Pin Up Girl raising awareness after recent series of attacks
Women sporting red buttons to display willingness to help others in distress
Advocates working to end gender-based violence are asking Calgary women to keep a watchful eye out for each other after a spate of recent attacks in the city.
Two women with Calgary-based advocacy group Pin Up Girl spent Sunday morning handing out pins to passersby at Tomkins Park along 17th Avenue S.W. as part of a rally for safer streets. The group distributes the red pins for women to broadcast themselves as a resource to women in distress who feel unsafe, are being followed or simply need to make a phone call.
“When you see a woman wearing a Pin Up Girl pin, we are a safe space,” said board member Rummy Rendina.
Rendina and Steph Colangeli, another founding member of the organization, said recent events, including the murder of 30-yearold Vanessa Ladouceur in the Beltline in March, spurred them to take action.
“We know that the more of us there are wearing these pins, the safer all of us can be. And not just women, everyone — it increases safety for everybody,” said Colangeli.
Multiple instances of violence against women have made headlines in Calgary over the past month. Ladouceur was walking to work early March 18 when she was fatally stabbed in a random attack. Michael John Adenyi, 26, is charged with first-degree murder in relation to her death.
Police also charged a man Saturday
in relation to an April 2 incident in which at least five women in the city's East Village and downtown were groped within a 30-minute period.
That incident followed news of a former Calgary teacher being charged in March in relation to a string of sexual assaults that targeted women at personal care businesses across the city.
“We don't want this anymore. Why can we not walk down the street and feel safe and free? Why can we not walk to work at 6:30 a.m. and not worry about our safety? That's ridiculous. Enough is enough,” said Rendina.
On Thursday, a woman spoke publicly after an officer left her waiting when she reported a man had stalked her and exposed himself to her. She said she initially saw a man in a white truck following her down 4th Street S.W.
When she got close to 20th Avenue, the man driving the vehicle attempted to speak to her while he was engaged in an “indecent act,” police said.
The victim screamed and the man fled south in his vehicle.
“He was fully unclothed from the waist down and was completely masturbating,” the victim said in a Tiktok video that has been viewed more than 750,000 times. Postmedia attempted to contact the woman but did not receive a response.
Megan Walsh, who saw the tail end of the incident from across the street, told Postmedia she accompanied the victim as she called 911 and waited with her for an officer to arrive. She said she heard the dispatcher confirm that an officer would be there. Walsh said 40 minutes passed before “a police officer calls her and says, `Can we do this over the phone?' ” Walsh said.
Walsh said the woman asked if an officer was still coming.
“He said, `Well, someone can come. You know, I can come, I guess, I just started my shift though. Did the dispatcher say someone was coming?' ”
The victim got a ride home from a friend and filed a police report later that day. Walsh filed a complaint against the Calgary police.
On Saturday, police charged 28-year-old Ryan Jose with one count of committing an indecent act. He's scheduled to appear in court May 3.
“Every Calgarian should feel safe walking anywhere in our city and we are working with our community to ensure our response to issues meets their needs,” said the police service in a statement.
“We acknowledge that there were frustrations regarding our response time to this incident and we are working to determine exactly what occurred. We thank the victim for providing exceptional detail about the suspect and the suspect's vehicle licence plate in what was a stressful and disturbing situation.”
Rendina and Colangeli commended Walsh's actions in staying with the victim until she found a safe ride home, but said there's more work to be done by organizations like Pin Up Girl.
“The more we talk to people, the more we do things like this, the less likely we hope these events are to occur,” said Colangeli.