'Culture change' needed to make Wellington NZ's first sexual abuse free city
Students Sophie Lee, Leah Bell and Emily Blunt say Wellington can be a sexual violence free city.
Did you hear the one about the girl who walked into a bar and was sexually assaulted? It's no joke, it's an epidemic... so much so that one Kiwi city has a 10-year plan to stamp it out.
Jaimee Coulson was 16 when she first experienced a man in a bar sliding his hand up her skirt and forcing his fingers inside her. She had gone out with some friends, for a bit of a laugh, thinking she was so grown-up.
It's estimated there's at least 186,000 sexual offences in New Zealand each year – but only seven per cent of these are reported to the police.
Night time in Wellington is not a safe place, so the council is trying to change it.
The amount of sexual assaults and related offences is steadily increasing each year.
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ACC sensitive claims, involving attempted, threatened, or actual non-consensual sexual behaviour, for the first three months of 2018 jumped from to 2092 claims, from 1845 claims in the same period in 2017.
Wellington friends Sophie Lee, Emily Blunt and Leah Bell say girls get in to trouble when they're left alone by their friends.
Awareness is rising in the #MeToo climate. In an online survey completed by 1400 Kiwi respondents earlier this year, 53 per cent had experienced sexual assault, while 83 percent had experienced sexual harassment during high school or tertiary education years. That mirrors research in the United States which shows it is women between the ages of 18 and 22 that are most likely to be sexually assaulted.
The night that Coulson, now 22, was sexually assaulted she was wearing a short skirt on the dance floor, when out of nowhere she felt a finger run up her leg and inside her skirt. She says it happened so quickly she didn't know how to process what was happening to her.
"I feel violently ill and I'm shaking writing this, it feels like I'm right back at that exact point in time, having to relive it all over again."
Blunt, Bell and Lee all use a service called Sophie's Angels - a passenger service started by Sophie Denman, a 24-year-old Wellington woman striving to get women home safely.
"I felt so violated that day and it's a feeling that has stuck with me ever since. Every time I think of it, it's like it's happening to me all over again."
Sexual Abuse Prevention Network general manager Fiona McNamara thinks there needs to be a huge overhaul of Kiwi culture, so people are no longer assaulted.
She's optimistic and thinks it is do able.
Friends Lee, Bell and Blunt say they enjoy going out in Wellington, but would never leave a girl on her own.
"[It] means multiple initiatives happening at the same time," McNamara says.
"This means consent education and training that challenges problematic attitudes and beliefs and equips people with the skills to intervene when they see bad behaviour."
We need to knock down the barriers such as a lack of trust in the system, and people not wanting to tell their story multiple times, she says.
Women out late at night lived in a "climate of fear", says Wellington Sexual Abuse HELP chief executive Conor Twyford.
And making people feel they are safe talking to police about this, McNamara says.
The Wellington City Council is ambitiously trying to eliminate sexual violence from the city.
It wants to be the first city in the country, if not the world, that is rid of it. To achieve this lofty goal, the council has plonked to be sexual violence free into its 10-year-plan.
Sexual Abuse Prevention Network general manager Fiona McNamara says it's possible to make Wellington sexual violence free.
Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons, who holds the city safety portfolio, is like McNamara and thinks it's entirely possible.
Fitzsimons believes to legitimately attack the problem, it needs to be a holistic approach. It's plan has it working with stakeholders on specialist training programmes, increasing funding to local organisations working in this field, looking at behavioural change at its venues, and employing staff to oversee areas to reduce and prevent sexual violence. Its town planning team will champion a safe city through and champion urban design by placing an emphasis on safety, such up lit streets and alleys.
The council has for the first time ensured the stadium, the Basin Reserve Trust and the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency (which run the St James, The Opera House, TSB Arena and support the Homegrown festival) include in their statements of intent that the venues are harassment free, and will take active steps to prevent all forms of harassment.
Bell, Lee and Blunt say they still enjoy going out, even if they have to be careful.
"It's probably going to change as time goes on. We will see things that need to happen, and we will make changes as we have to," Fitzsimons says.
"All harassment is preventable. None of it is acceptable."
She's aware it is a huge task ahead of her, but that doesn't scare her.
