VIGIL IN THE CITY

A GROUP of women and some men held a socially-distanced walk through the city centre this week, before leaving candles and placards outside the police station in Hinckley Road.

The vigil came amid nationwide calls for the streets to be made safer for women.

One of the organisers of the vigil, a 39-year-old survivor of domestic abuse, said: “I think because things like this have gone on for so long, I’ve become desensitised to it all, but I’m glad people are trying to do something about it now.”

She said “blame culture” – women being told that if they are attacked, it is somehow their fault – was still very prominent today.

“I think the blame has been put on to women for so long, it’s so deeply ingrained,” she said. “I wouldn’t even think about going out late because that’s what I’ve been told.

“Some women still say, ‘Oh, you probably shouldn’t be walking through a park that late’. But men aren’t told the same thing.”

She said it was not up to women to make changes to the way they lived in order to avoid being attacked.

“We need to educate people from a young age,” she said. “People worry about using language like ‘abuse’ and ‘sexual harassment’ around kids, but I think being aware can empower them.”

Glad to see men taking part in Monday’s walk, the woman said male allies were an important part of seeing any societal change.

She said: “It’s everyone’s responsibility to deal with toxic attitudes towards women.”

A woman who has worked in a bar in the city centre for several years said she had seen and experienced abuse.

The 26-year-old was a victim of sexual assault as a teenager and said, years later, she continued to deal with mental health issues as a result of the assault.

She said: “It’s everyone’s responsibility to deal with toxic attitudes towards women.

“Men should be calling out their friends when they see they’re doing something wrong and not pass it off as playful banter.”

She said education was the “most crucial thing”.

Izzie, 27, said she first experienced harassment at the age of 11.

To her, the vigil held in Leicester felt like a memorial for all victims of abuse and violence. But she said it was “disappointing” it took the death of Sarah Everard before women’s voices were starting to be heard.