A 16-year-old North Carolina teenager who was kidnapped last week has been rescued thanks to a sign created by the Canadian Women’s Foundation, US media have reported in recent days. The young woman was in the back of a car when she made a hand gesture of lifting four fingers, then closing them on her thumb, a sign seen on the TikTok social network. A motorist immediately recognized this gesture synonymous with domestic violence and called 911.
This gesture was created in April 2020, during the pandemic, because women found themselves very isolated. “Cases of domestic violence, sexual assault and psychological abuse against women had increased significantly during confinement. We wanted to create a silent sign, a simple gesture that can be used in videoconferencing and that means the person needs help, ”explains Anuradha Dugal, vice-president of community initiatives at the Canadian Women’s Foundation.
The awareness campaign was carried out on social networks. “On TikTok, it went viral very quickly, it went beyond our borders, in the United States, in Brazil, in Australia. I know that in the United States, there was a lot of impact thanks to our partners doing the same work as us. The strength of social networks is incredible! We weren’t aiming for a global impact, ”says Anuradha Dugal. She specifies that in Canada, according to their research, one in three people recognizes this sign.
For Nellie Brière, consultant in digital communications and social networks, TikTok is a platform that has this idea of defending rights in its DNA.
This gesture saved his life because it went viral! It was popularized on TikTok because there are communities to relay them and they are very mobilized on the issue of women, a theme very present on TikTok.
Nellie Brière, digital communications and social media consultant
TikTok also allows, according to her, to do a multitude of small learning, including improving your security when you are a woman. “A study carried out among TikTok users reveals that 60% of them have learned new things on TikTok, whether it is a recipe, a DIY, or even a new safety instruction, hence the interest of this platform that now has over 1 billion users, ”she said. TikTok is also a place where we offer diversity.
“The first TikTok communities advocated diversity and the acceptance of difference. This platform is really aimed at a whole youth who has a more open vision of the world ”, estimates the specialist. “The Black Lives Matter movement would never have had the reach it did without TikTok. You have to understand that there is a community and particular cultures that are very active on this social network. ”
PHOTO COREY SIPKIN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Demonstrators protest at the corner of the 59e Street and Fifth Avenue after a judge announced the grand jury charges against Detective Brett Hankison, one of three police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, in New York City on September 23, 2020.
David Toto, president of the Juniper Park TBWA advertising agency in Toronto, helped create this gesture with the Canadian Women’s Foundation, a sign that was truly designed to leave no digital traces. “We wanted everyone to appropriate this sign,” he says. “This human story of this young woman brings us back to the concrete, the simplicity of the symbol works. ”
The way we communicate today is extremely visual and we realize the power of non-verbal communication, he adds. This hand gesture demonstrates it, it is quickly understood, it does not need to be translated, it is understood immediately.
David Toto, president of the advertising agency Juniper Park TBWA
It is a reminder of the strength of the knee to the ground gesture, a gesture against racism and a tribute to George Floyd which has been echoed around the world.
PHOTO KEREM YUCEL, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Lawyer for the Floyd family, District Attorney Ben Crump and Reverend Al Sharpton, Founder and Chairman of the National Action Network, along with family members of George Floyd kneel in front of the Hennepin County Government Center, on the opening day of the trial of former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin on March 29, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Anuradha Dugal is relieved that this young woman has been rescued and salutes her courage. She wants this hand sign to be known by as many women as possible, but also by those who will help, a subject on which the foundation is working. “You have to know how to recognize the sign and respond appropriately, the campaign will continue,” promises David Toto.
“It’s important to help people. Domestic violence is not an individual or family affair, it is everyone’s business. If a person is not safe, we have a responsibility to inform ourselves and to act, ”concludes Anuradha Dugal.
Visit the Canadian Women’s Foundation website