The conversation starts with Freya (she\/her), 22-year-old former SIA personnel. Having worked in pubs, clubs and events throughout the cities of Bristol and Bath and resolute in herprevious experience in event work at some of the biggest festivals in the world, Freya\u2019s approach to the job was different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor me, I just wanted to see people have a good time. That was the most important thing, literally just making people feel safe, and heard. I\u2019ve had so many instances in venues where a senseless, masculine approach was just not right for the situation.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Describing an incident in which she, alongside a younger male colleague who was freshly licensed at a pub in North Bristol had to intervene in a fight, Freya says the idea that one must be masculine and powerful to do the job of a security officer feeds into the minds of men who join the SIA. The preconception, according to Freya, encourages a tendency in her male colleagues to think with their ego and abuse their security status on the frontline. In this incident specifically, a fight broke out between long standing patrons of the pub, with a history of conflict. Her male colleague used physical intervention immediately to separate the two and force who he believed to be the instigator out of the premises, something which Freya says should be an absolute last resort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe screamed at the woman; she felt threatened and screamed back, trying to explain her part in the situation, but he wouldn\u2019t have it. What followed was a horrible scuffle, the woman burst into tears and sat down outside to decompress with a cigarette. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShortly after, I went and spoke to her myself, impartial in my approach. Turns out the fight started as an accident when she opened the front door to enter the pub as the woman she fought with was stood in front of it. She interpreted this as instigation \u2013 but it was an accident.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Freya admitted their troubled history didn\u2019t help, but ultimately it was no one’s fault, and no more intervention was needed oncethey\u2019d been separated and left to sit on opposite sides of the pub. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have found that out if I hadn\u2019t have taken the time to speak to her. When you work with people, everything is about communication \u2013 everything. We are trained to use conciliatory body language and in the first instance verbally <\/em>de-escalate the situation as best we can, only to use physical force if our and other members of the public\u2019s safety is threatened. I tried to explain this to my colleague, and do you know what he said?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow can you stand here telling me how to do the job? I am a man, you are woman. I\u2019m the only one of the two of us who can be trusted to keep this place safe, all you do is stand there and look pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In spite of Freya\u2019s experience and more skillful application of training, her male colleague assumed superiority over her when it came to security work, but he was banned from working on the premises as a result of his handling of the incident after it was reported. This is just one in a long list of misogynistic experiences Freya had while working on the doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve been sexually assaulted, picked up and thrown about by drunk arrogant men, ignored and laughed at by punters \u2013 men and<\/em> women, mocked by venue management, often times while working to safeguard a venue completely on my own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The synonymity in expectations of what traits someone mustexhibit to do the job properly, both in the crowd and venue management, means female bouncers are battling two frontiers when it came to doing their job. The fact her male counterparts were being perceived as able to offer more in terms of brute force and their confidence in knowing that did make for a more submissive crowd of an evening, which kept management happy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To those who participate in urban nightlife and those who provide the club space, there is an unspoken mutual arrangement between security and punters that keeps everything running smoothly. Male security officers don\u2019t mess around, and they can <\/em>and will <\/em>deal with you if need be, and so the public know to behave around them, hide their drug stashes and engage in dishonest behaviour to preserve their enjoyment of an event in spite of them. The system seems to work, but because of it, Freya left the role after less than two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every shift is different, but you should always want to bring the best out of people. This is what it\u2019s about.<\/p>Nicky, 56, SIA licence holder<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Nicky (she\/her), 56, is a female SIA license holder also working in Bristol and the South-West with decades of experience in the role. Although not citing her gender as having been an issue for her over the years, she agrees that a person-centric rather than compliance-thirsty approach is better for everyone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the things I think is true about any SIA licensed position is that everyone involved has a different view about what that position should involve: meeting licensing conditions, actually<\/em> meeting the expectations of the people you’re \u2018supposedly\u2019 crowd controllingand how we will keep these people happy and rock’n’rolling, as well as keeping the fights and negativity outside the venue, you know, vibing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSomething that’s kept me alive is knowing that saying: if you don\u2019t what you stand for, you stand for absolutely anything. When I\u2019m stood in position, I know there\u2019s things I want to see like non-discriminatory practices, I want new people to find a bridge to each other on the dancefloor in a way they wouldn\u2019t anywhere else in life. That\u2019s my personal instinct. And then there\u2019s discerning what the customer expects alongside the local authority requirements, and the identifying the trigger points that build up in the crowd that you\u2019re controlling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Freya, Nicky describes having to tow a line between meeting the requirements of legislation and venues bosses, and managing the reality of how people behave when they\u2019re having fun. There is a slight contradiction between what she as a person can bring to the role, and what is expected of her. She notes that you\u2019re only as good as the crowd you\u2019re working with, nodding to the December \u201822 crowd crush at Brixton\u2019s O2<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> resulting in the deaths of 2 people, one of them being SIA personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvery shift is different, but you should always want to bring the best out of people. This is what it\u2019s about. Connect with them as a human being, don\u2019t make them feel small with petty confiscations, unnecessary confrontation or exercises of power. Always respect the attendees you serve to protect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n In 2022, a new collective was established by an employee of Lost Horizon<\/a><\/em>. Just on the edge of the City\u2019s centre, Lost Horizon<\/em> is an independent arts centre in Bristol which showcases art and performance, promotes protest and free speech, and a offers a diverse live music program inside a warehouse with walls plastered in a psychedelic array of pink and purple event posters. This collective is called PHAT<\/a><\/em> (Poland Has A Task).