However, Fitzsimons says the initial emphasis is going to be on the low-hanging fruit - the hospitality sector - including venues, like the stadium, that sell alcohol.
"We know that alcohol is a key risk factor. Most of the assaults that happen are on Allen St, Blair St, and Courtenay Place. And we have a lot of willing staff wanting to step up and train in the areas to prevent this happening."
Another 22-year-old, Abbey Palmer, says she gets sexually assaulted about eight out of 10 times when she goes to bars late at night.
It's the full spectrum from a bum grab, hands going up her skirt, to a crotch grab and trying to put their fingers inside of her.
One of the biggest issues is that females get ignored when it happens.
"One time I was in the line to get into a bar and I had a guy behind who started to reach up my dress slowly, hoping I wouldn't notice so he could slip his hand in and grab at me. I turned around and grabbed him by the throat and told him to never touch me again, he began running out of the bar and slipped past my grip," she says.
"I yelled at security and bar staff for help so they would chase him out, but they ignored me and pretended they didn't hear."
The council has partnered with the police on the social media campaign 'Don't Guess the Yes', which is focused on changing attitudes and behaviours.
It's also working with the hospitality industry and the Sexual Abuse Prevention Network to look at how licensed premises can support prevention.
The environment and attitudes are not good, Palmer says.
"Just a few weekends ago, I was on a club balcony sitting on a bar stool, and a guy ran his hand up my leg, and put it up my skirt,clawing at me as he walked past.
"When I screamed at him to get off me, he started mocking me saying "you violated me, that's sexual assault, I didn't touch you", and got his friends to join in. I moved away after seeing the look in his friend's eyes, fearing they would do worse to me."
Women out late at night live in a "climate of fear", says Wellington Sexual Abuse HELP chief executive Conor Twyford.
"Even if they haven't been directly assaulted themselves, they are bound to know someone who has," Twyford says.
"Everyone knows someone."
The #metoo movement made that fear even more poignant.
"It has really reinforced for women how prevalent sexual violence is."
For those directly affected by sexual violence, going out at night may be too much.
"Trauma means that a tone of voice or a look can be misinterpreted - or actually interpreted for exactly what it is.
"Trauma creates a hyper vigilant state that can turn a fun night out into a series of triggering events."
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HELP has proposed an accreditation scheme to target bars, businesses and schools to pilot a "Safe City" accreditation scheme, in the hope it could prevent sexual abuse, instead of remedying it after the fact.
But bar owners say they're shouldering the blame.
Hospitality New Zealand Wellington branch head Jeremy Smith says the industry doesn't want sexual violence happening either
"Our view is that the approach is all wrong," Smith says.
Sexual violence was happening on the streets and in peoples' homes, not in bars, he says.
Smith's not against an accreditation scheme, but is concerned about the cost to the hospitality industry.
Matt McLaughlin, who runs Four Kings, Electric Ave and The Pub on Wellington's Terrace, says the hospitality industry is already over-regulated.
He doesn't think there is an issue in Wellington.
The reality is that the industry wants to keep bars safe, because otherwise people wouldn't go out, he says.
"The hospitality industry does a fantastic job, and the city is safe."
Claudia Beaumont, 22, was in a bar one night when a middle-aged man brushed her breasts. When she turned around he frantically apologised.
A few minutes later he tapped her on the shoulder, saying "actually, I'm not sorry, it's not my fault your massive tits were in my face", and grabbed her bum with full force.
"When I yelled at him to get away from me, he said, "You could've at least sucked my dick" and then proceeded to tell me not to have a go at him because he would beat the shit out of me," Beaumont says.
"A few minutes later I saw the bartender laughing with him and staring in our direction."
Detective Sergeant Ben Quinn, says the police support the goal to eliminate sexual violence.
They are working with the council, the Hospitality Association and a number of bars to help people prevent, be aware of and report sexual offending.
"We are already working closely with the Wellington City Council, the Sexual Abuse Prevention Network, representatives from Hospitality Association of NZ and a number of bars to help people prevent, be aware of and report sexual offending at the city's night spots.
"We want everyone to feel safe and be safe in our communities."
- Sunday Star Times
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