A new study from a children’s charity has revealed that Blackpool is the toughest place to be a girl in the UK. 15-year-old Ella Lucy Humphries lent her voice to the research and now shares her reflections with Blackpool Social Club readers.
On the 18th of July 2024 the results of a study about the life quality of young women was released. My hometown Blackpool ranked as the second worst area.
Plan International UK’s State Of Girls Rights in the UK report looked at local authority data for 12 different indicators to understand the place-based inequalities girls aged 16-24 face including sexual assault and night time safety.
I believe that if more girls like me accessed the brilliant safe spaces and groups in Blackpool for young women, the result of the survey could be very different.
Growing up in Blackpool, myself and most other young people (mainly women) were told the same few things:
“Don’t leave the house after dark.”
“Don’t go to town by yourself, even during the day.”
“If you ever find yourself alone in town make sure you go to a busy area where there are other women.”
Having these ideas imposed on me from such a young age changed my world view, and events such a young farmers make me feel incredibly unsafe in the town I grew up in.
One issue I find many of my friends also struggle with is being in town when there is a Blackpool football match on. The behaviour of the fans, in my option, is disgusting and should be targeted more by local authorities.
I have had multiple friends confide in me to tell me that they have experienced verbal and sexual harassment from drunken fans of our local team. Thankfully in recent years, Reclaim Blackpool Map has been put in place for us to share our stories on and see where other women have experienced harassment.
Having this makes me feel comfortable and safe in the town I live in and I know it is the same for many of my peers. Looking at the map gives me an idea of where to avoid in town where some areas have multiple pins. I hope that authorities will also use it to find out which areas need to have heavier surveillance.
On the day the Plan International UK report was released, I was lucky to be featured on BBC 4 Women’s Hour. In response to this, many of my friends reached out to me and shared their thoughts and experiences, these are some of the messages I would like to pass along from the young women of Blackpool and Fylde to everybody reading this:
“I completely agree with what you’ve said! From what I’ve seen boys are so f**king weird in Blackpool and in general it feels like all they do is catcall a lot or just scream or make fun of girls in public. Like i was just in Stanley Park eating ice cream and this random group of boys went up to me and made fun of me. Like, WTF?”
“Honestly everything you’ve said really hit me and I hope they actually do something about that, especially the bus stuff. I completely agree with what you’ve said, I want to be able to feel safe on Blackpool Transport it’s just like anything women do gets put down or belittled, I wish we were treated better.”
Thankfully there are many amazing groups that focus on supporting and helping young women. I am so lucky to be a part of one of these amazing groups. I am a member of the United Youth Alliance, run by Deborah Terras, who I owe most of my support and opportunities to, so if you are reading this! Thank you so much Deb. Through the UYA I was given the opportunity to contribute to the Plan International UK report along with other young girls from Blackpool.
Our group focuses on finding different problems that young women in costal towns such as Blackpool face and coming up with solutions to solve them, many of which have been put in place.
Some other brilliant organisation in our town are:
The Skate Like A Gal (S.L.A.G) collective who run girl’s only skate nights at Ralph’s House within House of Wingz as well as fundraisers and other events.
Reclaim Blackpool – a grassroots women’s group that meets monthly in Aunty Social and hosts various events for women and girls. It also runs the interactive map where women can plot instances of public sexual harassment.
The UYA young men’s group and Fylde Coast Women’s Aid.
Many of these groups and organisations have helped shape me and many other young women in to the people we are today.
I believe that if more women and girls access these brilliant organisations, the next survey there will show a huge difference in the quality of life of young women in Blackpool.
Show Comments (2)
Ace
This is so true!! Thank you for being the voice us young people need!!
Anonymous
This article is amazingly informative and very well written! Well done Ella for bringing awareness to this topic and for putting it into words so well.