The Impact of Shorter Days and Darker Nights

TW: Allusions to street harassment, violent crime and sexual assault

As one of our first blog posts for the year, we wanted to reflect on nighttime safety here in Edinburgh, particularly given the shorter days. As we move further into autumn, it’s getting darker earlier (no surprise, this happens every year). But sadly for many of us, the implications of this are not limited to higher electricity bills and an absence of Vitamin D.

At this time of year, the same fears seem to resurface for many of us; worries about personal safety are often escalated by the darkness. The constant concern about being able to walk home with others only increases. The internal curfew comes back into play. You find yourself altering your lifestyle in accordance with the sun setting. Essentially, you feel like your social life has to grind to a halt at 4pm… sound familiar?

It can be really difficult to escape this mindset, especially when the headlines are littered with bad news regarding night safety. There is so much focus on what we should do, alter or change about our lifestyle in order to stay safe in the dark. We should not have to change how we conduct our lives with the added fear of predominant darkness.

We wanted to compile some statistics to validate your thoughts right now, and serve as a reminder that, while things may seem bleak, no one is alone in how they feel:

- 1 in 2 women felt unsafe walking alone down a quiet street near their home after dark, compared with 1 in 7 men (End Violence Against Women, 2021)

- Disabled people felt less safe walking alone in any setting than non-disabled people (ONS, 2021)

- 53% of women regularly avoid being out at certain times in order to reduce their risk of experiencing harassment or sexual assault (YouGov, 2022)

- One survey reported that 52% of transgender respondents had experienced a transphobic incident on the street (Galop, 2020)

- 32% of women don’t feel safe walking alone at night, compared to 13% of men (The Conversation, 2021)

Resources

Whether it’s walking home from a late lecture, leaving a social event by yourself or just looking out for others, we’ve compiled a few of the resources available from the university and other organisations which you may not have known about, that can help support your safety.

Edinburgh Nightline

Website: https://ednightline.com

Instant Messenger: https://ednightline.com/instant-messenger/

Phone number: 0131 557 4444

Instagram: @edinburghnightline

Edinburgh Nightline is a student-run listening service, available via phone call and instant messenger from 8pm until 8am every night of term. The volunteers offer a confidential and supportive environment where anonymous callers can express any feelings or concerns they may have.

University Security

Website: https://www.ed.ac.uk/estates/what-we-do/security/about/contact-security

Phone number: 0131 650 2257

Email: security@ed.ac.uk

The Security department phone lines are open 24 hours a day and available to students in case of an emergency such as being a victim of a serious crime or a loss of accommodation.

University of Edinburgh Counselling Services

Website: https://www.ed.ac.uk/student-counselling/services

Email: student.counselling@ed.ac.uk

The university’s counselling services offer a wide range of support options, from one-to-one therapy to counselling via email, and the website also offers information for immediate help during a crisis.

Galop

Website: https://galop.org.uk

LGBT+ hate crime helpline: 020 7704 2040

Galop works with the LGBT+ community to support those who have experienced interpersonal abuse and violence. They are the UK’s LGBT+ anti-abuse charity and offers different helplines for various situations, including one for LGBT+ hate crime.

We know that you shouldn’t have to take any extra measures just because of the change of season, but we hope that some of the resources above could be useful if ever needed, and may help you feel a bit more at ease. We all need to ensure we’re looking out for ourselves, as well as each other, so send that ‘did you get home safe?’ text, walk home with others if you can and make sure you’re checking in with yourself too.

References

End Violence Against Women, 2021

https://www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/new-data-women-feel-unsafe-at-night/

Galop, 2020

https://galop.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Trans-Hate-Crime-Report-2020.pdf

ONS, 2021

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/perceptionsofpersonalsafetyandexperiencesofharassmentgreatbritain/2to27june2021

The Conversation, 2021

https://theconversation.com/survey-shows-32-of-british-women-dont-feel-safe-walking-alone-at-night-compared-to-just-13-of-men-157446

YouGov, 2022 https://yougov.co.uk/topics/society/articles-reports/2022/03/08/how-often-do-british-women-feel-unsafe-doing-day-d