Sarah Everard and Women’s Safety

Following the discovery of the body of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old woman living in the UK, the debate on women’s safety has been revived as many women reveal their sexual assault experiences.

Cora Perkins|March 17, 2021

More times than not, when women come forward about their experiences with sexual assault, they are met with the phrases, “Boys will be boys” or “You should have protected yourself better”. This sign shows that women are tired of hearing those words and instead want those who are guilty of sexual assault to be held accountable and for boys to be educated. (Photo by Michelle Ding on Unsplash)

Everard went missing on March 3^rd after she left a friend’s house in South London to make her 2.5-mile journey home. A little over a week later, on March 12, her remains were found more than 50 miles from where she was seen last. The one being charged with the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard is a London Metropolitan Police Officer, someone who should have been one to protect her.

More times than not, in a situation that involves sexual harassment and/or assault, many point the blame to the victim. What were they wearing? Were they careful? Could they have been asking for it? However, in the case of Sarah Everard, she was doing everything she was “supposed to”, and even then, it wasn’t enough to save her. She wore bright clothing, walked on a main, lit road, and called her boyfriend to let him know where she was.

Pictured above is Sarah Everard, a 33 year old woman living in South London. She was declared missing on March 3 and then found a week later after being sexually assaulted and murdered by a police officer. (tnkvrt on Instagram)

The untimely death of Everard left many women to feel unsafe and has now become somewhat politicized, whether that be a good thing or not. As more and more women have found the courage to share their experiences with harassment that they faced, one could say that this has sparked a social movement. This is shown from the amount of people that had gathered for a makeshift memorial on Saturday. The memorial was held in Clapham, South London, the last spot that Everard had been seen alive. The vigil that had started out peaceful turned violent after the police interfered and tried to disperse the mourners because of Covid-19 restrictions.

Many women were arrested during the vigil in London for the loss of Sarah Everard as they used it as a time to protest. The police tried to interfere, but turned to force and placed many protestors into custody. (time on Instagram)

The mourners then began shouting, “Arrest your own!” and “Shame on you!” as they were pulled away from the memorial by the police and then arrested.

As women begin to come forward about their experiences, it becomes even more apparent that there is a big issue with sexual harassment, not only in the UK, but worldwide. In a poll from the UN Women UK website, it is shown that over 70% of women surveyed have faced sexual harassment in public in the UK. In fact, only around 3% of women surveyed said to have not faced any form of harassment. Many women, including Ava Fisher, a student at Lafayette, feel unsafe walking alone by themselves at night, “Especially with the amount of news coverage on girls getting murdered or sexually assaulted from just walking alone at night, I don’t feel safe at all,” she said.

Cora Perkins — As more cases of violence against women are reported, many women recommend keeping forms of self defense on them at all times. This includes pepper spray, tasers, or keychain knuckle weapons like the one shown above. (Cora)

This leads to the question: What can be done to prevent more deaths like that of Sarah Everard? Perhaps the most obvious answer is to never walk alone at night, or to make sure to always be in well-lit areas. However, women all over the world are wondering why they should be responsible for changing their ways in order to remain safe. Should women have to sacrifice their freedoms in order to have safety? When asked this, Ava replied, “I wish we didn’t have to have methods to keep us safe, I wish men would discuss methods where they don’t hurt women.” She went on to say,” With that not being a current possibility, walk with your keys in between your fingers, keep pepper spray, things like that.”

Time and time again women are told to stop their normal practices, such as going on a run alone or wearing more revealing clothing, so that they won’t be harassed. However, instead of teaching women what they should or should not do as a way to protect themselves from assault, perhaps society should be educating men and women alike on consent. It’s as easy as typing in a few words into the search bar, but many go straight to dismissing these experiences instead of trying to learn how to help. Alaynna Gerron, another student at Lafayette, believes that the only way to truly educate men is to force them to listen. “Tell them your stories, they should listen to them and listen to our advice on how to make women more comfortable,” said Gerron.

As more and more women internationally come out about their encounters with harassment, the UK and the rest of the world grasp the idea that there is an issue with women’s safety that grows everyday.