collective yes

Collective Yes is an independent organisation that grew out of The Plough team’s encounters with sexual harassment and misogyny on the dancefloor and in the pub. 

“We became licensees of The Plough in 2012. In 2015 we experienced what we understand now as an epidemic of sexual harassment in the form of men groping women. It was shocking to realise that we’d been unaware of the harmful behaviour occurring under our noses and going largely unreported. We undertook the long and painful process of addressing it, eventually understanding it to be an extreme example of an endemic, societal lack of understanding around consent and respect. We felt overwhelmed and ill-equipped to deal with it.

In the following years, we partnered with organisations from Bristol’s women’s sector and the nighttime economy to look at changing the culture. We have encountered many forms of harm both within and outside our organisation. Our group efforts became part of a city-wide approach to making Bristol’s night spaces safer. The battle against sexual harm may never be won, but we have made real tangible progress and feel we are better equipped to deal with it. Many people have reported feeling much safer in our venue already. Running the pub has presented us with many challenges but has also introduced us to many amazing, resourceful, and imaginative people who continue to make it worthwhile, fun and rewarding. “

Tom Quarrelle & Angelo Campolucci Bordi (licensees of The Plough)

In 2020 Meggan Rose Baker (SLEEC) and Troy Tanska (community and youth development leader) joined the team to combine our lived experience, connections and industry understanding and Collective Yes was born.

Our focus is now on ensuring that -

  • The Plough team, customers and community have a shared understanding of harassment, respect and consent, 

  • Making reporting incidents of harm easier

  • Ensuring The Plough team’s response is consistent with reducing the risk of it recurring

  • Including local communities and people who use The Plough to help change the culture

  • We are building links across the city to encourage and support other venues with shared practices

LANGUAGE MATTERS.

While terms like ‘creep’ or ‘victim’ may seem clear and easily understood,  such words can reduce people to their behaviour or experiences, which can limit and deny the possibility for change. 

In our work we try to use the following terms instead:

  • Harm/ harmful behaviours/ sexual harassment to describe a range of actions including but not limited to:

    • sexual comments or jokes

    • suggestive looks

    • staring or leering

    • unwanted propositions and sexual advances

    • invading a person’s space

    • sexually explicit gestures

    • groping and unwelcome touching

    • sexual assault and rape

  • Recipient of harm, ie someone who experiences sexual harassment or harm, to be used in place of words like target, victim, survivor, abused, etc.

  • Author of harm - someone whose behaviour is or could be experienced as harmful, to be used in place of words like perpetrator, creep, abuser, etc.

THE WORLD WE LIVE IN

We live in a world where sexual violence is systemic and pervasive. It impacts culture, the communities we live in, and the spaces we share. 

From childhood we are conditioned to accept harmful behaviours, damaging narratives and regressive social constructs as the norm. For example:

  • 1 in 4 U.K. women have been raped or sexually assaulted as an adult (6.54 million women in total)

  • 2 in 100 cases of rape reported to police (2022-2023) resulted in a charge

  • 2 in 1000 cases of rape cases result in successful prosecution.

  • 55% of women surveyed have little or no trust at all in the police’s ability to keep women safe.

  • 79% of school-age girls regularly experience sexual harassment

  • Women often report they would rather leave a dancefloor than report harassment due to not wanting to make a fuss or not expecting anything to come of it.

THE WORK WE DO

Our approach to harm reduction is twofold: focusing on the immediate safety of those directly affected and moving toward engendering aculture self-accountability and community responsibility.

On the night 

The Plough team are engaged in ongoing training to recognise and immediately respond to incidents of harm proportionately and with courage. Your safety is our priority. Your problem is our problem. You do not have to face it alone. 

If someone’s behaviour makes you uncomfortable, please tell any member of the Plough team as soon as possible. You will be believed!

  • If the situation can be resolved on the scene and no one is in danger of immediate harm. we talk to the author of harm, explain the impact of their behaviour, tell them clearly that unless they stop, they will have to leave and are jeopardising their future welcome in the pub. 

  • If the situation requires it we remove the author of harm.

  • We take the author of harm’s details and allow them the opportunity to resolve the issue later once we have had a chance to collect and review all the information.

We have a duty of care to both the people who experience harm and the people who are reported to cause it.

We have chosen to always believe a report of harm. In our experience, the number of incidents of mistaken reports is immeasurably fewer than those irrefutably proved to be true.

If the report is mistaken and leads to us wrongly asking someone to leave, our mistake means the end of the night for the accused. If we do not act and the complaint is true, our mistake would mean that the recipient of harm is further harmed by not being believed and they would now be in the same space as the author of said harm. 

reporting after the event

If you experienced or witnessed sexual harassment at The Plough and didn’t report it on the night, we still want to know about it (see reporting options below). We treat all reports seriously and where possible, we follow up as below unless you direct us otherwise. All disclosures are anonymous (unless requested otherwise) and we always ask how much involvement an individual wants in the ongoing process.

aftercare

We provide recipients of harm with the opportunity to meet with Meggan or Troy to express and unpack what they’ve experienced at The Plough and its impact and explore pathways for support.

Where possible we hold the author or authors of harmful behaviour accountable by requiring them to meet with us to review the incident and the impact of their behaviour. The aim is for the author of harm to understand the impact of their behaviour and become accountable for the harm they’ve caused, take responsibility and change. The team assesses if this is possible. If not, they cannot return to the pub and are offered pathways for support. This process is mandatory for the possibility of the author of harm being welcomed back into The Plough.

We are working with our community to address misogyny, harmful sexual attitudes, harassment and misconceptions of consent. We are hosting a series of  “conversations in the community” where all are safe to speak freely about sexual harm, thereby empowering the community to speak out and disrupt the culture of silence.

IN other VENUES 

We work with other venues and orgs to share our approach and practices to create and maintain more spaces with less harm and more collective accountability and community.

We know running a venue is full-on and full-time. We all feel responsible for what occurs in our spaces and we know how hopeless it can. No matter how big your organisation or the problem, together we can help reduce the harm people experience. 

If you run a venue and you want to see change - contact us at  collectiveyesbristol@gmail.com

GET INVOLVED

Be part of what we’re doing. Talk to your people about it.

Get clear on what is and what isn't OK for you.

Tell us if you encounter behavior that just isn’t right. 

To make any kind of real change, we need everyone to be involved. 

We want to hear your experience. 

There are several ways to use your voice: