How to prevent harassment, sexism, and sexual violence on boats
How to prevent harassment, sexism, and sexual violence on boats
The Coboaters.com team is on deck to avoid sexism and the safety and respect of its co-boaters!
Co-boating is a wonderful adventure that allows you to discover new horizons, meet new people and share a common passion for sailing. However, as in many other fields, female sailors sometimes have to deal with inappropriate behavior, ranging from sexism to harassment. These situations, which are still all too common in both the professional and pleasure sailing worlds, can dampen the enthusiasm of women and create a climate of mistrust.
Harassment and sexism at sea a reality
Unfortunately, harassment and sexism don’t stop at land borders. At sea, women sailors can be confronted with inappropriate and even aggressive behavior. Such behavior manifests itself in a variety of ways: sexist remarks, unsolicited advances, attempts at intimidation, even physical assaults. The promiscuity inherent to life on board and a predominantly male environment further accentuate these uncomfortable situations.
Women Testimonials and revelations
Numerous testimonials on the Facebook groups highlight the scale of the problem. Some articles, echoe testimonies of violence suffered by women on board, particularly by young crew members during offshore passages and voyages. These stories, though shocking, help to raise awareness and mobilize the maritime world to change attitudes and behavior at sea.
Coboaters.com: a strong commitment to safety and trust
Having implemented security measures since 2022, Coboaters.com has created an environment of trust between co-boaters who are members of the club. Profile identity checks, a rating and review system, and the ability to report inappropriate behavior are just some of the tools we use to ensure the safety of female sailors, while keeping predator profiles out of the spotlight.
Our controls on club member identity
No false profiles
The early days of the Internet saw the emergence of forums where users interacted under different IDs. Since its launch in 2022, Coboaters.com has opted for profiles whose creation requires the first and last names of their users. The reason was simple: on Coboaters.com, users do nothing more than share a boat – there’s no need to hide. Right from the start, this made a distinction between those who wanted to share their boats for the right reasons and those who wanted to share for the wrong reasons.
Paying for club membership
In 2022, to have the means to provide a quality service to its users, Coboaters.com became a paying club and asked its users to pay a membership fee. The club has now the means to improve the platform, monitor member activity and moderate all the ads and profiles that are created every day. This change will bring added security, as membership fees must be paid by credit card, cheque or bank transfer, which leaves a bank trace that the club can trace in the event of bad behavior on the part of an individual. From that moment on, predators will have understood that the Vogavecmoi.com site will not be their playground.
Boaters identity certification
While the banning of pseudonyms on Coboaters.com and the switch to club membership introduced some very interesting new security features compared to pre-existing crew exchange systems, it was still possible for ill-intentioned people to register under a false name and surname. At the same time, Internet users were becoming increasingly aware of the need to protect their personal data, and we decided to respond to these two issues by offering a certain degree of anonymization of profiles, while still guaranteeing that users were registered under their real first and last names. From now on, each member will appear under his or her first name followed by the first letter of his or her surname (e.g. Antoine P.), and the Coboaters.com site will check that the user is indeed registered in our records under his or her real first and last name. This procedure is optional and free of charge. We have not imposed this procedure on club members, but a large number of club members have a verified identity profile. We advise our female sailors members to give priority to boarding with members whose profile is certified.
To sum up, registering with a first and last name, paying a membership fee and verifying profiles are 3 crucial steps that guarantee that each member is who they claim to be, thus reducing the risk of identity theft and malicious behavior.
Tools available to members to avoid the risk of harassment
Reviews and testimonials
In co-boating, the principle is to set off with a stranger. This represents a considerable risk. At Coboaters.com, we quickly realized that trust was “the lifeblood” of our community. That’s why, we set up a member-to-member feedback system. This means that every member who has sailed with another member gets a review that recommends him or her (or not) to the rest of the community. This system is highly virtuous, as it highlights the most recommendable members of the community and excludes the others. What’s more, this transparent system encourages members to behave responsibly and respectfully, in the knowledge that their actions can be publicly evaluated.
