Uber: Could It Be the Driving Force in Preventing Sexual Assault?
TW// Sexual violence
Sexual violence has continually been normalised and trivialised which has acted as a gateway to more extreme acts such as sexual assault and rape. It is common knowledge by now that universities in England need to revaluate their approach to tackling rape culture. This comes after the bittersweet revelations from the campaign website Everyone’s Invited, founded by Soma Sara, that saw 51,000 testimonies of rape culture submitted that named over 100 universities.
2.5 million students will be returning to university this year, eager to get back to the reality of student life. Institutions need to continue to support victims of rape and sexual assault but work just as hard to place more of an emphasis on preventing there being victims in the first place. Because policies have been in place since 2016 which have made it seem like on the surface, universities have taken the necessary steps to protect their students. But the cracks are beginning to show, thanks to the bravery of current students, that insinuate much more needs to be done to eradicate the deep, crushing experiences of rape culture.
Uber is the number one smartphone app, that lets you tap a button and take a trip anywhere in the world, which will play a vital role in transporting students to and from bars and clubs this year. Uber drivers do hold the power to prevent rapes but, unfortunately, with the current safety procedures they have in place, their full potential cannot be facilitated yet.
The safety features which you can find within the app only address the relationship between the driver and the rider. You can call the local emergency services, contact 24/7 customer support, and share your trip with family and friends so that they can track your location. However, none of this is helpful if you are under the influence of a date rape drug and being watched by your perpetrator.
The common advice is to not drink too much so you can remain completely capacitated to protect yourself. However, you could enter a club sober and still be the victim of date rape drugs, which alter your consciousness in a way that makes self-defence or sound decision-making difficult. Once a drug has been used you know what’s going on, but you have no power to stop it. Your inhibitions are weakened, and you are totally incapacitated. You have no ability to push someone off you or you may be in a position where you consent to something you would normally decline. It is not hard for you to be taken from the club and transported to a private location.
This was clearly displayed in the 2020 film Promising Young Woman that shows a taxi driver who is more concerned about the clearly unconscious woman being sick in his freshly cleaned car than the sick mind of the man who picked her up in a club while she displayed herself as being drunk and vulnerable. In the back seat of the taxi, the driver is aware of the man pushing for the woman to come to his apartment for a drink. She never says yes and for a moment you think the driver is concerned for her safety as you see him look through his rear-view mirror. It is clear that the man is keen to get the woman back to his apartment before she realises what is going. Yet instead, the driver is just annoyed at the man for changing the address of the destination.
Making eye contact in the rear-view mirror, questioning your whereabouts, and displaying physical vulnerability sitting corpse-like in the back of a car are all signs that should trigger alarm bells in a driver’s head. Because these could be the signs that save someone from a night of trauma and the harrowing aftereffects of being raped.
Uber has stated that: “we report every serious incident that involves the use of the Uber app to the police” but this is not enough. The driver needs to be aware of the role we all have to look out for each other. A partially unconscious person in their backseat has been forfeited the right to protect themselves. Therefore, the driver should begin to ask questions: what is your name? What is the name of the person you are with? Do you know where you are going? Because I imagine at this point, if the person accompanying the victim is potentially guilty, they will become agitated as it becomes increasingly obvious that this person, they have bought into the car, is not safe. The Uber driver should take initiative and the victim should be taken to a safe place, most likely a hospital.
Nevertheless, unfortunately, there is a history of Uber drivers being ruled as contractors and not employees. Uber controls how much drivers are paid for each ride which results in an unpredictable rate of pay. Uber drivers are constantly trying to improve their rights because they are deprived of minimum wage, holiday pay, and sick leave. Therefore, I can only assume that this lack of job security will prevent them from caring about their role as a driver. Because let’s be honest – minimum wage, minimum effort.
Despite all of this, Uber has partnered with RAINN, one of the largest anti-sexual violence organisations to set up harassment resources that do touch on “bystander intervention: where someone who isn’t directly involved steps in to change the outcome.” However, there is no further training for drivers on how to implement this during the ride. The resources involve observing six basic videos about safety. But once again, they are designed to reduce assaults between passengers and drivers not what to look for to protect your passenger from what awaits them outside the vehicle.
Nevertheless, I think it is important to mention that generally, society needs to completely refresh the education put in place to prevent sexual assault in the first place. Why? Because the extent to our education on sexual assault is a video narrated by a light-hearted man that humours consent by comparing it to making someone a cup of tea. But, I think that is a different conversation for another time!
What I want to be taken from this article is that if these actions were implemented by drivers, it would be a step towards protecting students. Especially when the safety of women in the world has never been more poignant.
Written by Beth Pratt
Beth is a 20-year-old soon to be Journalism student currently living in Devon. While she is continually passionate about educating herself and others on wellbeing, her big BIG dream is to write an advice column while living in an NYC apartment with a rescue dog and her many houseplants. However, for now, she hopes that her writing will be healing but also something to look back on in the future when she says: “I can’t do it!”
Recipes
