What Do Tweets Do for Women’s Safety?
A well-intentioned social media uproar after Sarah Everard’s murder shows the impossibility of mitigating misogyny
“I live less than five minutes from where Sarah Everard went missing. Everyone is on high alert,” an apparently feminist man named Stuart Edwards tweeted on March 9. It had been six days since a London Metropolitan Police officer kidnapped 33-year-old marketing executive Sarah Everard while she was walking home, and one day before her remains were discovered in Kent. “Aside from giving as much space as possible on quieter streets and keeping face visible,” Edwards continued, “is there anything else men can reasonably do to reduce the anxiety/spook factor?” The women of Twitter seized the opportunity to share their thoughts.
Walking home is not safe for many women, especially trans women and Black and Brown women. Walking home is safe, or does not carry a threat of unsafety, for white men, individuals who are disproportionately responsible for attacks on the first group of people. Dozens of women on Twitter offered their perspectives on what men should do to make them feel safe: “If you’re walking behind a woman, even at a distance, and it’s dark, cross over to the other side of the road and walk there instead,” one user said. Another suggested that men, “Give all…
