By Laurette Duranel
Published on
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Contacted by the festival of Sound nights to ensure the tranquility of party girls, they watched over the exit of the Fagor Factories for several nights.
They are the volunteers of Safe Women Walk Lyon, a group recently created to establish solidarity between Lyonnaises and allow them to return to safety at night.
After this first concluding partnership with the festival, the four founding members wish to renew the operation. We have met them.
Against street harassment
As amazing as it sounds, the idea originated in the mind of Alexis, a 28-year-old communications student, after a close friend of hers had a traumatic experience. “One evening around 10-23 pm, while she was returning home in the Garibaldi district, she was followed by two guys, one of them put his hand on her buttocks before finally leaving her alone. . She was very scared, ”he says.
Shocked and sensitive to street harassment, Alexis wants to take action. After some research, he came across a support network between women in Rennes and said to himself “why not create a similar one in Lyon”. This is how the Safe Women walk Lyon group was born in October 2020.
He is quickly joined by two of his friends, Pauline and Anabelle, 22 years old. Word of mouth quickly started to work and the Facebook group grew. He is notably joined by Sabrina, 24, reassured to be able to count on other women to come home in the evening. “I am from Besançon, I didn’t know anyone when I arrived in Lyon, she explains, just knowing that there is this group, that can motivate some women to go out”.
Every week when we go out we get pissed off. It could be a guy who looks weird, another who insults or harasses.
“We see hard stuff, there are crazy people everywhere,” continues Alexis. So against these attacks, the best solution in their eyes is to “put the Lyonnaises in touch with each other to create a network of girls who help each other naturally ”, even if“ it’s sad to need a group like that, ”breathes the group of friends.
A secure network
It is on purpose that the young volunteers have chosen to develop the community on Facebook. “It is the only social network that allows you to sort the members of the group”, explains Pauline. And this sorting is absolutely necessary: ”We cannot afford that a perverted guy can have access to the addresses”, continues Alexis the founder, who is the only man admitted to the group. To gain confidence in young women, he steps aside and only takes care of the moderation of the page.
The four volunteers take turns to sort out new Internet users: “we check all the profiles so as not to endanger the girls,” says Sabrina. Age of the account, photos, comments … Everything is combed through to be sure that it is indeed a woman and not a fake account. “It was super important for us”.
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Shared journeys between women
Once integrated into the network, young Lyonnaises are free to post messages mentioning their neighborhood or their place of outing. If other women go out in the same area, then they can make an appointment to make the return trip together.
In the future, the group which is in the process of forming an association, would like set up an application to further facilitate the exchange and reach a younger audience than that of Facebook. But at the moment, the team faces a lack of skills and funds to design it. Alexis is more skeptical: “creating an application would mean monetizing the service and I don’t see myself doing that”.
While waiting for help on this matter, the partners are full of ideas to bring more peace to the Lyonnaises. “We would like make partnerships with bars, restaurants where the girls could take refuge if they do not feel safe, ”explains Pauline.
Why not also “go out of clubs or to targeted events such as festivals in Lyon” to connect women who wish to return in groups, as has been done recently on the occasion of the Nuits de Fourvière.
It could also help alcoholic women to come back home without making them feel guilty.
Being present at these events is all the more relevant as it allows at the same time to exchange with men and to raise their awareness on these subjects. “During the Nuits Sonores, we were able to discuss with some guys who supported our initiative, it’s nice,” smiles Alexis. And Pauline adds: “we want to keep the mix so as not to further widen the gap between our two sexes”.
A vast project that does not frighten them.
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