A group of women who were all reportedly spiked have come together to create a girls only night out.
Abbie Nesbitt , 21, Patricia Smolkova, 19, Megan Green, 20, and Gina Chroma, 20, have said “enough is enough” when it comes to women feeling unsafe on night outs in the city and have established a safe space where women can dance the night away with little to no worry of being spiked.
The students said it was frustrating there was even a need for their event to come about in the first place and also reiterate the importance of hospitality staff being trained to deal with these types of situation.
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Last year, the ECHO revealed, there had been 83 reports of spiking made to Merseyside police between September to October. The significant increase in 'spiking via injection' led to students boycotting clubs across the city for one night only. In a bid to combat the issue, some clubs introduced drink testing kits and paper lids while others reinforced a no-search-no-entry policy and added additional security.
Megan Green told the ECHO : “After the boycott of the clubs because of the spiking, after it was done, it was like everything just went back to normal and everyone forgot about it. The night raised awareness but it didn’t change anything as whole so we took that into our own hands.”
The 20-year-old initially moved to the city to study media and communications but didn’t get the best first impression after reportedly being spiked during freshers week.
She said: “I was spiked in my first year of university whilst out clubbing with a group of friends. I remember feeling very drowsy, I was slurring my words, I couldn’t stand up straight, and it just got worse. I began to black out and fell down the stairs of the club where I was told I was ‘too drunk to be in the club’ and thrown out onto the street.”
Megan said she was taken to hospital where she stayed overnight on a drip.
She added: "I am so lucky that I was taken to hospital and I dread to think what might have happened to me that night after being thrown out on my own."
Gina Chroma, a 20-year-old Criminology and Forensic Psychology student, claims she had a similar experience and like Megan, the part-time bartender was thankful she had her friends around her at the time.
She said: “I was with three of my friends and we were out for a chilled drink. It was in summer and we were just out for a few beers after being out in the sun all day. I had one full pint and a half pint in this particular bar, I only had maybe one or two drinks prior to this. I was 100% fine, didn’t feel weird or anything the whole time I was there. There was a moment where we left our drinks out of sight and it is possible that during that short time someone spiked my drink. I can’t remember much after the last pint, my friends had to tell me the rest of the story. "
Gina went on to explain that she was acting out of character and not her normal drunk self and lost memory of the evening. She added: “As soon as I stepped out the door from the bar I started to act strange. I was acting like someone who had consumed either a lot of drink or was on drugs.
"Apparently I was stumbling around, shouting things at my friends and just acting completely out of character. My friends walked me home, I don’t remember leaving the bar, the journey home, or even getting home. I think I was very lucky that I had my friends with me, and that the effect of whatever it was that my drink was spiked with, didn’t affect me worse. I’m glad I ended up at home in my bed and not in hospital and I can definitely thank my friends for that. Unfortunately I can’t say much more on how I felt or what I behaved like because I don’t remember anything.”
To ensure others don’t find themselves in a similar situation, the victims came together to create Women’s Wednesday - a safe space for women as well as the trans and non-binary community. Abbie Nesbitt, originally from Northern Ireland, said the group held their first event on a Wednesday but now they want women to feel safe every day of the week and are undergoing rebranding.
The 21-year-old international tourism management student said: “Women’s Wednesday came together after we had noticed venues that would be suited to hosting these niche events but more importantly, the spiking pandemic led to these reasons.
“We were shocked and hurt to know women and the LGBTQIA+ community were being targeted more than ever on the streets of our home. We had noticed that a level of paranoia had grown between us through checking each other's bodies for injection marks and always checking our drinks in case we were spiked. Enough is enough and we decided to bounce back even harder and bring our marginalised and targeted groups together to create a special community where people can relax and enjoy themselves with little to no worry.”
The women had originally planned to host events every two weeks however after growing in popularity and being approached by venues quicker than expected, they have extended their bookings to any day of the week as “the communities should feel safe for more than one day of the week.”
Women’s Wednesday, who are hosting a pub quiz tonight on March, Wednesday 16 at Melodic Bar from 7.30-10.30pm, are hoping to expand to Manchester and Wirral by the end of the year.
