Marion Fitzgerald says women shouldn't get “hysterical” about the risk of being murdered by a man

Well not some, The University of Kent. Where, incidentally, two young woman students were followed and grabbed, whilst out on campus, in Nov and Dec of last year. Wonder if her advice to them was not to be hysterical and they were perfectly safe?

So I see that parallel.

I really hope this particular murder will make people wake up to the epidemic of violence against women and girls and not just accept it as an acceptable part of male behavior.

We also need to start seeing this as a man problem and not be afraid to call it what it is.

Oh the silencing of women. By other women. I'm not hysterical. I'm furious. Where are the campaigns directing men to modify their behaviour? Are we really at a point where we're still being told "Suck it up" because this is the way of the world and it's our responsibility not to get raped and murdered doing things that are acceptable for men, but not for us? Livid.

Her argument is that men are more at risk at being killed by other men?

But it’s still men doing the murder...therefore we have every reason to be wary around men

Marion Fitzgerald says women shouldn't get “hysterical” about the risk of being murdered by a man

They didn't say that when George Floyd was murdered by a policeman.

I know it's differerent I know. But we face violence from men continually and should be allowed to express anger about it without being shut down.

1 woman murdered every 3 days

But hey don't worry your pretty little head about it eh......

(That was me listening to the radio this morning...)

Fuck off Marion.

Maybe statistically women are less likely to be murdered by a stranger (and remember women take precautions when out at night/in strange places) but her whole 'don't be silly girls' tone was deeply offensive.

Given that all men I know walk home at pretty much any time day or night and most women I know would have planned a safe route home in advance, I would hope women were safer because of it.

Feeling safe enough to walk alone day or night must be amazing.

Visiting professor of Criminology at some Kent university I believe.

Infuriating, and such an ignorant use of language.
Who is this woman?!

In one sense she's right. As a woman you're much more likely to be murdered by someone close to you (husband, ex-boyfriend, step-father) than you are by a complete stranger. Personally, I don't find that massively reassuring.

But fear is a way that the patriarchy keeps us in line. When we go out and someone whistles at us, or catcalls us, or walks too closely behind us, or brushes past us on the pavement, we never know if that's the prelude to being raped or murdered. Most of the time it isn't going to be one of those things, but how can we be sure? It happens often enough that we can't discount it entirely. So we live in fear. We walk down the well-lit areas, we don't stay out late, we tell a friend where we're going, we let her know we'll text her when we've arrived home safely, we carry our keys in our hands, we cross the road if a stranger looks threatening. It all serves to keep us from living our lives as freely as we'd wish.

She should also consider that while men are more likely to be murdered, women are massively more likely to be sexually assaulted, harassed, victims of indecent exposure etc in public places. These things are themselves a cause of fear and also amplify the fear around more serious crime. It is also minimising these crimes (which IMO happens massively in the police) that leads to more serious crimes being committed.

@oil0W0lio Yes, by the same logic it was only rape because of her blasted refusal to consent.

I knew that you lovely vipers would have a thread about this 😄.

It was truly awful - women shouldn't worry because they're at lower risk than men, if you do all of the right things, you'll magically be safe, and don't be hysterical. And from a woman too. Unbelievable.

How many men are blamed for their attacks and/or have questions asked about what they were doing in a particular place or out at a particular time?

I do appreciate that she was trying to say

Don’t panic!

But it was a bloody tone deaf way of doing it.

Julia Hartley Brewer is tweeting the same sentiments.

Tone deaf indeed. But maybe she’s had to (or is naturally inclined to) have such an air of self-protective detachment when dealing with crime and its horrific details that she simply sees statistics stripped of their humanity - number crunching epidemiology if you like. I didn’t hear the interview so can’t comment as to whether she was saying it in a ‘calm down dear’ way or whether she was simply churning out facts in a very dry, unemotional, unempathic way with absolutely no notion of how it might be received by a female audience who WILL be looking over their shoulder even more as they go about their business. Who booked her for the interview and what was their agenda in putting forth this perspective the morning after we’ve just learned of the murder of a young woman?

We all know what the optics of any march/protest will be - how it will be hijacked by all sorts of groups and it will result in lots of media coverage. All fine and good but what will happen? What should we be looking at - laws and policies? Policing? Prevailing attitudes of misogyny? Denigration of women in society. Treatment of those men who commit the crimes. Prisons? The protections given to women in law? Sex-based Rights? All the shit that is going on behind the scenes that is leading me to fear for the quality of life and opportunity that my daughter will experience as she embarks upon her teen years.

Recently I’ve had an awkward and uncomfortable conversation with my daughter about not letting her walk in our local woods alone. Her brother is allowed (although I fear for him too because I am aware as a young Male he is liable to be a victim of knife crime, mugging etc) But we all know we have to have this conversation with our young women and it pains me. Because it’s not fair. She knows it, I know it and maybe I should just let her Free and ‘statistically’ she’ll be fine. But the fact I’ve had to have the conversation means she’ll be joining me in that state of constant vigilance. I walked through the woods alone myself the other day and it was fine. But on another day I had to leave because there was a man in there who stared a bit too long at me when he passed me and then kept stopping and looking around as if checking to see if there was anyone else around and it spooked me. So I hung back until another elderly dog walker appeared with their wife and hated that I had to devise these strategies to feel safe and that I have to do it all the time.

The use of ‘hysteria’ was shit. These past few days though - women have every fucking right to be wary and piss-boilingly angry.

Women are murdered by men.
Men are murdered by men.
Men are the problem.

I wonder how many men are worried about being plucked off the streets and killed by a woman.

It's not just tone deaf, it's pure misogyny to use "hysterical" about women being afraid of male violence.