Nice mobilizes its public actors against sexist violence in transportation

On Wednesday, May 20, the city of Nice, Lignes d’Azur, and the Metropolis organized, with the association Alter Egaux, the 3^rd edition of the serious game “reacting can change everything”. This activity aimed to teach individuals how to react in situations of sexist and sexual violence in public spaces, and particularly in public transport. The immersive experience was therefore able to convey useful information to participants.

The event organized by the association Alter Egaux, specialized in professional equality and prevention of sexist and sexual violence was facilitated by Maëva Bauvais, a gender sociologist. She explained to us that six out of ten women report having been victims of sexist and sexual violence in public transport in the Alpes-Maritimes. Generally, witnesses do not react, primarily out of fear of putting themselves in danger. We think to ourselves “someone else will do it in my place”, “if no one intervenes, why should I?” Sometimes, we don’t even realize the situation because of our headphones or our phone.

The workshop teaches us to react better through different means. A scene of violence is played several times by actors. The first time, participants remain observers. The second time, they are invited to react as they would naturally. After that, everyone expresses how they feel: some feel uncomfortable trying to act, others don’t know what to do… The third time, each person receives a card with instructions. We then understand that there is a method that is easy to understand and implement.

The method of the 5 D’s:

• Distract: pretend to know the victim or distract the perpetrator to give the victim time to get to safety.
• Direct: without putting yourself in danger, ask the harasser to stop and intervene by defending the victim.
• Document: film, take photos while keeping a safe distance, showing elements that allow you to identify the location, state the date and time verbally, film the harasser’s face/clothing, share the video with the victim and finally do not post the video on social media.
• Dialogue: as soon as the incident is over, talk to the victim, reassure them, offer them help.
• Delegate: ask for help by speaking very loudly to attract attention, address directly a security officer, bus driver, law enforcement representative…

Of course, each person can choose the method that works best for them among the 5 D’s. It is also teamwork, the more people react the better.

The ultimate goal of this initiative is to give everyone the tools to recognize, from the first signs, a situation of sexist or sexual violence (particularly through the body language of the aggressor or victim) in order to immediately adopt the right reaction. So that these reflexes become permanently established in Nice’s public space, the initiative will not stop there: new awareness workshops should be organized between September and October and prevention campaigns through posters will continue.