To think that the "safety pin" is unlikely to be recognised by the people that really need it.

[GerdaLovesLili]

Just that really. My neighbours who are pretty much 80% BAME that's characteristic of my end of the borough I live in (24 flats and yes, I got to talk to pretty much all of them today as usual while I was outside gardening/hanging up the laundry/walking up to and from the school) have absolutely no idea what the hell the safety pin is all about. Mainly because not one of them is an i/Indy/Grauniad reader.

How do we ensure that they know that it's a symbol of hope for them and not just smug virtue signalling?

I'm sure those of us who've been around for any amount of time remember this thread...www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1408141-to-show-I-am-asexual-by-wearing-a-black-ring

I have no idea what you are talking about

For those that have no idea what I'm talking about (which is rather my point)
indy100.independent.co.uk/article/safetypin-the-simple-way-to-show-solidarity-with-the-uks-immigrant-population--ZJzeRPz6kHW

In the 1980s it was a safe sex symbol!

The safety pin can't be smug virtue signalling or a symbol of hope if no-one know what it means

(As an aside, I think one person's symbol of hope is another person's "virtue signalling" (a phrase I only learned this week) - that goes for ribbons, badges, poppies and those plastic wrist bands that make me wince because they probably don't biodegrade. And that's OK, IMO)

(Also, many people (me and a few people I know) aren't on FB and have no idea what a hashtag is or how one uses one)

The only way I can show support is by treating people the way I'd like to be treated and by standing up against racism when I hear it

acasualobserver Oh yes, I remember that now!

My answer wasn't very coherent

I suppose those people on FB or twitter who are the ones people want to support will get to hear about it

I think it's pointless.

NotYoda It isn't much use as a symbol of support (unlike a readable badge, or one of those coloured bracelets) If the only people that recognise what it is are the other wearers of it. And the other wearers will know what it is hence virtue signalling amongst themselves.

The only way I can show support is by treating people the way I'd like to be treated and by standing up against racism when I hear it

Absolutely.

On a practical level a safety pin isn't very noticeable. If I was someone being harassed etc in the street and looking around for friendly support I wouldn't notice a pin.

"In the 1980s it was a safe sex symbol!"

was it??? I missed that memo

Maybe a big "I am not a racist twat" badge?

I agree that it will only be recognised by the kind of people I follow on Twitter.

The only virtue I can think of, is that if someone is wearing a safety pin, it will remind them to act and to speak out if they witness something bad happening.

The people being attacked or insulted may not know what the pin is, but the person wearing the pin will think I am wearing the pin, I have committed to speaking out.

If I put it in my ear, is that still punk?

supportive punk?? ;)

Triils The people being attacked or insulted may not know what the pin is, but the person wearing the pin will think I am wearing the pin, I have committed to speaking out.

But I don't need a badge to help me think that, and neither do any of the people that I know.

In my day, the wearers of safety pins were punks. And that was pretty well known, novel and distinctive.

I think you ignore the history of a symbol at your peril.

Even if someone who would want the support knows about it, what happens when she gets on a tube where one passenger is wearing a safety pin and nobody else is? That's the point that swung me this afternoon.

I often have a safety pin attached to me, but not as a statement, as a functional item. I agree that it risks being mere Twitterati virtue signalling.

I think when I said 'ignore' I actually meant 'appropriate'

You can't just nick one of the main symbols of a totally different cultural movement (especially such a recent one).

Crispbutty I seem to remember, though there are a couple of years during the 80's that are a bit of a haze, that I had friends who wore a condom packet safety pinned to themselves to highlight safe sex. (In retrospect it was probably an accident waiting to happen).

I only remember safety pins being the fashion of punk too in the 80's and I was in my heyday back then. To be fair, safe sex was not really something that crossed many peoples minds at all until the early 90s and Freddie Mercury died. That was when things really started to improve with education and advice.

Well it's a bloody misnomer for a start. I suffered a minor groin puncture with one of these so-called 'safety pins' when it decided it didn't want to hold my pants up any more.

And don't get me started on 'safety' matches.

I think that in a stressful situation where you are a bit scared and the easiest option is to do nothing, something that reminds you of your promise can only be a good thing.

A safety pinned condom was probably more of an invitation than a warning lol!... I dont remember much from my Pernod and Blackcurrant haze though.. Although the thought of removing myself out of my electric blue fishnet tights, peeling of the fuscia skin tight dress and being able to walk anywhere in my fuscia stilettos would have usually been enough to persuade me to get a cab home back then..

Wouldn't a safety pinned condom have a hole in it?

"You can't just nick one of the main symbols of a totally different cultural movement (especially such a recent one)."

indeed - just ask hitler!