Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what really combats misogyny? What can I do?

105 replies

seriouslysara · 12/03/2025 21:25

Feeling miserable and angry after recent news stories, a sentence that's always true probably but right now I mean the vile cowardly man who took the lives of three loved and innocent women and the popularity of that awful content creator.

What can people do to make a difference and reduce violent misogyny? What actually helps? Are there examples of things in other countries that work or make it worse?

Here's everything I can think of:

  1. Donate to refuges and campaigners
  2. Raise these issues with our children and check what they're accessing online
  3. Be a listening ear to friends in the hope they'd tell you if they were at risk
  4. Campaign for better policing (new or different laws?)
  5. Help spread useful resources and accurate info
  6. Call out misogyny when I see it and when it's safe to
  7. Try to support women owned businesses so more women have capital
  8. Support organizations that give young people have opportunities so they're not radicalized?
  9. Book self defense classes for our girls and their friends?

I want to direct my anger somewhere to something positive. A law to campaign to change? A cause to raise money for? An action of support or resistance? A career change to help people?

Genuine question. What can I do? What can we do?

OP posts:
cunoyerjudowel · 12/03/2025 21:52

Social media report posts which encourage it and unfollow. Then complain to companies who support them / sponsor them. Every time.

cunoyerjudowel · 12/03/2025 21:50

Be part of the change - volunteer as a magistrate / join the police / become a teacher or other voluntary support.

Stand up and make your voice heard when you see and hear it.

Put your money where your mouth is- refuse to spend money in places and stop supporting people who refuse to change

ScaredOfDinosaurs · 12/03/2025 21:49

Men learn these attitudes from other men.

That's not to say we don't have influence, we do, we have to act like we are worthy of respect and take zero bullshit.

But ultimately, it's their problem to solve.

Whatachliche · 12/03/2025 21:48

sorry i missed you directed it more to a specific case of violence against women. I was thinking more generally. I missed the case you are referencing.

Whatachliche · 12/03/2025 21:46
  • support female owned restaurants or restaurants led by female chefs
  • make sure your money goes into women's pockets: solicitors architects cleaners etc I make sure to hire women whenever I can
  • connect women as much as possible, share contacts and have a network building mindset. female networks are powerful for everything from child care to career opportunities
  • adapt to micro feminist language in everyday life: when I address a man and a woman, always say her name first, I make sure to call out female colleagues skills with words like impressive or strategic and always highlight their leadership skills.
  • when I talk to young girls / friends children I always try to find a moment when they are brave or strong or clever and really highlight that moment with praise and a chat about it.
  • support female owned brands, like you say, directing money in female pockets makes a huge change
  • go on IMDB and give a high rating for films directed or produced by woman (if I like the film) not enough female voters there I think.
  • research forgotten female achievements, books like Femina – A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It