Women's street watch 'consistently' abused by men
Women's Street WatchThe founder of a street watch group, which helps women on nights out, says men need to "call each other out" on misogynistic behaviour.
Women's Street Watch Newcastle was set up by Charlie following the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa in 2021 and provides a safe space in the city's Bigg Market.
Charlie said the group of volunteers was "consistently" being abused by men while doing their jobs, and two separate men acted threateningly towards her on Saturday night.
She said: "It doesn't really matter how women respond or react, things like catcalling, insulting women, or making jokes about their appearance is never to impress women - it's to impress men."
She said she had faced abuse at the end of her shift after a "hectic night", which left her "covered in vomit and blood from the women we'd been supporting".
As she was leaving the city centre, she said an unknown man came to her car window and verbally abused her with "such venom and hatred".
"It was completely unprovoked, I didn't ask him to move or beep at him, he wasn't in the way, and I don't even think he even knew I was associated with street watch," she said.
Charlie said the man "laughed and looked at his friends for a reaction, but they looked completely blank" and a woman walking with the group "looked utterly disgusted".
Women's Street WatchEarlier that night, she said a man had been holding on to their marquee and was told to stop because it was "really flimsy" and could fall down.
But she said he refused and "took a step forward", telling the group: "You can't tell me what to do."
She said when the group first acquired its van a year ago, a man had sat in the front while she was unloading it and refused to leave unless she "asked nicely" and "said please".
"If you were just walking through the street and sat in a man's car, would you expect him to say 'please' or would you expect him to throw you out?" she said.
"Women are held to different standards, we're expected to constantly be polite and never boundaried or firm - they feel like they can get away with it.
Women's Street WatchCharlie said the abuse had been "consistent over the five years we've been doing this" and believed this kind of behaviour was for other men's approval.
"It somehow shows to their friends how much status and power they have by dominating women for absolutely zero reason." She added "you can see it most in catcalling".
"No woman has ever been catcalled, walked over, and said, 'You absolutely seem like the sort of gentleman I would love to go home and spend the night with'.
"It doesn't work to pull women, it shows other men how macho, butch, and brilliant they are.
"Men need to call each other out on it, if every bloke stopped hanging out with his friends who were acting in this way, they would quickly stop."
The government has previously said that changing attitudes among boys and young men will be at the centre of its strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.
