Voice of London

On Wednesday, popular sex and relationships blogger Dami Olonisakin (known as Oloni) launched a Twitter thread revealing womens’ horror stories of instances when they have carried or hidden weapons for partners and love interests. Much of the discourse around knife crime has had a targeted focus on young men and boys and despite the more than 20 women who were victims of London knife crime this year, the trend of treating gang violence as a masculine issue is showing no signs of disappearing. In a statement to VoL Oloni said: ” I received nearly 50 stories and although i know it doesn’t completely represent how women get involved in gang culture, i felt as though it showed how some women enter into the wrong relationships and land themselves into jail. I felt extremely worried that these women had made such scary decisions, but was also glad that it brought awareness and that they were able to get themselves out of those positions.”

Oloni’s thread has prompted a much-needed conversation on protecting women from the perils of gang culture and there’s even talk of a possible documentary based on the hashtag, #WomenandGangs.

 

 

Check out snippets of the thread below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To read the rest of the thread and keep up with Oloni’s other content follow @Oloni on Twitter or visit her blog https://simplyoloni.com/

Words by Memuna Konteh | Subbing by Maria Campuzano

Photograph by Sofia Sforza on Unsplash