In Sheffield, harassment is not uncommon. A student described to us a situation where a man followed them from Crookes to West Street. He was persistent in following, asking for their Instagram. Not knowing how to get rid of him, they gave it over to make it stop.
Catcalls of Sheffield are an intersectional, non-profit campaign working to tackle harassment in Sheffield streets and beyond. They told us that many testimonials they receive are about obsessive behaviour like stalking. They gave an example of an experience they chalked on Gell Street, where someone was followed by a man in a car.
Another testimony was someone walking towards The Moor. Two guys started walking behind them saying they’re “hot” and “you don’t see girls like that in Leeds”. They were really uncomfortable, and ducked into the nearest shoe shop so they couldn’t continue following.
Beyond Sheffield, there have been several cases of harassment recently.
Tennis player Emma Raducanu was stalked at the Dubai Championships which started on 14th February. A man displayed fixated behaviour, approaching her close to the site, and later gave her a letter. At her next match, she spotted him and he was detained by the police.
Jaysley Beck, Royal Artillery Gunner, filed a complaint after superiors showed obsessive behaviour and sexually assaulted her. In 2021, she was found dead.
On Thursday 20th February, Assistant Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg ruled she died by suicide, and that the Army’s mishandling of it had “more than a minimal contributory part in her death”.
We asked Catcalls of Sheffield how common these experiences are and what they are doing to combat this.
They said that harassment cases are probably much higher: “The submissions we receive only represent a small fraction of the incidents of harassment that occur in Sheffield,
“And that the true number of cases is likely to be much higher.”
We reached out to SU officers Annie Henderson (Wellbeing and Sports Officer) and Nadya Ghani (Welfare and Sustainability Officer) to find out about support services.
They emphasised that they are not trained to give this advice, but wanted to share the available resources.
SafeZone is an app which can help if emergency, non-urgent or first-aid is required. Its emergency button can be used on campus, which sends your location to security.
It can be used off campus too, but will directly call the nearest emergency service. It has other resources which they recommend checking out.
‘Strut Safe’ is a UK wide phone line you can use if walking alone. Their volunteers will make you feel safe until you’re home. Find more details here: https://strutsafe.org.
We asked Catcalls of Sheffield for their advice. They said: “we want people to know that it is never their fault if they have been stalked or followed.”
When asked what support there is, they told us that the university has Sexual Violence Liason Officers (SVLOs). They can be contacted by submitting a disclosure via their report and support form.
On the Catcalls of Sheffield website and Linktree, there are links to support services.
They said: “when compiling the list, it was important to include a range of options which specialise in providing different services.”
It includes self-help guides, phone lines, male receptors, and women of colour who have experienced harassment.
Finally, we asked what their main message is around combating harassment. They said: “all forms of harassment are equally valid and deserve to be addressed.”
They want to: “move the focus onto the perpetrators of harassment, the individuals and systems which enable it to keep occurring,
“Rather than perpetuating victim-blaming responses.”
Find them on Instagram @catcallsofsheff. More support services are available on Where to get support.
Image credit: Catcalls of Sheffield
