Step out, speak up, and show violence the door
Here, NUS Wales president Beth Button tells how she was followed, harassed and attacked on her way home from a night out. Tonight she will join a march in Cardiff calling for an end to violence against women. Cathy Owen reports...
THE president of NUS Wales has spoken about the time she was attacked while walking home from a night out.
Beth Button has blogged about her experience as she prepares to take part in a march in Cardiff calling for an end to violence again women.
Hundreds of protesters are expected to gather in The Hayes for the Reclaim the Night Wales event this evening.
Beth, who has waived her right to anonymity, has been explaining why she is taking part in her blog, and why she didn’t initially report her attack in Cardiff.
“A few years ago I was followed home, harassed and then attacked after a night out,” she said.
“It took me a few weeks to really come to terms with what had happened, I was wary of going to the police, and it was only after having a panic attack in the middle of the university library after someone tapped me on the shoulder that I finally approached my personal tutor for help.
“I’d kept quiet as I was ashamed. I genuinely believed that by choosing to walk home by myself, I was to blame. That the dress I had been wearing meant I had somehow deserved it. That it was my fault because I’d drunk too much.
“I had listened to the constant stream of messages that society throws at us which tell us that when we are harassed, when we are attacked, when we are raped, that it is somehow our fault.”
She said it took her “far too long” to stop blaming herself and to understand that it was because “the man who did it decided to.”
Reclaim the Night is an annual event that takes place all across the UK. It is an opportunity for people to come together to make a stand against violence against women. It is an international movement demanding an end to sexual violence, street harassment and victim-blaming.
Beth said what really helped her was a similar march three years ago.
“It truly helped me to challenge my own perceptions, to understand that no woman is to blame for actions against them, and that our right to be safe should not depend on what we are wearing, or where we are walking,” she said. sexual violence, and to make sure their stories, and these issues, don’t stay behind closed doors.”
NUS Wales Women’s Officer Rosie Inman said: “Reclaim the Night is an opportunity for women to come together and make a loud statement that sexual harassment and violence are not acceptable. One in five women have experienced some form of sexual violence and it’s especially prevalent among younger women, yet our conviction rate continues to be one of the lowest in Europe.”
Research shows that 95% of women don’t feel safe walking the streets at night.
Reclaim the Night is open to both genders and starts on The Hayes, Cardiff, from 7pm.