If you visit many local breweries, cideries and East Nashville bars, you might have seen a window cling on the front door naming the establishment as “Safe Bar certified.” This means the staff has undergone training on how to recognize warning signs of potential sexual assault or unwanted advances, advice on how to intervene or respond to sexual assault, and knowledge of the role that alcohol and drugs often play in sexual assault.
The Safe Bar Tennessee program aims to engage bar owners and staff to do their part to prevent sexual violence across Tennessee. This project is in partnership with the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence and the Tennessee Department of Health. You can read more about it in this week's print issue of the Scene or here online.
So kudos to all the Nashville hospitality workers who have volunteered to take part in the Safe Bar Tennessee initiative! However, if you’re looking for participants in the urban core of Lower Broad where anecdotally a lot of the problems are when it comes to predatory practices in bars and clubs, good luck with that. According to the list of participants on the organization’s website, Whiskey Bent Saloon and Teddy’s Tavern are the only bars in the Neon Canyon that have made the commitment to be a part of the training. (Good for them! If I were a woman choosing where to spend my dollars on Lower Broad, I would vote with my pocketbook to reward bars that care about my well-being.)
To bring attention to the problem of alcohol- and drug-related sexual assaults, the Sexual Assault Center of Middle Tennessee has announced that the city’s biggest New Year’s Eve celebration will officially be a Safe Bar Tennessee event, as the Jack Daniel’s New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park will help promote the program to the thousands of attendees. Program volunteers are currently training bartenders, security and other staff who will be working the event to identify and intervene safely in the event of sexual harassment or assault.
Other ways that Safe Bar Tennessee will raise awareness during the Big Bash include placing posters in the restrooms and stocking drink stations with free coasters that can detect the presence of GHB and ketamine slipped into a drink during an inattentive moment. The coasters are also available to bars that are part of the Safe Bar program, which is to say, very few places downtown.
According to the program that started in 2018, about 50 percent of all sexual assaults involve the use of alcohol or other date rape drugs by the perpetrator. If a business wishes be certified as a Safe Bar, at least half of a bar’s staff must go through 90 minutes of training, which can take place in person or virtually.
Safe Bar has worked closely with the Metro Council’s Women’s Caucus and the Public Health and Safety Committee. Last year, the Women’s Caucus presented a resolution encouraging all establishments that serve alcohol to become Safe Bar trained.
"This initiative through the Sexual Assault Center plays a vital role in not only preventing these issues, but also being a crucial resource for those who unfortunately find themselves in need,” Councilmember Joy Styles said at the time of the resolution. "This collaborative effort exemplifies a shared commitment to creating a fun and safe Nashville experience for both residents and tourists alike. The caucus is proud to be a supporter and partner of the program."
To sign up for the program and get your staff trained, visit SafeBarApp.org.
As consumers, you can have a role in a safer downtown by asking your favorite watering hole if they’re a part of the program, and if not, why not? Then you can decide whether you want to vote with your feet by ceasing to patronize a place that doesn’t prioritize the safety of women patrons. Especially with so many vulnerable tourists passing through town every weekend, it’s imperative that the bars that collect so much money from $10 longnecks and Fireball shots make the commitment to protect both visitors and locals! (/rant over.)
