Interview With an Activist: Victim of Rape Aboard a Sailing Yacht creates a Support Network for Sailors

Interview Originally Published in Voiles et Voiliers (Sails & Sailboats)

INTERVIEW. Victime d’un viol, une équipière crée un réseau d’entraide entre navigantes

October 6, 2023 (Translated via Google Translate)

Voiles et Voiliers: How did you come up with the idea of ​​creating the Facebook group Naviguer au Féminin en Sécurité / Sailing Safely for Women in spring 2021? 

Eva Cohen: In 2020, I took a gap year in the Caribbean to try to live a different life. I went sailing thanks to an advert found on an English-speaking crew scholarship site. With the captain who welcomed me, I was very clear about the professional nature of the arrangement. He was a man who had a big business, and who I therefore thought was “serious”. From the first evening, he raped me. It was my first experience as a team member. I was not aware of this predatory behavior. If I had known that these actions were so widespread, to the point that this man would believe he could attack me with impunity, I would have been prepared to defend myself, to push him away, to scream, and I would not have been raped. I'm 100% sure of it. Other victims say the same thing. Because of the surprise and shock, I was petrified. I went into dissociation, I was cut off from my emotions, detached from my body. I also had a false image of the sailing community, which is actually incredibly misogynistic. I was very shocked and am still very traumatized by this experience. Once I landed, I was consumed by shame and isolation. But I realized that many other teammates had had the same experience. It was a known phenomenon in the community that perverts used their boats to sexually assault women. So I created the Facebook group Sailing Safely for Women, with a captain who was tired of this situation. We are now 8,000 members.

Voiles et Voiliers: On this Facebook group, you collect testimonies from women victims of sexual violence while co-navigating. What safety advice do you give you to women wanting to navigate via crewing sites?

Eva Cohen: Our golden rule is to never leave alone with a man. At sea, aboat is a cramped and dangerous place. We know of cases of skippers having showed serious psychiatric disorders after a few days at sea, or situations where teammates almost died. We know that at least two rapists convicts recruited respectively on sites (a European and an American). They have since been banned, but can re-register in two seconds with a new e-mail address. It’s the complete Wild West. Impunity is total. British Iswan released a safety precautions manual in September 2023, developed on the basis of the measures recommended in my group. I recommend warmly read it (in English).

Voiles et Voiliers: Do you have figures on the extent of this phenomenon?

Eva Cohen: More than 200 captains have been reported to us as predators or seriously abusive. We therefore advise team members not to leave with them when they consult us. At least one captain is wanted by the French police, but the latter can do nothing. They therefore freely recruit their next prey. The victims are so traumatized and ashamed of having been framed let them be silent. File a complaint, talk about such a shocking event to strangers who often doubt you, ask you for intimate details, it's horribly traumatic. Especially when you are alone far from home, when you don't speak the language and we are still in shock. Sometimes the police of the countries in question are very corrupt, or even dangerous for the victims. Also, complaints are useless or almost, there is no follow-up, no action taken. We had a complaint in Polynesia French who has been “forgotten”. We don't hear the victims, the problem doesn't exist for the community, and impunity continues.

Voiles et Voiliers: Is the solution to sail only between women?

Eva Cohen: We know lots of “safe” men (men who embark teammates without the slightest ulterior motive), there are many in the group. They are verified by me, I ask for two recommendations from former teammates. But because it is so dangerous to fall badly, for the first navigations at least, we advise never to be alone with a man. And even after. We know the case of girls who, after several navigations, believed they knew the captain well. But when one of them was alone with him, he turned out to be predatory (despite an absence total ambiguity, with fifty years of age difference).

Voiles et Voiliers: What sites and co-sailing groups are doing to ensure safety women ?

Eva Cohen: We do not recommend two major English-speaking crewing sites, who were horrible with casualties. They each refused to remove their sites of predators against which there were several reports from women different. They also censored negative reviews, calling the victims liars, or telling them that they were exaggerating. One of these sites even responded to a victim that “One person’s nightmare can be someone else’s dream.” They don't want nor systematically verify the identity of the captains, because according to them, this would cost too much. However, it is an unstoppable way to put an end to these behaviours. This disastrous management allows impunity. These two sites are motivated by greed. Given the enormous number of victims and the seriousness of the crimes, we ask them to put in place prevention actions and they refuse. If teammates like me are raped, they don't care completely. Other sites like the Team Exchange lack resources, but they try, and we thank them. Crewseekers takes great care and has a zero policy tolerance. We recommend them. Their directors, as well as those of large groups cobaturage Facebook, are on my group, and we act together to ban proven predators, for which there is material evidence, several reports, or a complaint. They are valuable allies. Crewseekers is paid, so has fewer members who are novices in navigation, who are the prime prey of predators.

Voiles et Voiliers: What is the role of public authorities in fighting against this impunity?

Eva Cohen: These predators believe that the sea is a lawless zone. They are happening the word on how to “pin” women in bikinis with alcohol, drugs (at without their knowledge) or by harassing them for days on the open sea. Public authorities must take victims' complaints more seriously. They should launch administrative investigations into certain sites, into their disastrous management of crimes sexual perpetration via their platforms, which have until now been suppressed. These sites do not even put in contact, via the police, the victims of the same man. Finally, he Sailing federations should be alerted to the need to take measures. There must be a policy of zero tolerance towards these heinous crimes. It is as much more important than there are more and more novices in navigation, and younger and younger. The sailing community must also rise up against these behaviours. Too many captains (including women, unfortunately) defend predators and make the victims responsible.

Voiles et Voiliers: Thanks to your work and your file listing the returns of teammates over captains, you allow women to avoid situations potentially traumatic. After working thousands of hours free for your Facebook group, you have now opened a Patreon page, to be paid for your action. Are you the only one managing all the activity from the Facebook group?

Eva Cohen: Two or three good souls help me, especially on Facebook groups, where we post advice to teammates. But since training volunteers takes me more time than doing everything myself – I tried -, unfortunately I am alone in coordinating the effort for almost three years. I would like to be able to make a living from this activity that takes me a crazy amount of time, but the women only support me sparingly. Most of my donations (€400 per month) come from men. It’s disappointing and even a little worrying. Women cannot say they want change and not support a minimum those that stick to it. I ask for €1 per month for support, it’s less than the price of a coffee. It’s a job that retraumatizes me every day. I don't pursue him only because the situation is so serious, and no one else wants to deal with it. THE lack of support from women therefore disappoints me greatly.

Voiles et Voiliers: What would you advise a woman who has been the victim of assault sexual or rape on a boat?

Eva Cohen: To join us. We will accompany him. If she is in a country where police system is not failing, and if she has the strength, I would also advise her to file a complaint. Finally, I will advise her to support us and, once she is ready, to help me alert me to this problem. Transform trauma and pain into action and in rage for change is very important in the post-trauma management process. Others prefer to forget and we totally respect that. I wish I could do it the same, but I can't bring myself to do it, after having saved some kids from boarding with proven predators. Some members of our Facebook group only are 16 years old.

Voiles et Voiliers: Do you continue to sail?

Eva Cohen: No, I stopped all navigation projects. My first experience killed my dream. I am disgusted by this community, by everything I have seen and heard. I do not I can no longer even see a film with a plot about boats, as it triggers my post-traumatic stress disorder. I stay on the ground now, and I am followed psychologically. It's really sad. I'm just trying to avoid other women and young people girls to experience what I experienced.”