Creator shares safety phone tip for women: ‘For your safety you cannot just dismiss him’
As women on TikTok continue to reveal the ways they maintain their safety, be it by conducting yourself a certain way while taking an Uber or Lyft or carrying a stun gun with you while going for walks alone, a Miami creator has added her “proactive” tip to the mix.
On Sept. 5, Jessica Wong (@jessleewong92) posted a video advocating for the use of the app Google Voice as a means of protecting your privacy and mitigating any potentially dangerous situations with persistent, aggressive men.
“This is the Google Voice app and it works as a phone number that you can have on your phone as a second phone number,” Wong said. “You may be thinking this is a lot of work and it’s unnecessary but the next time a guy approaches you, for your safety you cannot just dismiss him.”
Upon downloading Google Voice, users are given the option to generate a number for personal use or for business that can be used for calling, text messaging and voicemail. Currently, it’s available only for Google Accounts based in the United States.
“It’s a phone number that you can choose, that is linked to your phone so if you give it to someone they can call it and it will go to your phone. But it’s not your default, primary phone number,” she explained. “I always have it memorized, and it’s actually useful because if someone texts you, it also shows up as an email.”
‘…it’s better to just prevent the situation by giving the phone number’
There is a caveat, though. Should someone call your Google-generated phone number, an automated voice will announce that it’s transferring your call to the requested user.
“If they hit you with the ‘I’ll call you right now in front of your face’ because they’re thirsty, just be like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is my business phone,'” she suggested. “They get your phone number. You’re safe. They think they have your actual number, but it’s not your actual number.”
Wong added that while claiming to have a boyfriend may work in some situations, the reality is that “we need to be prepared for the men to approach and for any situation to happen” and that “it’s better to just prevent the situation by giving the phone number.”
After receiving many comments from users that maintained they prefer to continue saying no to men requesting their phone numbers, Wong asserted in a follow-up video, on Sept. 6, that she refuses “to be put in a situation that could have been prevented.”
“If you wanna accept it or not, we live in a society where women are prey. Men are entitled and you may lose your life because he got rejected,” she added. “Reject the man, who knows what may happen to you.”
TikTok users @lars2pluto and @thenaturalladyboss have been using Google Voice for this exact reason for many years, they claimed. @thatssofresa, another user who’s in favor of the app, suggested that women “pick a number from a different area code so you’re always from out of town.”
“I have been using the google voice and it is great but I dated an IT guy and he said there is a way to trace it. He said the average guy may not know,” @iamroxy75 cautioned in response to Wong’s video.
According to TikToker @vanleighnu, you can go into Settings and “turn off the Call Screening option” and “the phone call will ring like a real phone number from the caller.”
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