Girls Night In group hope repeat is not necessary
HUNDREDS of women are thought to have stayed home on Friday night rather than go in to Town in support of the Girls Night In campaign.
The boycott of nightclubs and pubs was called to highlight problems that women can experience on a night out, such as harassment and assault, but mainly drink spiking, which has come to prominence in news stories recently and which led to a similar campaign in the UK.
It was the UK event that inspired organisers to try the same thing in Guernsey.
‘We were absolutely thrilled,’ said one of them on Saturday. ‘It was fantastic to see all the pictures coming through last night.
‘We had a lot of girls message us pictures to show groups of them staying at home.’
Someone who worked at Folies said the club was quieter than usual and there were a lot fewer women than usual.
The campaign’s Instagram page attracted more than 1,100 followers and it was there that photos were shared.
The evening of 19 November was picked at random and it was a coincidence that it happened to be on the same date as International Men’s Day, said the organiser.
There has been support from venues, too, and some have introduced a safe word system, where someone concerned about another person’s behaviour can use the word to highlight an issue, while other venues have brought in drink covers to help stop spiking.
‘We’ve also had a lot of positive feedback from guys, and some stayed home with their girlfriends.’
The success of the campaign exceeded the organisers’ expectations.
‘It had a much bigger following than we were expecting in just 20 days.
‘We would hope that there is no need to do it again, but we want to see changes and if there aren’t changes we might put it on again.’
