{"id":4577,"date":"2021-11-16T08:40:51","date_gmt":"2021-11-16T08:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/?p=4577"},"modified":"2021-11-30T09:24:14","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T09:24:14","slug":"will-women-ever-be-safe-do-venues-do-enough-to-protect-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/eventsglos\/2021\/11\/16\/will-women-ever-be-safe-do-venues-do-enough-to-protect-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Women Ever be Safe? Do venues do enough to protect us?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Women have the same rights to go out and have a fun, safe night, as men do… so why can’t they?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We are currently experiencing one of the worst spiking epidemics in recent history, with spiking becoming more tactical than ever before. Since August 21st 2021, there have been 198 reported cases<\/a> of drink spiking across the UK. This figure is likely to be more, with many more unreported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside this, there have been 24 reported cases of spiking via injection<\/a>, an extremely scary phenomenon particularly due to the HIV risk and reuse of needles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Created with Canva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Girls so commonly get their bags searched – why do we not see similar for men?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So… whose responsibility is it to keep women safe? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Door staff and security must obtain an SIA License, but this isn\u2019t club specific. Security staff are taught with on-the-job training, meaning that there is no industry standard for dealing with issues such as spiking and women\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to female security staff, we’ve had a first hand report of male security staffs’ response to spiking. Once confirming a girl is conscious, they will give her a bottle of water and escort her off the premises. Male staff may not realise the danger of this, but only 7% of security staff are female<\/a>, so the cycle continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With regards to club owners, whether or not they will admit it, drugs are a massive part of the nightlife economy, despite the many legal implications they hold. More robust searches for drugs would be detrimental to income. As a result, it’s impossible to implement searches for date-rape drugs without threatening the revenue stream. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Licensing Act 2003<\/a>, both security staff and venue owners should be taking steps to help those who suspect that they have been spiked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Act states that the spiking should be reported to the police, and that there should be a \u2018chill out\u2019 area for victims to sit safely in. While some venues do have this, it can be few and far between because there is no risk of losing license when cases of spiking are reported on premise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Girl’s Night In<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Girls Night In movement was a nightclub boycott that was result of girls wanting to make a stand against spiking. In total, over 50 universities across the country took part in the movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movement gained a huge amount of traction. For example, 31 societies from the University of Gloucestershire took part in the boycott, in solidarity for the fight against spiking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A post shared by \ud83d\udc9f GLOS NIGHT IN \ud83d\udc9f (@glosnightin)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>