TELEFONO ROSA

This guide is intended for all women who, either for reasons of study,work, or tourism, travel within European countries; it is likewise intended
for girl studentes who follow specialization courses, for blue and white collar women who reside out of their own countries, for girls on vacation,
for degree-holders engaged in master courses, for housewives who have managed a pleasant trip with their children, wives who have found their life-partner in a country other than theirs and set up their households... in short, to all women who, for one reason or another, have crossed the frontiers of their own countries.
Knowing new places and new people, new ways of living and expressing oneself in life and on art, is undoubtedly beautiful and interesting, but,
like all things beautiful and interesting, may conceal certain risks.
Risk n. 1, which not even the most advanced countries, those most mindful of their citizens' security are able to crush, is violence.
There is always a dark corner in a city, a special situation wherein danger can lurk and entrap a woman, especially if she is not watchful, if she does not apply such minimum caution as may prevent unpleasant occurrences.
Our wish is that there shoukd exist no ambushes on the path of those who wander around the streets of this or that European city: and nursing this hope, we have prepared this brief "security" handbook, in cooperation with sister associations in France, Romania, England, Poland, Spain and Portugal, all countries engaged together in preventing and fighting violence.
For twelve years now our Associazione Nazionale Volontarie del Telefono Rosa (National Volunteers' Association of the Telefono Rosa) has taken upon itself the task of helping women get rid of abuses that play havoc with their lives.
For twelve years now sixty wolunteers have been listening over the telephone to the voices of three hundred and fifty thousand women who often tell stories of brutality, tribulations and severe humiliations.
There are fourteen professionale, seventeen bank officials, psychologists, law experts who provide consulting services that help explsin violated rights, restore faith in lives that appeared hopeless.
If, in Italy, a law against violence has been passed by Parliament, if the dimensions and weight of comportments against women are no longer overlooked or undrvalued; if a number of welcoming centres and houses have been set up in various Italian cities, if old habits are partially disappearing and in trials for rape the victim is no longer insulted,
if it is ever more widely accepted that the solution to the problem lies in an appropriate education of the younger generations, credit also goes to the Telefono Rosa, to its daily action, its publications and research,
its accusations through the mass media, its requests and petitions to Parliament,
to Town Administrations, schools, doctors, jurists, intellectuals.
In the hope that all women may travel and go freely and securely in every country of our old continent,
we wish them a good trip and a happy stay.

supposing a woman tourist ...
.... wants to go alone

In the street
. Before you go out of your hotle, just stop a few minutes and think.
Your jewels, your money and your documents: are they all locked in the hotel safe-box?
Better take with you the sum you believe to be adequate for the days's expenses and a photocopy of a document.
Better still, replace your usual bag with a bum-bag. In the evening or at night, avoid showing valuables.
When you walk on the pavement, keep the bag on the side of the walls.
In the street, do not check how much money you have got with you and if you sit in some place do not leave the bag on the table or on a chair away from your reach.
Do not trust who want to "offer" you unrequested information, since they might well be malevolent people,
and even strightforward thieves.Avoid gypsies provided with cardboard trays or newspapers: they use them to conceal pickpocketing practices.
Better not to go alone to cash money from the Bancomat: pay attention to those who are near and around you or glance over what you are doing.
Try not to walk alone at night in the less central sections of town.
Do not sleep outdoor, on the beach or in a park benches.

In a car or Public Transport Vehicle
If you use a car, make sure that the safety catches are closed while you are driving, especially when you stop at a traffic light.
On buses, as a rule, there are warnings against pickpockets and bagsnatchers: do not let your mind wander and tightly keep your bag in front of you.
Be most watchful when taking your bus and alighting from it.
Should anyone harass you, do not hesitate and rebel againt the harassing person, and ask for help even from the bus driver.
In the underground crossings, join other passengers, do not stay behind and do not stop to listen to anyone offering you a bargain, and /or proposes to be your guide.
If you are travelling on a coach where you have remained alone with a man who behaves oddly, do not alight with him at the terminus and ask for help from the conductor, that he may telephone for a taxicab.

In a Train
If at all possible, take a seat in the front carriages where you can always find the chief conductor and also, in some trains, the Railroad police, from which you can ask for advice and help if necessary.
Never enter compartments with the shutters down and where lights are dim or off, and shut yoursleeping ear compartment from the inside.
If you hang your overcoat or cost over your seat, take your wallet out of its pocket as well as your valuables (brooches, etc.)
Watch carefully your bags and luggage in the stations' undercrossings and going up and down: as a rule, in all crowded places. If you must use the luggage trolley, place luggage carefully so that it does not fall; keep the bag with money and documents under your arms.
Once you have reached your destination, do not take an unauthorized taxicab: much better to stand waiting for a little,
rather n finding yourself in a cab with somebody for whom no firm is answerable.

