A new French application helps protect victims of street harassment. It’s called Umay, and allows you to locate the nearest “safe places”.
What to do when you are alone in the street and male gazes are insistent? To deal with this kind of situation, a French woman created an application, Umay. This provides a network of stores and “safe places” throughout the country, who offer support.
“We will be able to directly access the map of the application. We will have the “safe places” around us and I will click on the one closest to me. There are 6,500 of them, including bars, restaurants, supermarkets, florists, real estate agents, hairdressers” says Pauline Vanderquand, Founder of the application.
Pauline, herself a victim of street harassment, began developing the app after speaking with other women who had similar experiences.
“I was followed many times, whistled at, insulted when we didn’t respond to advances, a bit of violence. I was chased with a knife, downright, because I didn’t respond to advances” admits a resident of Paris.
A sticker in the window indicates that the establishment is a safe place for victims. Staff have been trained to respond to these situations.
“You have to have a caring, reassuring attitude, but without touching them for example. This is what we have been taught. We also have to use the right words to say: we believe you, you have done well by coming here , You are in the right place” explains Eric Saucet, tobacconist.
A network of safe places, inspired by the United Kingdom, had already existed in France for several years. The Umay application allows the inventory of all addresses and their location.