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Run by former events promoter and record label manager, Ola (they\/them), 25, the organisation\u2019s acronymous name signals the decline of support for queer rights in Poland, home country of Ola. A political trajectory of which they are strongly opposed, Ola\u2019s activism in support of queer rights has taken many forms, first influencing her work as a promoter, then prompting the release of charity album. Now, this work manifests as a women-and-femme-queer security and welfare agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPHAT<\/em> started off as a welfare agency in which we would work alongside other teams of licensed security personnel to provide more personable support for attendees of a particular club or event, providing safe spaces, counsel, drug testing equipment and contraception. We have recently expanded our service, and now PHAT<\/em> takes a hybrid form seeking to provide the security that will reassure and protect the host venues of an event, but preserve our roots in welfare which puts the attendees first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMost importantly, PHAT<\/em> works to address the disproportionate representation of women, non-binary and femme-queer people in the security industry in the UK. Some might argue that our employment regime is exclusionary, but we, alongside other collectives such as London-based Safe Only LTD<\/a><\/em> are simply looking to reorientate the industry. This is by encouraging women and queer people with a passion for events to sign up to an agency where they know they won\u2019t suffer from workplace prejudice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the ground and in select clubs in Bristol, PHAT<\/em> offers more than sentries planted on pub doorsteps and on the corners of dance floors. Often booked in to work an event that caters to a queer crowd, PHAT<\/em> staff can identify on a more fundamental level to punters and provide more meaningful care than \u201ca straight, 50-year-old man who\u2019s been out of the party circuit for decades and who doesn\u2019t know anything about modern gender politics,\u201d as Ola puts it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of looking to impress the management of a particular venue, PHAT<\/em>\u2019s workforce looks to accommodate those in attendance, with a particular focus on drug-related harm reduction, a more diplomatic approach to conflict management, even going so far as to offer tea and biscuits and quieter spaces to attendees who find themselves overwhelmed by the party space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Working with The Loop<\/a><\/em> and Bristol <\/a><\/em>Night<\/em>s<\/a>, a Bristol-based organisation which seeks to establish \u201ca city-wide policy to reduce the risk of harm from alcohol and other substances,\u201d PHAT<\/em> is helping to start an honest discussion about the use of drugs across the city\u2019s venues. Aiming to bring Bristol\u2019s licensed operators, event promoters and festival organisers together, along with nightlife workers who face the dancing masses, they want to \u201cdispel myths and assumptions\u201d that prevent people accessing appropriate care in drug emergencies, according to their promotional material. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Consequently, PHAT<\/em>\u2019s staff are well versed in the symptoms of contra-indication and ill-advisable drug combinations. While – by law – they are required to conduct bag searches upon entry into venues, they still make efforts to reassure the public that if they have smuggled in illegal substances and become ill after taking them, they are the people to go to for non-judgmental help. It is stressed to attedees that they do not serve as an extension of the police. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If people want to learn and are up for the conversation, that\u2019s the only thing that matters. We are better together.<\/p>Ola, founder of PHAT<\/em> Bristol<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Ola notes that the impact PHAT<\/em> has had on the city in just under a year of operating in its current form is huge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are lucky in Bristol in that the city is full of grass-roots venues that are looking to try something new for their customers. PHAT<\/em>\u2019s approach is spreading; we are getting booked for events which aren\u2019t strictly aimed at queer individuals, which is fantastic. It means our working culture is being commended and normalised. We have found that our approach to security work encourages punters to return to venues again and again, given that they know the people charged with looking after them are respectful, trusting, and a right laugh \u2013 we are party goers ourselves!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While PHAT<\/em>\u2019s identity is predominantly femme-queer, Ola reports they are more than open to working with security teams in which the workforce is not as diverse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne thing which goes against everything we stand for is the annexing of the queer community. By being overly-activist, closed off and unapproachable to teams that don\u2019t share our values, we would risk forming another divide in the industry. We will work with anyone who embraces us; we have a lot we would like to share, and lots we would like to find out about ourselves as a relatively new collective. If people want to learn and are up for the conversation, that\u2019s the only thing that matters. We are better together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the next few years prove to be successful for Ola and the PHAT<\/em> collective, Bristol could be witness to a radical transformation in the party landscape of the city, in which the scene is super-charged with diversity, inclusivity and trust among venues, patrons and the police. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A profession viewed by many as reliant on male physiology and a machismo temperament, to take on the job as door security as a woman or non-binary person presents a host of challenges. In the city of Bristol, however, one organisation is working to change the professional landscape of security work for the better. To put on a\u00a0hi-viz\u00a0tabard, display a Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence card and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":1162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[38,37,19],"class_list":["post-1161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-scene","tag-bouncers","tag-bristol","tag-nightlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/powder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/powder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/powder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/powder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/powder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1161"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/powder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1242,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/powder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161\/revisions\/1242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/powder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/powder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/powder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/powder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/powder\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/03\/46219261-62D7-45A7-A81A-D6C5A25A7C5F-768x1024.jpeg\")
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They boldly represent a rejection of the current systems of the UK security industry, its rigid adherence to the gender binary and its favour towards men. An organisational game-changer, PHAT<\/em> is fast evoking change to the industry for the better. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"