‘Reclaim the Night’ trends on Twitter as women share coping mechanisms following Sarah Everard’s death

Sign up for the Independent Women email for the latest news, opinion and features Get the Independent Women email for free Get the Independent Women email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. She continued: “But I completely understand that despite this, women in London and the wider public - particularly those in the area where Sarah went missing - will be worried and may well be feeling scared.” In light of the news, police have reportedly warned women not to go out alone at night in the area, resulting in some social media users protesting against the idea that women should change their behaviour in order to prevent being attacked when the focus should be on potential perpetrators. Commenting on the advice, MP Jess Philips told BBC Radio 4’sToday programme: “The message that we should be sending out is not what women should and shouldn’t do, it’s about how serious violence against women and girls is, and how it is an epidemic that we have to put far more attention and resources into.” Everard’s disappearance - and the response to it - has led many women to share their stories of fear about going out after dark while also calling on one another to “Reclaim the Night”. Reclaim the night.” Many women spoke about the fear they experience on a daily basis, with one tweeting: “I feel like being a female Londoner is simultaneously delighting in the feeling of being hedonistically impervious to harm and the relentless, bone-chilling weight that there is, there could be, or there was someone behind you.” One person simply wrote: “It’s a sad indictment to a sector of men in this country that a woman cannot safely walk alone.” Others pointed out how some women have internalised a victim-blaming mentality, with one person tweeting: “We have normalised that at one point as a woman you’ll be followed. It’s not us.” Some men have been offering their thoughts too, including BBC Breakfast’s Dan Walker, who tweeted: “This awful Sarah Everard story has highlighted the lengths to which women go to to avoid being attacked by men.