Hitch-hiking
Just one and only advice: don't do it. Trains, coaches, the underground trains, buses and taxicabs may take you where you want, in all peace and safety.
In many European cities, collective taxicab services have been organized, which are especially active at night.

In a Disco
Just as is the case in all places of entertainment and amusement, it is most important not to let yourself go, not to drink excessively, not to accept tablets or such like.
Do not let a boy you have just met accompany you. Take a cab and, if you are in danger, call the Police.
Supposing a woman tourist ...
.... has suffered an abuse

Such an event is not likely to happen, especially if you have followed routine caution practices, good for any ountry in the world; no unpleasant adventures when proper care has been taken, not even with the worst type of harasser.
Your own intelligence and your insight will help you find the best way to avoid the more irksome situations.
If you should not succeed, try and memorize the most characteristic feaures of the man as well as his clothes:
this will help you in filing your claim and in tracking and finding the man. Go and denounce what has happened to you.

As soon as the fact has occurred, without taking out the marks of the damage sustained,
go to the First Aid department of an Hospital: the number of the apparopriate Police Office for the Area will help you find the
nearest First Aid (see card).
After undergoing a medical visit, demand a medical certificate declaring the violence you have suffered.
The medical visit is essential not only because therapies may be required to prevent infections and treat injuries,
but also in order to provide evidence as to the criminal offence committed.

After having suffered a sexual aggression, many women may experience feelings of fear and shame.
They could also feel wulnerable and confused, chey might feel a sense of guilt, anxiety and depression.
It is crucial, however, to react and to denounce.

. Therefore, keep the medical certificate and all and every evidence of the violence you have suffered, to be submitted to the appropriate authorities, together with the denuciation.
Talk to trustworthy persons. You have been the victime of a crime and must obtain justice.
The culprit counts on your silence.
Apply to an appropriate Centre which through its women advisors, lawyers and aolicitors, psychologists, social workers, can assist you and inform you on what can be done to obtain justice.
Thereafter, take appropriate tests and analyses to ascertain whether the criminal action has borne consequences such as diseases or other.
supposing a woman tourist ...
.... wants to denounce a crime

To submit a denunciation for a crime of which you were the victim, means:

a) to demand justice;
b) to protect other women from those who committed actions of violence against yourselvev;
c) to overcome any unjustified feeling of guilt and shame that might ruin your psychological balance.

You can apply to the appropriate local authorities to file your
denunciation.

There, they will explain to you what official steps you have to take in connection with the criminal action, in accordance with the local legislation.
In the case of a sexual crime (harassment or rape) or battery, do not hesitate to go first to a First Aid unit, where they will assist you and will issue the first medical reports to submit to the appropriate authorities.
During the course of the inquest, embarrassing questions may be put to you:
do not be afraid of asking why such questions are necessary since your private life and your habits have non connection whatsoever with the facts of which you have been a victim.
Before you start any and all denunciation action, we advise you to get in touch with women's volunteers' associations so that thy can accompany and support you throughout the whole action.

From the Police, the Carabinieri, the Medical Operators

a secure and competent help

After showing behaviours and addresses useful to avoid any type of unpleasant occurence, we wish to remind you that the work of Police and like Services as well as that of Health Operators (Medical Doctors, Chemites, Social Workers, etc.) of each country is precious and irreplaceable.

To the Police, the Carabinieri, the Vigili Urbani, we request:
A discreet watch, especially at night-time, of streets and semi-deserted zones,preventive information to women tourists, on their behaviours "at risk";
a prompt, timely intervention at railroad stations or airports if they see that a tourist does not control her luggage.
Should there arise difficulties in the language, they ought to seek an interpreter; assistance and support to the victims of violence and their willingness to take the tourist to a First Aid Unit the proposal of the pressnce of female personnel in the event of sexuall violence; provide information on Associations and Centres for the assistance of women victims of abuse, and reporting the case to the appropriate Consulate

To the Health Operators, we request: an accurate control that he medicine requested in a foreign language be the correct one;
that they tell what is the nearest hospital should it be found that the victim needs medical treatment;
the assistance of a psychologist and a social worker to take care of the emotional conditions of a person who has suffered a shock that is not only physical; that they help the victim inform their family and friends if any, of what has happened.

To the First Aid Operators, we request: the intervention of an interpreter if requird, to make sure that the report on what has happened has been correctly understood; he assessment of any all possible physical damage, without forgetting an evaluation of the victim's emotional conditions and requesting, if need be, the advice of a psychologist and/or the presence of a social worker; that the tourist has properly understood the prescribed therapy and that she has been given adeguate information on the mode and times and intake of the medicines prescribed, and has also been told of the other health and hospital units where she can undergo appropriate checks and controls if needes; that, at the time of dismissal, they help the tourist find persons known to her and who are willeng and able to sustain her.

All other possible actions are left to good sense and to a sincere wish to give assistance and help: these will suggest the more correct attitude in assisting the victim.