A phone app that quickly alerts six friends if a woman feels threatened is expanding from the US to New Delhi and possibly Mexico City.
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The Circle of Six app invites users to designate six friends as their “circle” of people from whom they can seek help when in trouble. With one tap, users can send a text requesting to be picked up (complete with a GPS tag), ask to be interrupted with a phone call, or say they need to talk about issues of abuse in their relationship. It also provides external hotlines and resources for those experiencing or wanting to stop abuse.
With India’s terrible record of addressing sexual assault—in 2012, 600 reported rapes in New Delhi alone resulted in only one conviction—Schwartzman saw an opportunity to adapt the app for a specific audience.
Thus, nearly a year after the app’s official launch and in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month in the US, the Circle of Six app has launched a New Delhi-specific version. The localized version is translated into Hindi and provides local hotlines and resources for users to reach with one tap. Schwartzman is also in talks with Mexican health officials to launch a localized version in Mexico City.
The design and utility of the app is meant to challenge some commonly misheld notions about rape and violence, such as the idea that "stranger danger"—or rape by an unknown individual—is the main threat.
“I was always really looking at sexual assault between people that know each other—at work places, dorm rooms, spring break.These are gray-area experiences that are certainly violating to women, but not treated that way by the courts or the media.”
The app—which now has 55,000 downloads in 26 countries—is designed to give women an “out” when they are in an environment where sexual advances may be socially acceptable (while at a house party or working at a bar, for example) but can still feel uncomfortable or threatening.
Even though her app mostly addresses issues relating to acquaintance rape, Schwartzman believes that all forms of violence and harassment against women are related and thus the solution must be holistic—and most importantly, it must include men.
“The fact that it’s just a given that any urban park will empty out at dusk of women—and that if you don’t accept that as a woman you’re ‘asking for it’—is insane,” she said. “Circle of Six gives men the opportunity to be accountable to someone by being part of their circle, to help to stem the tide of rape culture, and to call out bad behavior when they see it.”
Labels: Crime, Defence, Internet, Security, Sexism, Social-Cultural Deviations
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