Jackson, and an idea was born.
“I said to Alice, ‘why don't we do just that? Why don't we walk people home?’
The plan to create a phoneline for people who want company or reassurance while walking alone at night began that evening. The pair knew the idea had legs - Rachel’s undergraduate college, Columbia University in New York, ran a similar phone service - but there had never been one that operated citywide, which was Rachel and Alice’s ambition.
Their work was cut out for them, but after just three weeks of juggling their studies with recruiting volunteers and securing online promotion, the Strut Safe phoneline was launched.
Described on its website as “a free, non-judgmental service dedicated to getting women, queer people, people of colour, and anyone who needs us, home safely”, the service has grown from the initial citywide ambition to having volunteers across the UK. It works by offering a friendly voice to accompany people as they walk home alone, and, if needed, volunteers can arrange for someone in the area to meet and walk with them. Volunteers will stay on the line with a caller for as long as they are needed, chatting with them about anything from their day at work to reality TV shows. The emphasis is on casual friendliness, like a mate keeping you company as you walk home.
The volunteers are vetted, too, and follow a strict code of conduct. They're also provided with emergency resources to use when they’re talking to someone in distress
“We're living through an epidemic of violence. And especially an epidemic of violence and harassment against women."
The service has taken 250 calls so far, a statistic that Alice, who graduated in History and International Relations in 2021, believes shows just how needed it is.
“We're living through an epidemic of violence,” she says. “And especially an epidemic of violence and harassment against women. Our bodies are being treated as second class, not worth enough to be safe and protected. People don't realise how much it happens, and that most women and people from minority groups have been affected in one way or another."
Statistics also show that violence against marginalised people and genders is often not a one-off event, with many victims being subjected to multiple threats and assaults, as well as sustained harassment.
“The threat feels constant,” says Rachel. “For me, it's been a presence in my life since I was 12 or 13. This is breaking point now, not just for us but for the world. Women have the right to feel safe.”
Strut Safe has come at a time when the scope of the problem facing women is being increasingly acknowledged in the media, with the press publishing some stark statistics in recent months.
A survey carried out by Travel Watch found that around half of women who responded have stopped traveling alone at certain times of the day; while another by Glasgow community group Wise Women saw over 500 respondents reveal harrowing stories of assault, stalking, and sexual abuse.
These more than sobering statistics are compounded by the spotlight being placed on our local and national institutions, and in particular how they respond to reports of sexual assault and harassment.
At the University of Edinburgh, students have launched a bid to encourage the institution to change its sexual violence redressal system to better support victims. Their petition has obtained over 50,000 signatures so far, while 90 respondents detailed cases of sexual assault, unwanted touching, and rape - sometimes on campus. In its response to the petition, the University says that it will ensure student voices are included in the design of any future changes to policy.
And trust in the police to protect people and act on reports of crime is worryingly low: a YouGov poll in October last year reported that only 33% of the British public have confidence in the London Metropolitan Police following several high profile murders of young women and the botched responses of the force’s commanders.
“Our public institutions need to wake up to the scale of the problem,” says Rachel. “There’s a tendency for them to categorise types of assault and harassment, and to ignore complaints because they didn’t happen on their premises or on their watch. But that’s also ignoring the fact that there can be crossover in these types of attack, and abuse of power by privileged people is often at the root of them.”
"Once we pull up those shutters and have shown the truth of gender-based violence, it can't be unseen."
Alice believes progress is being made but that the challenge will be long, difficult and faced with resistance.
“I feel like we're starting to pull up the shutters,” she says. “When you start to reveal the truth of issues in our society, then we can make progress - but with progress usually comes pushback. But once we pull up those shutters and have shown the truth of gender-based violence, it can't be unseen.
“These are issues that we've all dealt with our entire lives, and they’ve been normalised. So there's no other choice. We have to keep going, keep pushing, and keep trying. If we don't, nothing will change, especially at the level of people in privileged positions.”
Rachel, whose PhD dissertation is probing sexual violence and gender queer people in Shakespeare performances, adds that current UK law demands that a rape survivor must show that their assault falls within certain arbitrary bounds of acceptability.
“It originates in very early English law”, she says. “The 1300s, in fact. It’s unbelievable to think that we’re still dealing with laws that are so ancient, especially when they are applied to the rights and respect of women and marginalised people. I think it goes some way to explain why rape culture has pervaded - it's in our literature, drama, and media - everything we consume on a daily basis. So it's important to move forward with the fight, and in the meantime, Strut Safe is here for anyone who needs us.”
"These experiences and fears are common to women everywhere, and we want our service to be available to all of them."
And there is a real emphasis on “anyone”. Despite being set up by two Edinburgh students, Strut Safe is not a student service or affiliated to the University. Rachel and Alice were clear from its inception that it needed to be an independent service that can be used by whoever needs it.
But the phone line is, of course, not the answer to the question that was being asked at the vigil for Sarah Everard in the Meadows – what can be done? With inadequate laws, institutional ostrichism, and the persistent global inequality for women and minority groups, it’s a question that neither this article nor indeed the most impassioned activists could begin to tackle in its entirety. But for now, Rachel and Alice are clear about what they want to achieve:
“The challenge has only begun for us,” says Rachel. “We aim to have Strut Safe available every night and in more locations. These experiences and fears are common to women everywhere, and we want our service to be available to all of them. And we'd ideally like to be able to focus on running it full time.
"But our real ideal scenario is that we can take our last call and that Strut Safe is no longer needed - that women can finally feel safe to walk home alone.”
Strut Safe is available by calling 0333 335 0026, Friday-Sunday from 19:00-03:00. For more information and to volunteer visit the website.
Words: Brian Campbell / Illustration: Amy Hart / Photo of Sarah's Tree, the Meadows: Alex Orr.
References:
National World report: Wise Women Glasgow survey