The Safer for Women summit took place at Nottingham Conference Centre this week, with speakers presenting research and testimonies surrounding the issue of misogyny and sexual harassment. The focus was on street harassment and public spaces, but since the internet often feels like the most lawless public space of all, we were particularly interested in the aspects of the conference that covered online abuse. Keeping people safe online is something we’re passionate about at Shake.

A powerful video titled ‘Because I am a Woman’ was presented; featuring women sharing their own experiences of sexual harassment to raise awareness of misogyny hate crime. You can watch the video here.

Sue Fish, Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police, began by outlining the encouraging progress made this year in making Nottinghamshire a safer place for women: Nottinghamshire Police are the only police force in the country to categorise misogyny as a form of hate crime – another reason why #Nottinghamrocks! Nottingham’s stance in taking women’s safety seriously has influenced national and international interest, with other police forces across the country expressing a desire to do the same and Teresa May expressing her support.

Speakers at the event included Mel Jeffs, Sam Smethers, Laura Bates, Zahra Butt, Dr Irene Zempi, Rachel Harding, Kendall Newbold and Mark Simmonds.

We were interested to hear many of the speakers address the problem of online ‘trolling’, and the damaging impact this can have on women. ‘Trolling’ is internet slang that refers to people who post or send inflammatory, abusive or inappropriate messages on a social media platform or online community, with the deliberate intent of provoking an emotional response.

Nottinghamshire Police said, “One of the biggest learnings from the media launch of misogyny hate crime recording was the volume of aggressive, threatening and offensive comments sent via social media.”

“Going forwards, we will provide clear guidance to anyone speaking publicly on the issue to cover what to do in the event of online ‘trolling’, including how to ban and report users on social media and how and when to report such incidents to the police.”

Paddy Tipping, Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner, acknowledged that misogynistic abuse online was a real problem and said that people feel like they can say things to someone online that they wouldn’t say to their face.

Three of the speakers, Sue Fish, Mel Jeffs (Centre Manager at Nottingham Women’s Centre) and Zahra Butt (Director of Box Smart) spoke about their own personal experiences of social media abuse, with Sue experiencing online trolling as a result of campaigning to raise awareness of misogyny as a hate crime and Mel receiving a “vile” backlash from the incredible work she has done to improve women’s safety. Zahra told us about people trying to hack her Facebook, being sent hate mail and abuse on social media and receiving messages from men sexually harassing her. She said, “Men feel they have the right to inbox you and make sexual advances over social media”, and advises women to be cautious in who they allow access to their online profiles.

Sam Smethers (Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society) said that harassment and misogyny online is hugely prevalent, with rape threats and death threats being common. She noted that women were uncertain when to report online abuse, and said it is about time that social media platforms took more responsibility and action against incidents of online harassments, as too often the recipient of the abuse is left to handle it on their own. She also mentioned that those who support campaigning for women get targeted.

Sue said that fundamentals, like knowing how to block someone from Twitter, must be addressed with people who get involved in the Misogyny Hate Crime campaign; to ensure that people are equipped with the tools they need and prepared to manage any online abuse. Mel advised that people take a screenshot of the inappropriate message as evidence before blocking.

Nottingham Women’s Centre have produced a very useful guide to reporting abuse on social networks which you can access here.

Despite the (sadly unsurprising) trolling, the event was a great success and Mel and Sue said the response they received was largely positive, with supportive messages from all over the world. It’s a sad truth that those people pioneering a fairer society for all often face the biggest backlash, but we at Shake certainly salute all the work done in the city so far, and hope to see further progress made.