Super co-boater status
The Coboaters Club also grants “super co-boater” status to all members who have accumulated positive reviews, and only positive reviews. When it comes to human relations, not everything is “black and white”. There aren’t just negative and positive reviews, there are sometimes “mixed” reviews: and that’s perfectly normal, because you can’t please everyone! If a “mixed” review is received, the super co-boater loses his or her super co-browser status. We recommend that all crew members who want to start co-browsing, without taking any risks, rely on the announcements of our super co-browser members! (learn more about super-coboaters)
Active moderation of profiles and notices
A team of moderators constantly monitors the safety and quality of interactions on Coboaters.com.
Validation of all notices
All ads are reviewed by our moderation team before publication. We make sure that the proposed projects comply with the ethics of the COBOATERS club. So you won’t see on Coboaters.com, ads like those denounced in the Reporterre article “Seeking slender girl with good cooking skills for sailing” or ads for swinger cruises…
This strict approach ensures that potentially problematic profiles are excluded from vogavecmoi.com.
Clear and precise identification of “Boats looking for crew” notices
Boarding offers for female co-boaters who are looking for love are clearly labeled as such. When Vogavecmoi.com was first launched, our policy was to exclude members posting this type of search, until one day a user whose profile we had deleted came back under a different first and last name with an ad for an “ordinary” crew member. We then realized that it would be better not to discourage this practice, but on the contrary, to properly supervise it so as to provide the best level of information to the crew members who consulted this advert. Read our article “ Is Coboaters.com a dating site?”
Validation of member reviews and management of negative reviews
Negative reviews are handled with particular care to understand the causes of problems and find appropriate solutions. Profiles reported for inappropriate behavior are rigorously examined and may be suspended or deleted.
Reporting procedure
We are aware that leaving a review for publication on vogavecmoi.com can sometimes discourage people from leaving one. This is why it is possible to leave a public review with an alert, i.e. a non-public comment. It is also possible to leave just one review. Vogavecmoi.com treats every report seriously and promptly, taking the necessary measures to protect its community.
Secure internal messaging
Harassment can also come from an e-mail or a phone number left on a classified ad on the Internet… Coboaters provides its members with an internal messaging system that enables them to communicate before talking on the phone or meeting in person. Sailors can ask all the questions they need to know more about their future co-skipper and make sure that the person matches their expectations, before revealing their personal telephone number and e-mail address. VOG’s internal messaging system makes it easy to report messages you consider inappropriate. Members who report inappropriate messages are reminded of their behaviour and, in the event of a repeat offence, are excluded (profile deletion).
Specific support from Coboaters.com team
We regularly publish advice aimed primarily at female co-boaters, to help them learn how to co-browse safely. In the near future, a specific welcome process will be set up to make new female co-skippers aware of the potential risks of co-sailing, and to help them sail safely and confidently.
Coboaters.com core values
Safety and respect are fundamental values for the VOG club. By implementing concrete measures such as profile certification, active moderation, and developing secure communication tools, the platform is committed to providing an environment where every member can sail with confidence. These efforts are aimed at encouraging more women to join the exciting adventure of co-browsing, safe in the knowledge that they will be respected and protected.
We invite all women sailors to register on Vogavecmoi.com, share their experiences and help build a respectful and supportive community of co-boaters.
I would like to register on Vogavecmoi.com
Frequently asked questions about money issues
Why is COboaters a paying site when there are other free initiatives?
Many free websites or Facebook groups offer free crew exchange, co-boating or co-skippering services. At Coboaters, we’re aware that requiring our users to pay a membership fee in order to get in touch with other club members can be a disincentive. However, it’s the only way we’ve found to have the financial means to develop a genuine co-browsing platform, and to have a permanent team of employees whose job it is to ensure the quality of its content, and to provide the necessary controls to ensure the safety of this activity. It’s on these sites and Facebook groups that the predators denounced by the Reporterre article are hiding, so be wary.
I have the impression that some owners on Coboaters make more expensive offers for co-Boating than on other sites?
When it comes to crew exchanges and co-boating, owners share their boat and also some expenses.
- 50% of owners require a share of the ship’s holds only;
- 50% require both a share of the crew allowance and a share of expenses.
Our advice: always beware of opportunities that are too good to be true! There are no objective reasons why owners should invite you aboard, all expenses paid! If there’s no financial consideration for your boarding, the consideration imagined/demanded by the boat owner will be on another level. We often hear: “ When it’s free, you’re the product! Bad experiences in co-browsing often start this way…
Related article
To find out more about our initiatives and read other testimonials, visit the following links:
