I like to think that most people in Britain today believe that all forms of hate are deplorable, including hateful attitudes towards women and girls because of our gender. Yet when it comes to government and police classifying misogyny as a form of hate, there has been some pushback – and not only from the usual suspects.
In fact, two senior police chiefs recently argued that in the current climate of cuts to police budgets, police should prioritise responding to burglaries and violent crime over incidents motivated by misogyny.
I understand where they are coming from but surely prioritising one group of victims over another isn’t the right approach. In 2019, we simply cannot continue to leave misogyny unaddressed. We also need to make clear what treating misogyny as a hate crime would really involve. Spoiler: it doesn’t require police officers to arrest wolf-whistlers left, right and centre. And it is more than achievable, as some forces which have already adopted it into reporting have shown.
Here are five things you need to know, should UK police forces finally classify incidents motivated by hate towards women as misogynistic hate crimes.
- Wolf whistling would not be criminalised
First, contrary to what you might read in certain newspapers, recording misogyny as a hate crime would not lead to “men being locked up for wolf-whistling”.
Nottinghamshire Police Force pioneered local reporting of misogyny hate crimes two years ago and offences they have logged include: stalking, groping, indecent assault and kidnapping.
Second, the law is not going to change at all. Making misogyny a hate crime simply means police forces would log and monitor such incidents and then enable them to create a full picture of the problem, support victims, and make them aware of where incidents are reoccurring.
As Nottinghamshire police made clear when they made the introduction: “A hate crime is simply an incident, which may or may not be deemed a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim or any other person, as being motivated by prejudice or hatred.”
- Women of all races, religions and sexualities would be better protected from hate.
Many women’s experiences reveal the intersection of misogyny with other forms of hate, most notably islamophobia. In Newcastle, for example, Taj, who is a leader with Tyne and Wear Citizens, has been a victim of misogynistic and Islamophobic hate crime. She has told of how it feels like “a triple whammy” because the abuse she receives is on the basis that she’s a Muslim, woman and she has brown skin.
- Women would be more likely to report serious incidents
Recording misogyny as a hate crime doesn’t change what is already a crime under UK law, but it could have a huge impact on women’s perceptions of what they can report. It was reported earlier this year that more than a third of women had experienced “unwanted sexual touching” in public spaces but they felt they couldn’t report it.
Without recognising misogyny as a hate crime, many women feel they cannot report because they don’t feel they would be taken seriously.
Without recognising misogyny as a hate crime, we risk normalising this completely unacceptable behaviour.
- Recognising misogyny hate crime could prevent much more serious crimes
Earlier this year Helen Voce, Nottingham Women’s Centre CEO pointed out: “Misogyny is the soil in which violence against women grows. The same attitudes at the root of sexism and harassment are the same attitudes that drive more serious domestic and sexual violence.”
As such, by classifying misogyny as a hate crime enables the police to deal robustly with the root cause of violence against women and help create the culture change needed to deter more serious crimes.
- Police under resourcing: this is not a matter of deserving or not deserving
It’s dangerous to classify some crimes as more deserving than others. Harassment, groping, stalking and assault are all crimes. Yet, women are being told to accept it as normal, put up with comments and accept that they will be heckled and threatened. It shouldn’t be a case that women are told that harassment is part of life and not worth being investigated.
It’s not a matter of deserving or not deserving, this is a matter of funding our police services properly, so that everyone will be listened to and protected by the law.