SafeUP app for women

[HelenaRavenclaw]

Someone mentioned the SafeUP app to me so I decided to check it out. (Haven't downloaded it yet though.) It's supposed to create a community of on-call women "guardians" who are available to stay on a phone call with women users who are walking alone at night, etc. I found the answers to two of their FAQ's interesting:

How does SafeUP make sure that men can’t enter the network and abuse the app?

Male allies are encouraged to share SafeUP with their loved ones; however, in order to preserve the feeling of safety and comfort for all our users we do not allow males into our network. We believe that men are an essential part of the creation of a safer world. In the future we plan to explore ways for men to contribute to SafeUP (with the express permission and consent of our users). Stay tuned and share SafeUP with any and all women you know!

Can members of the the non-binary and genderqueer community join SafeUP?

Our community includes members of the LGBTQ+ community and our verification process is equal for all users. When reviewing a new member we at SafeUP explore whether or not their membership will contribute to the safety of the other members of the community. All new accounts may be verified or not verified for numerous and complex reasons. Each case is evaluated on its own merits.

I wonder if transwomen (male) would be allowed on a case-by-case basis, despite their stating "we do not allow males into our network". Note that their answer to the first question how do they ensure men can't enter doesn't actually answer the question! But at least they don't parrot TWAW or explicitly say that "all women including ciswomen and transwomen are welcome" or some bollocks like that.

Sounds interesting, but surely most women have a friend or relative they can call rather than speak to a total stranger?

I think it's mainly for late night, when family/friends are likely to be asleep or too busy to stay on the phone (imagine someone putting their kids to bed!). And especially in places like London where there are many international women professionals who may have recently moved to the UK and haven't made new friends yet (their family may be on the other side of the world in a very different time zone, and they're not exactly going to call their work colleague or boss whom they've known for only a few weeks!) Also the SafeUP "guardians" will be located nearby, so they can physically come and escort you if needed.

Who's going to get up in the middle of the night to help someone get home? Plus surely if you're a woman alone you'd have to go to where that woman was and you'd be alone before you found her?

They'd be people already out in the streets, in a cafe, etc, not people at home. I don't think anyone is expected to get out of bed and go out to escort someone home, but perhaps two friends are leaving one bar and one of them is a guardian who gets a call, so she and her friend take a slight detour to help another woman leaving alone from another nearby bar. (Note: I myself am not into nightlife and would never be out alone at a bar myself!)

I thought we weren’t supposed to get our phones out when alone at bight as this would make us a target. Sigh.

Night

I think being on your phone makes you less aware of your surroundings (e.g. footsteps following you) so it can a bad thing.