Park signs update
So, a few days ago I found the wording on some signs in a park annoying. There had been an attempted rape and the park managers' response was to put up notices warning women not to walk by themselves in the park. Since I object to being told where I can and cannot go, and being implicitly blamed for being attacked if I don't follow someone else's rules, my housemate and I made some alternative signs reminding people through parody that if women in the park were being attacked, probably by a man or men, then the blame lay with the (probably male) attacker rather than their victims. (For a well-argued post about the pitfalls of putting the onus on women to protect themselves from violence, by such means as limiting their movements, please see livredor's thoughts here). It turned out quite a lot of you liked this approach! I honestly wasn't expecting so many people to respond, and I'm sorry not to reply to every single comment, but I've read and been heartened by all of them, apart from the occasional troll.
So, today I got a message from davinaj, who heads a charity which deals with violence against women. She saw the post, liked it, and circulated the link around some friends of hers. Including someone in New Scotland Yard, who apparently expressed concern at the way the park management was handling the situation. There followed, in her words 'a flurry of emails' and some words between Scotland Yard and the local police, who got in touch with the park management and persuaded them to take down the signs advising women not to walk alone, and to replace them with more neutrally-worded ones written by the police. The local police have also, if my understanding is correct, offered to organise a 'prevention day' event and liaise more closely with the parks.
I am rather bowled over by the strength of reaction to the post in general and also by the action taken by davinaj and her contacts in New Scotland Yard to put pressure on the original signmakers to be less victim-blaming in their approach. What I do hope, though, is that new, more neutral signs go up quickly rather than after a week of bureaucratic back-and-forth, preferably at the same time that the old ones are being taken down. I am not advocating for all warning signs to be removed: if a crime has been committed and is likely to happen again, people should know about it so they can make their minds up as to how they want to manage their own safety in that area. That might mean not walking by themselves, not walking at certain times of day or night, avoiding the area totally or trusting themselves to be able to fight off an attacker. One of the biggest reasons the original signs rankled so much was that they presumed to make that decision on behalf of female park users, rather than simply giving information regarding attacks and trusting people to make their own decisions.
So, I'm afraid there won't be any photos, as the signs will presumably be down/replaced by now. If new signs don't appear soon, maybe we should all go to the park (on, say, Sunday) and put up our own, and have a park-party while we're at it. What do you say? And what would your alternative signs say?
So, today I got a message from davinaj, who heads a charity which deals with violence against women. She saw the post, liked it, and circulated the link around some friends of hers. Including someone in New Scotland Yard, who apparently expressed concern at the way the park management was handling the situation. There followed, in her words 'a flurry of emails' and some words between Scotland Yard and the local police, who got in touch with the park management and persuaded them to take down the signs advising women not to walk alone, and to replace them with more neutrally-worded ones written by the police. The local police have also, if my understanding is correct, offered to organise a 'prevention day' event and liaise more closely with the parks.
I am rather bowled over by the strength of reaction to the post in general and also by the action taken by davinaj and her contacts in New Scotland Yard to put pressure on the original signmakers to be less victim-blaming in their approach. What I do hope, though, is that new, more neutral signs go up quickly rather than after a week of bureaucratic back-and-forth, preferably at the same time that the old ones are being taken down. I am not advocating for all warning signs to be removed: if a crime has been committed and is likely to happen again, people should know about it so they can make their minds up as to how they want to manage their own safety in that area. That might mean not walking by themselves, not walking at certain times of day or night, avoiding the area totally or trusting themselves to be able to fight off an attacker. One of the biggest reasons the original signs rankled so much was that they presumed to make that decision on behalf of female park users, rather than simply giving information regarding attacks and trusting people to make their own decisions.
So, I'm afraid there won't be any photos, as the signs will presumably be down/replaced by now. If new signs don't appear soon, maybe we should all go to the park (on, say, Sunday) and put up our own, and have a park-party while we're at it. What do you say? And what would your alternative signs say?