Student Nightlines and Obscene/Abusive Callers If you are thinking about training as a volunteer for your university's Nightline service then you would be well advised to investigate their policies on dealing with obscene and abusive callers, before or during training, particularly if you are a female (and therefore more likely to receive such calls). The first thing to say about obscene/abusive calls to anyone considering becoming a Nightline volunteer is that, for the majority of Nightlines, obscene or abusive calls are a very small proportion of the calls received and are dealt with robustly by hanging up.  However, unfortunately some Nightlines do not have sound, evidence-based policies and there are a number of student-run Nightlines which encourage their volunteers to take calls from callers who are getting sexual gratification from the call (often known as telephone masturbators or telephone scatologists).  This is usually in the mistaken belief that they can help these callers by taking their calls, a belief which has been shown to be faulty.  It is worth noting that a major national helpline once attempted to offer a service which would take calls from sexually obscene callers, but closed it down when it became clear that it was not helping the callers to resolve their problem. Nightlines are usually run entirely by students (often undergraduates) and although there is an umbrella body called National Nightline, this does not define rules for Nightlines in detail.  Policies on dealing with obscene/abusive callers vary widely and, while many Nightlines such as Oxford do not subject their volunteers to taking such calls, sadly some do.  There is evidence that the effects of taking obscene calls on female volunteers can sometimes be similar to the effects of sexual abuse.  It is fair to say that listening to obscene calls is in fact a form of sexual abuse in itself, as the obscene callers tend to be manipulative, predatory and abusive. Oxford Nightline does not take obscene or abusive calls, but I can't comment on any of the other Nightlines.  If you are thinking about training as a Nightline volunteer at any university, please don't let the above put you off - many Nightlines have sensible policies in place which mean they do not receive many obscene calls, and they do not take them when they do.  If you are a prospective volunteer and concerned about obscene calls, find out what your Nightline's policy is and make your own judgement based on that.   Last updated 05 December 2009