We’ve all experienced misogyny as a hate crime before. Whether or not we’d describe it that way, we’ve all tried to go about our day and had our peace rudely interrupted by wolf whistles, cars slowing down and beeping their horns for no obvious reason, and the wonderful cries of ‘show us your tits’ from the other side of the road.
This isn’t new. Not one bit. I remember my aunt telling me once that when she was very young she had to shout at the bus driver to do something because a 60+ year old man wouldn’t stop pinching her bum and she couldn’t get away from him in a packed bus. In the early 20th century, women had to use their hatpins to defend themselves from unwanted attention.
Most police forces in the UK recognise five types of hate crime, separating them into disability, gender identity, race/ethnicity/nationality, religion/faith, and sexual orientation. But last summer, Nottinghamshire Police took the leap to officially classify misogyny (the discrimination you experience for simply being a woman) as a hate crime too. From gathering all information possible about how, when and where these incidents happen in Nottingham city centre, to getting together a group of women to talk about their experiences of this type of hate crime, this was a months’ long process and a joint effort between the police and Nottingham Women’s Centre.
And of course, it didn’t come without repercussions.
“In a society that still turns to victim blaming so often, it’s policies like this that shine a hopeful light on our everyday lives.”
From the very start of the campaign, then Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire, Sue Fish, and former Chief Executive of Nottingham Women’s Centre, Mel Jeffs, received incredible amounts of hateful messages and even death threats for trying to push this policy.
I had the honour and pleasure of not only being part of the group of women who shared their experiences of misogyny, but also being present on September 21st last year for their ‘Safer for Women Summit’, an event that celebrated the success of their campaign and addressed what still needs to be done.
Amongst the many speakers at the event were local police officers and Women’s Centre members, researchers and professors from Nottingham Trent University, local entrepreneurs, and representatives from many feminist and women’s equality organisations.
The conference touched on a little bit of everything relating to this decision, from the nuts and bolts of recognising misogyny as a hate crime (and how it can be made a law in the future), to studies and statistics about this type of hate crime, as well as the intersectionality of the issue (how women from specific minorities are targeted and experience a lot more of this type of abuse) and the importance of tackling this issue on and off the streets (with a brilliant point made about what can be done about online abuse and trolling).
Less than an hour into the conference, Chief Constable Sue Fish talked about how much of a difference the policy has already made in Nottingham, mentioning specific cases that had been dealt with by the police and how the perpetrators do realise their actions are abusive after being confronted by the police. This policy has already been fruitful not only in making women feel safer but also in educating men about the impact of this kind of behaviour.
A conference with such a large number of incredible speakers makes it hard to pinpoint highlights, but the presentations that had the most impact for me and that touched on the issues that still need to be worked on were:
- A powerful presentation about sexual violence in our schools and how the normalisation of misogynistic culture is the number one enemy in this fight, by Sam Smethers from Fawcett Society. She also focused her presentation on the important role a bystander can have in helping other women when witnessing abuse in public
- Laura Bates from Everyday Sexism, who touched on why this policy matters so much, how our experiences are so different to men in the same spaces and how the frequency of these micro aggressions is what makes them have such a strong impact in our lives. “We need to talk about where these seemingly minor incidents sit on the continuum of violence against women,” she said, as she reminded the audience that these acts, very much like sexual violence and rape, are about power and control
- Zahra Butt and Dr. Irene Zempi who explored how misogyny and Islamophobia intersect
- A discussion on the role of schools and universities in battling harassment and teaching the importance of consent from an early age, by Mark Simmonds from Nottingham Trent University who believes that universities have a responsibility to set the standards and should work harder to implement this policy in their spaces.
When talking to many women present at the event and after, the one thing that kept being said was that this is a victory that can’t be measured by numbers: it isn’t about how many of us decide to report incidents, it is about how much safer we all feel knowing reporting is an option and that, if we do decide to take action, we will be taken seriously.
In a society that still turns to victim blaming so often, it’s policies like this that shine a hopeful light on our everyday lives. And while there’s still a lot of work to be done when it comes to eradicating this type of behaviour, Nottinghamshire Police’s decision is certainly a step in the right direction.
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