Here's how to recognise the domestic violence hand signal that saved a missing teenage girl
By Bronte Gossling|
A hand gesture known on TikTok to signify violence at home was recognised by a passing motorist and saved a missing teenage girl in the US last week, but not everyone is clued into what, exactly, it is or how they can recognise it.
According to the Laurel County Sheriff's Office in Kentucky, a police officer rescued a 16-year-old from Asheville in North Carolina on Thursday, two days after she was reported missing by her parents กช thanks to a passing motorist who saw the hand gesture and called 911, tailing the vehicle for 11km until police were able to pull the car over and rescue the teen.
Here's what you need to know about the signal for help.
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What is the violence at home hand signal for help?
Originally created by the Women's Funding Network and the Canadian Women's Foundation, the #SignalForHelp is a discrete method for victims of domestic violence to ask for help.
Someone using the one-handed signal holds up their hand, with their palm facing outward, and tucks their thumb into their hand, closing their fingers to trap the thumb.
TikTok has been inundated with videos explaining what the signal means and how to recognise it.
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Originally created due to the increase of domestic violence reported in the coronavirus pandemic กช according to the United Nations, one in three women experienced sexual or physical violence by mostly an intimate partner since the start of COVID-19 กช the new #SignalForHelp isn't the first gesture or campaign to go viral on social media.
In 2015, a domestic violence campaign that instructed domestic abuse victims to draw a black dot on their hand was shut down over fears it would harm more than help should an abuser spot the mark.
In Australia specifically, there are some other subtle methods people can ask for assistance.
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Other subtle ways to ask for help
'Ask for Angela' has been established in South Australia and certain parts of New South Wales, where participating venues display posters and information sheets and train staff how to adequately respond when approached by a patron who believes themselves to be in an unsafe situation and asks for 'Angela'.
Those who have iPhones also have the ability to trigger an emergency SOS feature that alerts their emergency contacts, shares their current location and allows the option to call local emergency services.
For users who have an iPhone 8 and later models, simply press and hold one of the volume buttons until an emergency slider appears กช on some models, however, you may also need to press the side lock button as well as one of the volume buttons.
On an iPhone 7 or earlier models, users should quickly press the top or side button multiple times, until the emergency slider appears on the screen. Further instructions on how to set up the feature and check which buttons to press in an emergency situation can be found under the 'Emergency SOS' section in the iPhone's settings application, which also allows users to turn auto-call and a countdown sound on and off.
For users who don't have iPhones but are Optus customers, the telecommunications company have launched Optus Sidekick, where users can set a timer to countdown and, if it's not turned off in time, an alert is sent out to selected contacts to contact the user.
Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.
Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467.
MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78.
National Domestic Violence Service: 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732). If you are in immediate danger call triple zero (000).
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