Catcalling making Cheltenham women feel unsafe

Women say catcalling is making them feel unsafe in their town.

A survey is being carried out by Cheltenham Borough Council looking into how safe women feel at night in the town.

The council said results so far showed women feel catcalling has become "normalised".

"Sometimes it makes you feel like something is wrong with you," Jordan Renwick, 24, from Cheltenham, said.

Rebecca Jones, 20, added: "It makes me feel really unsafe because you never know quite what to expect from the people saying it. It's not the compliment people think it is."

The council have done the survey every year since 2021 but this year, councillor Flo Clucas said results so far are showing catcalling is a much bigger issue than before.

"Catcalling and making girls and women feel uncomfortable in this way is a major part of the response we are getting," she said.

Feedback from the last survey was used to get more funding to launch the Ask Angela initiative, which uses code words to help women signal they need help from venue staff.

The funding was also used to pay for additional CCTV and bystander intervention training for staff at bars and pubs.

The survey is running on the Cheltenham Borough Council website until 31 January.

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