A shop owner said she has “had enough” of women feeling unsafe after she was harassed by a group of men while walking to work.
Dani Britten, of Crickhowell, is looking at how she can help to make the town safer as while she was walking to her new shop on the evening of Thursday, July 23, she was catcalled by a group of men outside a pub on the High Street.
The 33-year-old said she felt “angry” and “unsafe” as the men made comments which she described as “bang out of order” as she crossed the street from the pub to allow more space and so she wouldn’t be walking through tables of people eating and drinking.
Ms Britten, who was on her way to host an online sale at Crystals and Holistics Crickhowell which she runs with Becky Bond at 32 High Street, said: “I was carrying a photo ring light and it started when one of the men said to me ‘that looks heavy’ and asked if I wanted him to carry it.
“I told him thank you but that I was quite capable of carrying it myself. I crossed the road and one of them asked ‘do you want to take a picture with me’ and saying ‘I’ll take care of you love’”.
Ms Britten said she stopped engaging the men at this point but they persisted.
“Then one said to me ‘why don’t you come and look in the back of my van love?’”
The shop owner, who has lived in Crickhowell for four years, said in that moment her “fight or flight” response kicked in so she left and rushed to her shop.
Ms Britten said: “There were people outside the pub but nobody was saying anything. I knew that I just needed to get behind a locked door.
“If I saw a woman or a man being picked on by other people, I would say something to them.
“I rushed to my shop and locked the door in the dark before I started my livestream.”
During the livestream, Ms Britten mentioned her experience which prompted everyone to start sharing their own stories of harassment they had encountered.
Those participating also mentioned articles and studies about what women would enjoy most about being male which featured “not having to worry about what they wear” or “being able to go out in the evening without having to worry”, as well as other national cases such as that of Sarah Everard.
Halfway through the evening, Ms Britten said a group of teenage boys - estimated to be around 16-years-old - started banging on the window to get her attention.
Mr Britten said: “You do see them walking around topless and playing music on their speaker, like in the 1980s with a boombox.
“The music they play is inappropriate, they walk around in the middle of the day playing it and I’m only 33, I’m not a prude but it is inappropriate.
“They were doing it at 9pm and they saw the lights were on and they clearly recognised me as my daughter’s mother as she’s only a couple of years below them in school, and they started banging on the window saying ‘let us in, we’ll have a party together’”.
Ms Britten said she felt intimidated by the group of boys, although she wasn’t as worried about them as the men she had encountered earlier outside the pub.
She said she feels that society needs to “educate sons better”, starting with that it’s not okay to get a 30 second laugh at the expense of somebody else.
“They clearly thought it was okay to get a laugh at my expense, the same as the men in the pub,” she said.
“Those men would have laughed about it for 30 seconds after trying to appear blokey to each other. I worried about it for the next 12 hours after that and later I was frightened to walk home”.
Ms Britten said she felt safer leaving the shop unlocked as she drove her car from the back of the shop to the front to lock-up rather than locking up fully and walking home.
The passionate safety advocate said that she has always felt safe in Crickhowell and that, even with her experience, it is still the safest she has felt living in an area after previous experiences of harassment and being followed in Newport and Devon where she lived previously.
She said: “I’ve always felt so safe in Crickhowell, it’s the safest I’ve ever felt in my whole life. “I thought ‘I’m not okay with this - this is not what this town is about’”.
Ms Britten took to Facebook the following day to voice her upset about the events of the Thursday evening.”
The powerful post, which has received 196 reacts, 95 comments and 21 shares at the time of writing, recounted the “extremely uncomfortable” experience.
At the end of the post, it said “I don’t care if you’ve had a drink, if it’s meant as banter or you’re having a laugh with your friends - drop the male bravado and have an ounce of empathy.
“Surely compassion, kindness and care is the way decent men behave towards women and our teenage girls. You don’t know what others have been through, so please stop and take a look at yourselves before making others uncomfortable.
“This kind of behaviour doesn’t have a place anywhere, and yet it’s even happening here in our lovely little town.”
Ms Britten said she was initially a bit apprehensive about sharing the post as she wasn’t sure how it would be received, but she shared it as she was disappointed.
She also pointed out that while Crickhowell is “a lovely little town” it does not make it immune to issues such as sexual harassment.
She said: “When a man shouts down the road after me, I don’t feel flattered. It doesn’t boost my self-esteem. It’s not acceptable.”
Ms Britten said that young women and men should feel safe when they’re in the town and that women shouldn’t have to rely on actions like holding their keys between their fingers to get to their car or their front door.
“I realise that I keep my sharpest key between my fingers when I’m walking - how dark and twisted is that?
“I’ve got a young daughter, she’s 13 and she wants to start going out with her friends, and it’s frightening because you’re giving advice like ‘avoid this area’ and ‘do this’ or ‘don’t do this’.”
Ms Britten said that since her post, she has been approached by one man who told her “as a man I’m ashamed, but as a parent I’m furious”.
With others in the community such as the man, Ms Britten is looking into set up a safety scheme which will allow immediate assistance for residents who feel unsafe in the town.
She said: “Crickhowell is a pioneering town and I think it’s the sort of thing Crick would do to help people feel safer.”
Ms Britten also mentioned that Crickhowell inspires other towns and that such a scheme could help inspire other towns across the UK.
Ms Britten spoke to The Brecon & Radnor Express before the events of Tuesday, July 27 on Brecon Road - which are not related to Ms Britten - were revealed by police.
Since Dyfed-Powys Police appealed for witnesses to the rape which took place in the early hours of the morning near the primary school in Crickhowell, Ms Britten said it had made her more determined to help make the town safer.
She said: “I am utterly horrified to learn of the event on 27th July after we had spoken and this has made me even more determined to consult the other members of the town and agree a safety scheme together. “
Dyfed-Powys Police encourages victims of harassment or stalking to report it by calling 101 or on its website.
If you have been effected by this story, Victim Support offer advice and help to anybody effected by crime - including harassment and stalking - and can be reached on 08 08 16 89 111.
You can also reach the Suzy Lamplugh Trust on 0808 802 0300 which offers a national service of advice and support to victims of stalking.