Have you ever been stealthed? Perhaps you’ve cycled and had cars of men yelling suggestive obscenities out of the window. Or how about being upskirted or had sensitive material shared online without your consent?
At some point, most of us women will have experienced some form of gender-based harassment, abuse or assault. In fact, a 2016 report by the Everyday Sexism Project found that over 50% of women say they’ve experienced sexual harassment at work, let alone anywhere else.
But now we’ve got a chance to stem the tide, once and for all – by making misogyny a hate crime.
Women in England and Wales are being asked to share their experiences of misogyny. The Law Commisson (an independent body that makes recommendations to reform laws) has opened a public consultation on making misogyny a hate crime and as part of that, we’re being asked to submit our stories if we believe that our experiences were motivated by misogyny.
By sharing your tale of gender-based harassment, abuse or assault, you could help to sway the government to making this law.
One person who has been campaigning tirelessly for hate crime laws to be reviewed is Labour MP Stella Creasy who put forward an amendment to the anti-upskirting legislation back in 2018 (she withdrew it after the government promised to formally review the issue).
‘Misogyny drives crimes against women – recognising that within our criminal justice system will help us detect and prevent offences including sexual assault, rape and domestic abuse,’ she said.
‘I now urge every woman who has walked with keys in her hands at night, been abused or attacked online or offline to come forward and be heard in this consultation.’
Other proposals that are being put forward to simplify hate crime laws include extending it to cover the ‘stirring up (of) hatred’ which would see homophobic chanting at football matches come under the same banner as racist abuse.
You’ve got until Christmas Eve to take part in this consultation and you can submit your story here.
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/09/26/icymi-you-can-now-help-to-make-misogyny-a-hate-crime-13329577/
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