While the Dolle Mina’s eat cookies and drink tea with passers-by at one side of the bicycle tunnel, three men smoke a pipe of crack at the other end of the tunnel.
It is precisely on that side of the Van Sijpesteijn tunnel in Utrecht that the Dolle Mina’s – a feminist action group from the attention asks – planning to use the tunnel as a living room. With benches, rugs and lights, as a protest against insecurity in public spaces. The women demonstrating here tonight demonstrate that insecurity themselves, who leaned against a lamppost next to the bicycle tunnel. Only part of his face was visible through his balaclava. He shouted and appeared confused, say three Mad Minas. The group then decided to move to the other side of the tunnel with all their belongings.
On Sunday, December 21, the shortest and darkest day of the year, hundreds organized the national ‘living room action’. In sixteen cities they set up ‘the streets to . “Wherever you go, you should feel as safe as in your own living room,” says Daphne Lamain (26), one of the organizers of the action in Utrecht.
In the Netherlands there is a growing awareness that many people cannot cross the street safely. Since the murder of seventeen-year-old Lisa from Abcoude, more attention has been paid to it. She was riding her bike home after going out in August when she was attacked and killed. A 22-year-old man is a suspect in the case. It, municipalities and mayors say they want to invest more in prevention. Research will be conducted into the redesign of public space, the use of undercover boas and the legalization of pepper spray for self-defense.
In the months after Lisa’s murder, national actions against femicide and street intimidation followed. But women were also whistled at and groped during these protest marches.
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Detour
There are about thirty people in the ‘under the tunnel in Utrecht. Normally the tunnel smells of urine, but now the smell of incense predominates. There are plenty of corners to pee, hardly any security cameras and . With this action, the Dolle Mina’s hope that the safety of women will be considered from now on.
“We have chosen the shortest day of the year as a statement: if we are here on the darkest day, no one has to cycle home with a detour,” says Dolle Mina Lamain.
Due to a feeling of insecurity, almost half of women between the ages of 15 and 25 sometimes choose a different route in their own neighborhood, according to research. research from statistics agency CBS. Among young men, only one in five does this.
The police receive more reports of sexual crimes every year. Last year there were almost fifteen thousand, eight hundred more than the year before, according to recent police figures. The Sexual Offenses Act came into force in June 2024. One of the new criminal offenses is street intimidation. Last year, 235 reports were made to the police nationally. For now there are only ten cities special reporting points for street harassment – in the form of apps or websites.
Other behaviors have also been criminalized, such as making intrusive sexual gestures and touching someone in a frightening way.
Self-defense
Teenagers on fat bikes race past and towards the activists. talking in the ‘living room’ about their unsafe feelings on the street. Zo says that in the 1970s she suffered from a recurring pencil vendor at her primary school.
Lara Simons (42) was wary of the Utrecht serial rapist during her student days in the 1990s. She is campaigning with her mother (77), the former Dolle Mina, and her twelve-year-old daughter. S She followed one herself.
Simons: “All participants, especially girls in their early twenties, had experienced something bad. They all came there because they didn’t want to experience it again. As a woman, you notice during such a course how strong you actually are.”
Map of unsafe locations
The Dolle Mina’s chose this tunnel in Utrecht based on a research of TV program Pointer. In the past three years Pointer collected information from almost ten thousand women, who on a digital map designate an unsafe location. The thirteen thousand locations indicated show where and why women feel unsafe.
Utrecht Central Station was indicated most often. There, one of the station exits leads towards the Van Sijpesteijntunnel. According to passers-by, local residents and activists, women are often shouted at here. The tunnel is a gathering place for drug dealers and there are men walking around who are under the influence.
I jumped on my bike to leave. But he still ran after me for a while
“Would you like to be fucked in the ass?”, someone said to Sacha Rowling (32) a few years ago. Rowling is sitting in the ‘living room’ with her mother. “I jumped on my bike to leave. But he ran after me for a while.” She then reported the incident to the police to indicate that the tunnel was an unsafe place.
On the evening of the living room campaign, two men also walk through the tunnel with a bicycle in hand. They both have teenage daughters. Jasper van Dijk (54): “If I happen to walk behind a woman at night or in the evening, I sometimes walk around the block to prevent her from feeling unsafe.”
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