In today’s world, blind dates are not uncommon thanks to social media. Unfortunately, incidences of sexual violence have also increased worldwide. Many people use the internet and apps to set up dates and meetings, but there are times when when these meetings don’t go as planned.
While not all internet dates turn out to be suspicious or uncomfortable, a handful of them do. Sometimes the situation becomes tricky, awkward, or just raises red flags. Often, we are advised to “trust your gut” in those situations.
A poster discovered in a Lincolnshire bar restroom offers to help you escape from these instances. The poster is an invitation to discreetly notify the bar staff of an uncomfortable date or meeting situation. When a meet up becomes disconcerting in any way, the patron simply asks the staff for ‘Angela.’ The bar staff understands this as a quiet call for help and will make appropriate accommodations to safely end the date and provide the patron with a ride home if necessary.
The poster reads:
“Are you on a date that isn’t working out? Is your Tinder or POF [Plenty of Fish] date not who they said they were on their profile? Do you feel like you’re not in a safe situation? Does it all feel a bit weird? If you go to the bar and ask for ‘Angela,’ the bar staff will know you need help getting out of your situation and will call you a taxi or help you out discreetly — without too much fuss.”
One Twitter user, known simply as “IZ,” saw this poster in the bathroom of a Lincolnshire bar and shared a photo of it. IZ describes in the tweet that she “…thought it was important and should be a thing everywhere…” Her tweet of the poster has been shared over 28,000 times as of today.
More on the Lincolnshire #NoMore campaign:
The poster was part of the Lincolnshire city council’s #NoMore Campaign, which took place from September 26-October 2, 2016. The #NoMore campaign sought to raise awareness, empower victims, and decrease incidents of sexual assault in Lincolnshire.
Lincolnshire’s sexual violence coordinator, Hayley Child, told Mashable “We wanted to do this in a more organised way, and worked with Lincolnshire’s Pubwatch scheme to get the bars in the area to take part.”
Child also said “We’d seen that a few individual pubs had done similar messages saying that if people’s dates weren’t going well the bar staff would help and call them a cab’ she said. And what’s more, the response to the initiative has been extremely positive, with many contacting the council directly to tell them what a great idea it is.”
The Lincolnshire’s official #NoMore website, also quotes Child. ” To reduce the rates of sexual violence and abuse, a whole culture change is needed and the #NoMore awareness campaign is the start of that.”
What are your thoughts on poster? Share in the comments below!
For more information on sexual assault prevention and support of survivors of sexual violence, please visit: Rainn.org or call the National Sexual Assault Hotline 800.656.HOPE (4673).