On Wednesday, the 31st of March, my school, St Michael’s Catholic Grammar, held a Violence against Women Awareness day. Students were asked to donate at least one pound which went to Solace Women’s Aid, and to come into school wearing something red. This could range from red hair ties or socks, for students in the lower years to wear alongside their uniform, to full red outfits for those in the sixth form. 

The United Nations website details how alongside the Covid-19 Pandemic, there has also been a less highlighted ‘Shadow Pandemic’.

“Since the outbreak of COVID-19, emerging data and reports from those on the front lines, have shown that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, has intensified.

This is the Shadow Pandemic growing amidst the COVID-19 crisis and we need a global collective effort to stop it. As COVID-19 cases continue to strain health services, essential services, such as domestic violence shelters and helplines, have reached capacity. More needs to be done to prioritize addressing violence against women in COVID-19 response and recovery efforts.”

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women took place on the 25th of November last year. As part of The UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, a multi-year effort aimed at preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls, the theme of “Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!” launched 16 days of activism.  Several public events were coordinated both in person and on social media, and iconic buildings and landmarks were ‘oranged’ to recall the need for a violence-free future.

You may be wondering two questions. Why did my school decide to hold an awareness day months later? And, why choose the colour red instead of orange?

To answer the first question, the elimination of violence against women is an on-going fight, in the same way the struggle to end Covid-19 also continues. Therefore, one day of awareness out of a whole year is not enough to bring the ‘Shadow Pandemic’ to a close. One day of awareness is not enough to make up for the fact that 1 in 3 women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, most frequently by an intimate partner. One day of awareness is not enough to explain how 71% of all human trafficking victims worldwide are women and girls, and 3 out of 4 of these women and girls are sexually exploited.

Instead, every day should be considered an opportunity to bring awareness to, and contribute to ending violence against women. Through school events, or even just lessons, through signing petitions and partaking in marches and protests (keeping social-distancing guidelines in mind), through educating ourselves and others. 

Another explanation takes into consideration recent events surrounding Sarah Everard, her case and her vigil. 

Earlier this month, Sarah, 33 years old, disappeared on her walk from Clapham Common to Brixton. Soon, missing posters went up on south London streets and were posted on local social media forums.

Upon the arrest and charge of a police officer with Sarah’s murder, the head of the Metropolitan Police Cressida Dick described the abduction as "incredibly rare". However, a similar case can be found in Blessing Olusegun. Blessing was a 21-year-old business student from South London, who had been undertaking work placement as a carer for elderly patients with dementia in Bexhill in East Sussex. On the 18th of September last year, about a week into her placement, Blessing was reported missing and later found dead by police on Glyne Gap Beach in Bexhill-on-Sea. 

Police have said that Blessing was alone at the beach, with only her slippers and mobile phone found at the scene, piled neatly around 300m away from where her body was found. A post-mortem showed that Blessing had drowned. Her death was deemed ‘inconclusive’ and was not treated as suspicious. 

An online petition was started by friends of Blessing calling for Sussex Police to continue actively investigating her death, linked here: http://chng.it/jpMYhfGzwp

Blessing has received nowhere near the amount of attention that Sarah Everard has, both from the public but perhaps more alarmingly, from the police. There is no other explanation for this other than Sarah was a white woman, whilst Blessing was black. She and her family have yet to receive the respect and justice that they deserve. Blessing and her case deserve entire articles of her own and I implore those reading to seek them out. Her story is a reminder of the importance of raising awareness for all women, always -which is why my school decided to hold an awareness day. 

Aside from abductions, what is not “incredibly rare” are women’s experiences of being followed, catcalled, assaulted, raped. In light of Sarah’s case, women took to social media to speak up, sharing tips about self-defence and apps to help ensure they arrived home safely. 

A vigil was planned at Clapham Common which coincided with several happening across the UK in the hopes of showing unity amongst women in defiance of the physical, mental and sexual violence they must be prepared to face each day. Though a mass vigil was controversial in and of itself, what was intended as a peaceful demonstration descended into chaos as police officers and the attendees clashed, with images of women being physically restrained quickly flooding the internet and the news.

The police were criticised for their conduct towards attendees, with many suggesting that they should have helped to ensure the event was Covid-safe rather than disturbing what began as a peaceful, mournful occasion.  

The Met Police defended their actions at the Clapham vigil, explaining the overriding need to protect people's safety. 

The reason I mention this is because I want to share  recent examples of how the fight for the elimination of violence against women is happening now, and close to home. Additionally, it is an example of how, despite mostly being strangers to each other, to Sarah, and to Blessing, women feel an innate sadness, an instinctual anger at seeing other women be hurt. A peculiar solidarity. 

I sensed this same solidarity when I walked into school on Wednesday, the 31st of March. As an all-girls school, for years 7-11, and as a primarily female sixth form, St Michael’s students recognise if not feel the same fear and frustration as the women at the Clapham vigil. But, at least for that day, those emotions turned into something new: bravery, hope, persistence. The other side of the same coin, dressed in red. 

This brings me to the second question, why wear red?

A simple connection would be that red evokes imagery of cuts, wounds, blood, and therefore links to the ‘violence’ in the Elimination of Violence against Women. While this may be true, the meaning of red to the cause actually runs far deeper. 

In 2008, a psychological study was carried out by Andrew Elliot and Daniela Niesta in order to explore the idea of colour stereotypes in relation to sexual attraction. They were specifically interested in whether certain colours were more likely to be associated with sex appeal.

Elliot and Niesta showed a group of male participants a photograph of a woman and asked them to rate her attractiveness. For some, the woman in the photo was wearing a red shirt, for others, the same woman was wearing a blue shirt. They found that men rated the woman in red as more attractive and more sexually desirable than the same woman in blue. They were also more interested in dating the woman and indicated they would be willing to spend more money on her when she was dressed in red.

The researchers concluded that men find women who wear red more attractive, however it was possible that this result was because of the common stereotype of women who choose to wear red being more promiscuous, and that was the reason they were more interested in dating them. To address this possibility, the researchers conducted another study. This time, the woman in the photo wore the same outfit, but stood in front of different colour backgrounds, either red, white, grey, or green. The results showed that men were significantly more attracted to the woman when she was against a red background.

Moreover, the men involved in the study were asked if the colour of her shirt or background had an influence on their attraction, and none said that it did. This indicates that colour influences our judgments in an automatic and primarily unconscious manner. The study shows that colour red in particular is associated with female eroticism. 

Red in regards to female sexuality also features heavily in film, television and literature. Classic examples of this include Julia Robert’s red dress in Pretty Woman where she plays a prostitute, the use of red rose petals in American Beauty as a representation of the under-age Angela’s supposed sensuality, and the red A in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter. 

The Scarlet Letter begins in Puritan Boston, Massachusetts. A crowd gathers to witness the punishment of Hester Prynne, a young mother whose baby’s father is unknown. Her sentence required her to stand on a scaffold for three hours, exposed to public humiliation, and to wear the scarlet "A" for the rest of her life.

In the beginning of the novel, Hester's letter A is a representation of her sin and adultery. However, over the course of the story, the meaning of the letter changes, with some critics believing it ultimately means ‘able’.  Certain editions of the books state, “The letter was the symbol of her calling. Such helpfulness was found in her—so much power to do, and power to sympathize—that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able, so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength”.

In the same way that, by the book’s end, the meaning of the red A has been reclaimed by Hester, the importance of wearing red on a day intended to bring awareness to violence against women and its prevention was not to give in to the stereotypes of women’s promiscuity, of ‘asking for it’, but to subvert them. 

That is why I wore red.