Good MORNING
GFPs! First up, thank you to the many Italian GFPs who got in touch after last week’s newsletter! It’s great to know so many of you are out there, although really sad as well to hear several of you moved country specifically to get away from this kind of misogyny. HOWEVER! I’d like to make a new rule. Women should NEVER apologise on behalf of men with whom they happen to share a nationality. I hugely appreciated the solidarity, but they are 100% NOT your responsibility <3
Second! A note on correspondence. Most of the messages I get on here are either fascinating or just bloody lovely. Usually both! Occasionally, however, I get a message from someone who thinks they have a right to tell me how to write this newsletter. To be clear, this isn’t about suggesting content – I love it when GFPs suggest entries for default male of the week etc. I mean things like the email I got from someone complaining that one week’s newsletter was too long (just…don’t read it all??), or the email I got this week telling me to “please oh please retire ‘GFP’” because no one wants to click on a hyperlink.
So let’s just get a couple of things straight. This is a free newsletter and it will always remain so. I spend a fair amount of time on it each week, collating, curating, and writing. I don’t ask for payment because this is something I care about, and I just want to get the information out there. I also love the sense of community we’re building here! I love my GFPs – and the more you get in touch with all your amazing anecdotes and fascinating research, the more hopeful I feel that we’re creating something amazing.
I know some of you feel guilty for not paying for this, as you have emailed to tell me, and if you really want to support this work, the best thing you can do is buy the book! Buy it for a friend, buy it for your brother, buy for your mum. Buy it for your nan! You don’t have to feel guilty though – it’s my choice not to charge for it.
BUT. Because it’s free, the contract is that I write it how I want and if you don’t like it, you hit the unsubscribe button. Anyway, I get FAR more people emailing me about how much they love GFP. Many of them *sign off* as GFP which never fails to make me smile. Because it’s who we are! So GFP is staying. Long live GFP! (I also have my suspicions that a man in my position wouldn’t have to put up with this presumptuous shit, but that’s a newsletter for another time…)
ANYWAY….just one more thing before we get on with the main event.
A GFP emailed this week with this
amazing initiative started by two “data-gap fighting gals” to close Transport for London’s sexual harassment data gap. In their own words:
Transport for London found that 90% of all incidents of sexual harassment go
unreported. This under-reporting contributes to a wider data gap, making it impossible to design a policy which accurately reflects the experiences of passengers on the Tube, and a lack of practical solutions to make you feel safe when travelling.
Data is powerful and once it exists, it is difficult to deny. This is why we have created a quick, easy, and safe way for you to report your experience of harassment. We will use the data we collect to lobby Government to introduce measures to deter incidents from happening.
As we exit lockdown, sexual harassment on public transport will go back up again. So if you see it: report it. Let’s do this thing. 💪
And now, the news.