Why is Sarah Everard’s tragic death causing a stir on Twitter?
It’s an unfortunate fact of being a woman that you have to look at the world in suspicion. You have personal rules about being out at night and plans to make sure you get home safely without being harassed or hurt. The case of Sarah Everard, a young London woman who was kidnapped & murdered while walking home at night, is a familiar tale, but one that has struck a chord with women everywhere.
This was mainly because Sarah Everard did everything right. She wore bright clothing, walked in a well lit area, and was trying to get home before 12 am. She talked to her boyfriend on the phone as she walked, but kept an eye out. Nothing should have happened to her. Now, however, her body was found in Kent and a police officer has been arrested for her murder.
Women have now took to Twitter, using the hashtag #shewaswalkinghome to discuss the Sarah Everard case. Because it’s really scary. Here was a woman who did everything she was supposed to, yet she was still murdered. Let’s take a look at some of the tweets from that tag.
If you have heard about Sarah in the news, she was only just walking home.
Please put this setting on your phone, it’s another barrier to help keep you safe. Especially if you’re out late at night. #saraheverand pic.twitter.com/Z9QtnS6781
— Miss Young (@MissYoung_PE) March 11, 2021
A tip for users
Emergency SOS is a helpful feature on phones that allows for alerts to be sent from your phone if you’re in danger, and one that most people unfortunately haven’t heard much about. Above, you can see how to use Emergency SOS on your iPhone. In addition, there are various personal safety apps that can be downloaded from the Google Play store if you don’t have an iPhone.
Very hard not to be thinking of Sarah Everard today. She’s almost my age and she was walking home at 9PM, something I (normally) do myself. Lots of women on my timeline seem particularly affected by this and there is a very simple reason: we know this could have been us.
— Dr Natalie Jester (@NatalieJester) March 10, 2021
Everything right
Part of the reason the Sarah Everard case resonates, again, is that she did everything correctly. She walked down a well lit street around 9pm. She was careful. Yet, she was still taken. It just makes you feel so very unsafe.
Very hard not to be thinking of Sarah Everard today. She’s almost my age and she was walking home at 9PM, something I (normally) do myself. Lots of women on my timeline seem particularly affected by this and there is a very simple reason: we know this could have been us.
— Dr Natalie Jester (@NatalieJester) March 10, 2021
It’s not on women
Questions people have asked, such as: “why didn’t she call a cab?”, aren’t the issue here. If you can’t expect to get home safe, then what can you expect from the world? Women are doing all that they can, but everyone else needs to open their eyes on the fact that it’s not on women to do everything.
I hadn’t thought about how accepting I am that I am ‘at risk’ when I’m on my own. Carrying keys in my fist, photographing cab badges, ringing someone to talk to, planning how to react if attacked. It shouldn’t be normal, but it clearly is and it’s not just me! #shewaswalkinghome
— Amanda Race (@raceyamanda) March 11, 2021
This should not be normal behavior
Women are sharing how messed up it is in regard to the caution that they have to take with making sure they get home safe. And they are right.
Approx 2 weeks ago, a male friend told me he was going for a run. It was 8pm.
I said I was jealous – he assumed I was feeling lazy.
I explained that it’s simply not safe for me to run alone at night.
It genuinely didn’t occur to him – that’s male privilege.#shewaswalkinghome— N A O M I ✌🏽 #BLM (@its_na_omi) March 11, 2021
A realization
Seriously, though, a woman running alone in the day feels like a risk enough. Add in a night run? It just feels like asking for danger to happen, which is not fair.
at 15 years old I was followed, grabbed, dragged towards a car and then chased down a street by an unknown man in broad daylight – in my school uniform. don’t you dare try and tell me women are putting themselves at risk. #shewaswalkinghome
— mol (@mollyrushforth_) March 11, 2021
All. Too. Common.
Finally, women are sharing their own stories of being harassed and assaulted while walking. This shows that this behavior needs to be corrected. Something needs to be done. And it comes down to educating your sons in order to protect your daughters.
