#4 NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS - WE'RE TIRED OF BEING NICE
Why we're tired of being nice, updates on our latest goings-on + our last newsletter of 2021!
Welcome to Visible Platform's newsletter, The Platform.
This newsletter was created as we thought it was important to keep you updated on our journey and share resources to help you recognise, cope with and heal from incidents of public harassment.
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December Reflections
So apparently 2021 is coming to a close? We don’t believe it! It feels like just last month we got out the novelty glasses and popped some champagne in the hope that 2021 would make the pandemic feel like a distant memory. We might have jinxed it.
We’re using our last newsletter of the year to share some of the biggest developments from Visible Platform over the past 12 months.
We’re also thinking about New Year’s resolutions. Whether you buy into the concept of a New Year New Me or not, we’ve found it a useful way to think about the changes we want to see in 2022, from the way authorities respond to violence against women and girls, to the ways we approach the subject.
Spoiler: We’re really tired of being nice 🙄 So we’re encouraging anyone following Visible Platform to join us in our New Years resolution of being less nice and more challenging. Unapologetically asking for more, asking for better, and believing our safety is enough to justify a reaction.
Visible Platform Team
Platform Updates:
Press, podcasts and features from 2021:
January: We officially trademarked #MindTheDataGap - this captures exactly what we’re trying to do: Closing the gender data gap on public transport 💪
February: We took part in the Women's Equality Party week of action! We created this post showing how London’s transport system was designed for men. Our co-founder also took part in a panel discussion with Our Streets Now, The British Transport Police and Cheer Up Luv.
March: Caroline Criado Perez mentioned us in her Invisible Women Newsletter - Making violence against women visible.
April: We spoke to My London - Meet the women tackling sexual harassment on transport as 1 in 5 reports come from girls wearing school uniform. We also launched our Tools & Resources to help survivors.
May: After lots of user research we relaunched our reporting form! We made the form shorter, more accessible and just better suited to capture your experience and let you get on with your day. It’s never been easier to Share Your Story with us.
June: We were thrilled to join the first Change Programme from We Make Change and Impactara. It was a great opportunity to learn from impact focused consultants. You can read more about this programme from our first newsletter!
July: The Change Programme was in full swing. We started iterating on our business strategy and finished our new and improved pitch deck! If there’s any VCs out there who would be interested in seeing our super cool new deck, let us know.
August: We talked to The TalkSafe Podcast. And we featured in a new documentary about sexual harassment underground. Psst go to 13:00 to see our bit!
September: We launched The Platform! Remember our first issue? So long ago! #1 SHE/HER/THEY
October: We teamed up with rev.sophie and bleaq_ to shine a light on the extent of harassment on public transport. Using one huge tube map, people were able to put a sticker on stations they had experienced harassment. We also chatted to an officer from Police Scotland to get all the deets on the reporting an incident to the police.
November: We contributed to research being done by the universities of Brighton, Roehampton & Plymouth for their Lockdown GBV Stories and shared our insights as part of Transport for West Midland’s "Tackling Violence Against Women & Girls” strategy. Our co-founder also spoke to to the BBC about the underreporting of harassment on public transport.
December: We talked to the Women of TIER podcast - Stay tuned for more info on our episode. To wrap up the year we published our ideal victim blog post, calling out the double standard of the criminal justice system. Give it a read and arm yourself with the right knowledge to enter 2022!
Tired of being nice 🙄
“…I smiled at the gross, stupid man on the bus, and made him think he could rub his stupid dick on me.”
This line is from the third season of Sex Education, which sees Aimee continue to process her experience of sexual harassment in the previous season. Sex Education gets so much right, we find ourselves clapping and crying at the scenes in equal measure. The storyline about Aimee and her experience of harassment on public transport, is so relatable and told with such honesty.
We’ve all done it. Smiled to try and diffuse a situation. Smiled and then blamed ourselves for the results. Been polite and understanding and forgiving when we actually wanted to scream. Nodded despite disagreeing. Said “I understand” whilst thinking what the hell?!
Many folks who have shared their stories with Visible Platform have told us all the ways they’ve reacted to harassment. These include nodding politely when a stranger showed them a dick pic, keeping up an anxious pleasant chat with a man who had his hand on their knee, and apologising to the police for “wasting their time”.
They’ve shared getting home and thinking “I wish I hadn’t done that, I wish I had said something. I wish I had demanded more. I wish I hadn’t been so nice”.
We hear you!
The amount of times we’ve been asked “Is harassment really an issue?” and pleasantly said “Um yes actually it is”, whilst thinking DO👏 YOU 👏 NOT 👏 READ 👏 THE 👏 FUCKING 👏 NEWS?! 👏
We do not blame women for trying to be nice in an effort to protect themselves. When you can’t trust infrastructure to support you, you aren’t left with many resources to alleviate threats. But this can’t be how we leave it. We’re calling it out, and putting the blame on societies and systems that diminish women’s coping mechanisms.
We’re tired of having the same conversations over and over again. We’re tired of calls to improve women’s safety being answered by a statement with no substance behind them. In 2022, we have no time for excuses or delays or false promises. We are unapologetically asking for more and asking for better.
Join us in being disruptive AF 🥂💥⚡️
The Platform Recommends:
📝 Action of the month: “Disabled people travel up to a third less than non-disabled people. This has an impact on access to employment, healthcare, education and social activities.”
‘it’s everyone’s journey’ brings together those who want to improve public transport for disabled people and deliver real change. There’s lots of information on how you can do your part to make a difference, from being mindful on your personal journeys to becoming a campaign partner.
👀 Check out this: Are you a transport professional? We can’t recommend the Gender Equality Toolkit In Transport (GET IT) enough. The toolkit provides guidance and resources to help you and your team better understand gender equality issues in transport, and how to actual use this knowledge in really practical ways day-to-day.
“Each of our eight points highlights a different area to help you consider what changes could be made in your work. Use this toolkit to challenge your assumptions and any unconscious bias that you may have. Not all points may be feasible or appropriate for all types of work. There is no set order, each point informs the others in some way.”
This is so important because “When planners fail to account for gender, public spaces become male spaces by default" - Caroline Criado Perez, Invisible Women.
👀 Check out the #IsThisOK? campaign from the Mayor of Greater Manchester. The campaign is aimed at men and boys to challenge the normalisation of harassment of women and girls in public spaces. We are loving finally seeing campaigns targeting the perpetrators of harassment, rather than those experiencing it.
💬 Read our latest blog post on The Ideal Victim - “There are still pervasive myths about the kind of woman who deserves the protection of the law.”
📞 Did you know you can text 999? This could come in handy if you’re ever in a situation where it’s not safe to call them. You just need to register your phone - it only takes a minute. Check out our explainer on Instagram!
Visible Platform is all about creating a community, so if you want to talk to us please email us on: info@visibleplatform.org
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