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Women in Guernsey have started using a global website to record their experiences of sexual assault and harassment locally.
“She’s A Crowd” allows users to share their stories and pin them to the location of incidents of assault or harassment - or to mark a location as ‘safe’.
Guernsey has six incidents logged so far and no safe markers. Alderney has one incident and one safe marker. Jersey has seven incidents and two safe markers.
The website was launched in Australia and allows users to share a story from anywhere in the world.
Users are asked to log details such as the date, time of day and location of the incident they are reporting and the nature of the incident. But all sections are optional - so the user can decide how much information to share.
Pictured: Incidents have been logged in Jersey (top), Guernsey (bottom left) and Alderney (bottom right).
Guernsey Women’s Collective co-founder, Daisy Chapple, shared the website on social media locally and has encouraged islanders to share their experiences.
“She’s A Crowd is a fantastic tool for anyone who has been a victim of assault, cat calling, abuse, intimidation and a host of other things,” said Ms Chapple.
The issue of sexual assault, harassment and abuse against women has received higher profile in Guernsey since police officer Wayne Couzens murdered Sarah Everard in London in March 2021. A vigil was held in Guernsey on 23 March 2021, during which victims of sexual assault and abuse shared their stories.
“I think it could be a great way of realizing the extent of problem behaviours in your area, considering a lot of these events are unreported for a multitude of reasons," said Ms Chapple.
"I think it’s so important to be able to see just how large an issue this is as I think there is a narrative that low rates of conviction equate to low rates of assaults.
"We saw with the vigil last year that this simply isn’t true and this website could really help to highlight that."
Pictured: A vigil held in memory of Sarah Everard in Guernsey in March 2021.
Chief Officer Ruari Hardy, Head of Law Enforcement, said it is unacceptable for women to feel unsafe.
“We need to listen to our community and work together to foster greater support for women and give them reassurance that they will be safe,” he said.
Several initiatives related to sexual assault were launched in the island last year, including the BE LADS educational campaign, the Girls Night In boycott of pubs and clubs in Town and the Police's Show Some Respect campaign.
Pictured: Deputy Prow, President of the Committee for Home Affairs.
Deputy Rob Prow, President of the Committee for Home Affairs, has said: “Our Committee is wholly committed to doing everything we can to support the victims of sexual abuse and violence and supporting law enforcement in having the necessary legal tools to make people as safe as possible.
“This is one of our key priority areas for this political term, as evidenced by our representations under the Government Work Plan, including progressing the development of a Sexual Assault Referral Clinic.”
She’s A Crowd can be accessed HERE.
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