An interactive map which digitally earmarks where women feel unsafe was launched in Melbourne recently. The app aims to empower, and encourage safety, and users can drop a pin on a location and describe an unsafe experience.
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The online map was launched by Plan International Australia, after the organisation’s research found one in three women aged between 15 and 19 didn’t feel safe coming into the city after dark. Growing up in Melbourne, I was definitely one of the fearful third.
Late-night public transport often meant leering drunk men on seemingly interminable rides home and walks back from the station clutching my keys in my hand as a defence mechanism. However, stalking experiences are by no means relegated to night time. Men have followed me home from the train station in broad daylight, I’ve been circled by a creep on a bike as an intimidation tactic in the morning, and been cat-called in thick, sun-drenched crowds.
And these experiences are not unique. I doubt they place me in a minority – bring together any group of women and most, if not all, are likely to have dealt with some form of stalking or harassment at the very least once. But interactive maps are just one way women are being protected through technology and transport – there are also places with female-only train carriages and ride-sharing services exclusively for women.
These are admirable initiatives. But they are indicative of an extremely disturbing culture which tells half the population they are likely unsafe past a certain hour. Then, there is the antiquated, and both appreciated and frustrating practice, of being walked home past dusk by a male friend who feels obligated to ensure safe arrival.
It’s distressing to know a culture where boundaries are still not understood can warrant a chaperone.
- Tamara McDonald