Men and women across South Yorkshire asked to intervene and 'call out' unacceptable behaviour on nights out

The No More campaign

Taking action and ‘calling out’ those responsible for everything from harassment, humiliation and intimidation through to violence and sexual assaults, is one of the central tenets of a new campaign which hopes to stamp out violence inflicted upon women and girls in South Yorkshire at the root.

Titled ‘No More,’ the campaign is predominantly focused on the types of unacceptable behaviours and, what a spokesperson terms as, ‘microaggressions’ inflicted mainly upon women as they try and enjoy the county’s hospitality venues as part of the nighttime economy.

It calls upon both men and women across South Yorkshire to become ‘bystanders’ who are willing to do what they can to stand up for, and protect, victims – even if it means telling a friend or a stranger that the way they are acting is out of line.

‘Every woman I know has a story of a man who’s made them feel uncomfortable’

Those involved with the campaign say it has been informed, and shaped, by the stories and experiences of more than 140 women in Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster.

One such woman is 25-year-old Becca Butcher, who believes issues around harassment, violence and the other types of behaviours targeted by the campaign are endemic in modern society.

“Every woman I know has a story of a man who’s made them feel uncomfortable or shouted at them in the street or who has left a comment on their Instagram which has made them feel very unsafe or uncomfortable or sexualised when they didn’t want to be. It is a big deal and I’m hoping that future generations won’t have to go through that. I have a younger sister and I would hate to think that this has happened to her,” said Becca, of Barnsley.

“What really interested me was that they [those responsible for the campaign] were doing this for women’s safety, to raise awareness about harassment against women in the street and online because that’s happened to me and I wanted to help women who have gone through it so they don’t feel alone, and to feel validated that what happened to them wasn’t okay.”

Commenting on the campaign’s principle that unacceptable behaviour needs to be called out, Becca said: “I think it should be on men to call out other men and say it’s not okay. Because they’re obviously not going to listen to women when we say it’s not okay but they might listen to their friends if their friends see it happen.”

“I think it will always be hard to call it out when you see it, it’s always an uncomfortable situation to be in. But it’s better to be in that uncomfortable situation than to let it escalate to violence later down the line.”

Experiences of women from across county helped to shape the campaign

The experiences of the women involved are also being used as eye-catching and bold slogans on posters that will be distributed across the county, as a way of highlighting the type of behaviours that a campaign spokesperson said ‘too many women and girls’ are subjected to on nights out.

They include: "I said we could dance, not dry hump."

"No more pressing against me at the bar."

"I didn’t ask how my boobs look."

"No more d**k pics."

Funded by the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings, and delivered by South Yorkshire Police, the campaign has been developed with input from the force's Independent Advisory Group for Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), made up of those who have lived experience of VAWG, or who work in organisations that support women and girls who have experienced this type of violence.

South Yorkshire Police Assistant Chief Constable, Sarah Poolman, said that just as it is important that both men and women are involved in what the campaign terms as the ‘fightback’ against inappropriate behaviour, it is also important that both men and women’s voices are heard when discussing how best to tackle it.

She said: “I think there’s a solidarity piece for men to stand alongside women to say: ‘Okay, we don’t want our mums, our sisters, our daughters to be treated like this’.

“So it’s that solidarity, and that gives real strength to the campaign. Now, you’ll see the first phase focuses predominantly on the female voice, the woman’s voice, but actually we’re looking at Phase Two of the campaign to include the male voice much more strongly to bring out the male voice, to stand up for your females.”

A shift in attitudes

The campaign video, which was launched on Monday, poses the question ‘why is it always on’ women to modify their behaviour, as opposed to the actions of those responsible being scrutinised.

Given SYP’s work on the campaign, I asked both Chf Con Poolman and Dr Billings whether the inclusion of this sentiment marked a shift in police attitudes towards harassment and violence against women.

“I think it does mark a real shift in policing, towards a more suspect-centric approach as well as that need for society to say it’s not a women’s issue, and actually we should feel safe. But don’t throw everything out,” said Chf Con Poolman, adding that women should still take steps such as travelling in groups at night and covering their drinks to ensure their safety.

She continued: “If you talk about burglaries, you wouldn’t say: ‘Well let’s not lock our doors anymore, so I think there is something about being sensible, that common sense approach.”

Dr Billings added: “I think it recognises that has been the emphasis before, the focus has been on the victim taking care of their own safety, and that’s unfair, that’s not right, and so this a way of trying to break that, and say: ‘Look, come off it’ – to males in particular – ‘it shouldn’t be like that. Women shouldn’t have to behave in those sorts of ways, and so that’s the idea of it - to break something that up until now has been the normalised behaviour.”

‘If you’re not practicing what you’re preaching that undermines the campaign’

Chf Con Poolman also revealed that a parallel campaign is running within SYP to raise awareness of unacceptable behaviours among staff within the force.

She said: “It’s to raise awareness among our colleagues that what might appear to you as a bit of a joke, probably isn’t for the person on the receiving end. And so anyone thinking about embarking on that sort of behaviour and I am talking about the lower end of stuff because I hope, well I know, that all of my officers know that sexual harassment, sexual assaults, all of that stuff, is totally unacceptable. It’s a criminal offence and would result in gross misconduct. It’s that lower end banter, and making sure they know where that line is too.”

Dr Billing said of the parallel campaign aimed at SYP staff: “There’s no point in saying all of this to the public with this poster campaign if you’re not also doing something in the force itself. So the force at the moment is having a look at its whole values of what it thinks are important, and what it thinks have to be emphasised, and so there is a huge emphasis on this work within the force itself, because otherwise you’re not practising what you’re preaching and that undermines this campaign, and any other campaign.”