Violence Against Women

She doesn't cringe and cower,
she's not a fragile flower
She picked on him and tricked him
She's not a perfect victim

She tells of his coercion,
he tells a different version
How dare she contradict him?
She's not a perfect victim

She unstable, she's a venter,
she's known to lose her temper
She pushed him and she kicked him
She's not a perfect victim

She provoked him.
She said she was leaving him.
She’s been looking at other guys.

He had to show her.
She had to know
She isn’t a person in her own right,
She’s part of him.

She is the buffer between him and a hostile world.

At this year's TUC Women's Conference, one of the motions we debated was about working shifts, particularly women's safety on late shifts. This was my contribution to the debate.

You can watch the video of this speech here.

I'm Janine Booth, RMT, and I've worked on London Underground for over 25 years.

Published in Solidarity 610, 20 October 2021.

The Night Tube in London will resume on two lines from 27 November, in a move promoted as ensuring safety for women. However, the reality is more complex, and women’s safety requires increased Night Tube staffing.

Be streetwise, girls, be streetwise
and you won't get false-arrested
Look out for cuffs and meat knives
Be streetwise, girls, be streetwise
and memorise our treatise
on what to do when pestered
Be streetwise, girls, be streetwise
and you won't be false-arrested

Published in Women's Fightback 26, Autumn/Winter 2021

If you're locked down with books
and a partner who cooks
better than you
Then you'll probably get through

If you're locked down with a garden
it might not be so hard and
with a nice glass of wine
You'll probably be fine

If you're locked down with games
and people who play them
and plenty of space
You can probably face it

Charlie Elphicke:
a gift to the comic
Fancy the fun for
the writer of ribald rhyme

Lampooning his lechery
and wittily wagging his words
Absolutely absurd!

But no laughter lines from me
Sexual assault is serious,
is virulent, has victims.

Sordid story:
Naughty Tory.

Thirty-five years ago, I was sexually assaulted at a gig. I never told anyone. But over the last few years, some stuff has prompted me to finally address it - by writing this poem.

Standing by the ticket table,
flogging run-off, stapled zines
Hold as much as I am able,
twenty pences in my jeans

Inspired by the story of Sarah Lawton and Gertrude Bigwood

This is the dad
working five months away
from his family, keeping
starvation at bay

This is the mum
taking work when it comes
boiling laundry and toiling
for pitiful sums