SIX years on from a survey revealing how commonly people were harassed at bars and clubs, Safer Venues WA has launched a new one to find out if anything’s changed in the years since.
SVWA was formed by a group of concerned gig-going friends after a Northbridge pub used misogynist slogans on huge banners to market their 2016 new year’s eve “frat party”, a boiling point reached after increasing reports of harassment and assault at gigs.
Their 2017 survey found 80 per cent of women who responded said they’d experienced harassment, as did 67 per cent of non-binary or trans respondents. Two out of five respondents left a gig after experiencing harassment or intimidation.
It led to the Department of Government, Sport and Cultural Studies commissioning a pilot program in 2022 to run training days and workshops at three Perth venues, teaching staff about how to make venues more inclusive, de-escalate conflicts, and mitigate and respond to sexual assault.
SFWA’s pilot producer Samantha Martin tells us they’re interested to see what might’ve changed in the years since, especially with venues taking a break amid the Covid pandemic.
“A fair bit’s happened since 2017,” Ms Martin says, but from the initial responses so far “the stats are still very high in respect to experiencing harassment in a venue”.
People are also still more likely to go to their friends instead of talking to security or staff when they experience harassment, a sign that at many venues they don’t yet feel comfortable approaching staff. To mitigate this some venues have included signage encouraging people to feel safe approaching staff, or to put stickers in toilets with a number they can text for help if they feel threatened.
Ms Martin says they’re interested in hearing about all sorts of venues, from nightclubs to local taverns. The data collected is all anonymous and it’ll contribute towards more advocacy campaigns and initiatives to improve safety.
The survey is up at www.surveymonkey.com/r/Y77WX6X or via www.safervenueswa.org
by DAVID BELL
Perth Voice Interactive 
Leave a comment