Calling all Women: Solace call on women and girls to share stories of how they have ‘Claimed their space’ in new campaign.
Claim Your Space is a new campaign by Solace, encouraging people to question the ways in which women are silenced, publicly shamed, and have their behaviour ‘policed’.
This year, it was reported that three-quarters of women MPs choose not to voice their views on some topics on social media due to their fears of experiencing harassment online. Just last month, artist Billy Nomates asked for her set at Glastonbury to be removed due to online abuse. Actress and Singer, Keke Palmer, had her appearance policed by her partner online for the world to see. The barrage of sexist abuse limiting women’s lives seems endless.
From individual examples of celebrities that make headlines and noise on social media, to the ways that wider society ‘polices’ women and how it limits their behaviour in relationships, on the street and in the workplace, the campaign aims to shed light on both the blatant and insidious forms of sexism that are all part of the same narrative of coercive control.
Solace’s campaign not only highlights these injustices but asks what can be done in response. Using the hashtag #ClaimYourSpace, the charity is encouraging women to share all the ways in which they’ve used their voice and claimed space in the face of sexism: from not moving out of a man’s way on the street, to starting an all-women weightlifting club, women are constantly finding ways to take up the space that they are often denied.
The campaign will primarily run on Solace’s Twitter and Instagram accounts, with opportunities to share anonymously.
Nahar Choudhury, Solace CEO, says, ‘We hope that this campaign will shed light on the ways in which these silencing and policing behaviours control and minimise women and can pave the way for more abusive behaviours. In sharing a range of experiences and elevating women’s voices, we want to encourage them to take up space, to feel empowered and inspired, and to find solidarity in each other.’
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