The Shout-Up! campaign, aimed at tackling sexual harassment in Newcastle, will come to Jesmond between May and June 2018.

The campaign, launched at the end of last year, is a collaboration between Safe Newcastle and Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland – both charities that  provide help to victims of rape and sexual harassment.

The campaign hopes to get night-time venues, such as pubs and clubs, to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to sexual violence and harassment. Venues which agree to be “ambassador” venues will receive specialist training to enable them to minimise sexual harassment and violence on their premises.

Dawn Bowman, head of Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland, told JesmondLocal: “The idea of Shout-Up! is that victims do not have to take action – it’s the responsibility of the venues to take action. If someone was being targeted, they should seek help from the establishment’s staff.”

The Shout-Up! campaign image, taken from https://www.shoutup.org/

The campaign, which is funded by the licensing committee of Newcastle City Council, is aimed at 18-24-year olds, and Jesmond’s large student population makes the bars and clubs along Osborne Road an obvious focal point. North Jesmond Labour councillor Stella Postlethwaite says: “This is a fantastic and essential project that I am really excited about. There are lots of bars in Jesmond, so let’s make them all sexual harassment-free zones.”

The campaign has already enjoyed success at eight venues in Ouseburn: The Cluny, The Cumberland Arms, The Ship Inn, Tyne Bank Brewery, The Tyne Bar, Ernest, The Tanners Arms and Kiln.

According to Shout-Up! research, 79% of women experience inappropriate comments, unwanted touching or groping on a night-out and 72% of women and men surveyed said they had witnessed sexual harassment on a night-out in Newcastle.

To find out more, you can visit the Shout-Up! campaign on Facebook,  Twitter, and the web.

Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland are completely independent of the criminal justice system, including the police, and offer free, confidential support, information and counselling to women who have experienced sexual violence. If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual violence or harassment in or around Newcastle, you can contact the Rape Crisis helpline: 0800 035 2794. You can also contact the police by calling 999 – if you are in immediate danger or the offence has just occurred; calling the Northumbria Police control room on 101; and by going to a police station.