Anyone follow the coverage of the Sarah Everard case today and want to vent?

[HangingOver]

I'm home alone today and except for whatsapping my friends have nothing to do with this incandescent rage and hopeless sadness.

Anyone else need to talk?

littlehaven i’m really sorry to read that. I agree with every word you’ve said. Support. Bloody hell, eh?

"Over 99% of males wouldn't harm a female" is sadly almost certainly not true, looking at statistics on rape and intimate partner violence - obviously many men are repeat offenders but if it was less than 1% of men who would do this the stats surely wouldn't look like this.

The hurt feelings of some men count for more than actual dead women.

@maxiflump1 I was married to a police officer who used every bit of his training to abuse and intimidate me. And was utterly failed by his colleagues. Fuck off with your rants about how wonderful you all are when some of us have the most fucking hideous experiences of just how awful the police can be.

I don’t want to hear about men either

I’m so saddened by this I want to talk to women who feel the same.

Isn't it interesting, that a huge proportion of Horror Movies, feature a story whereby a very scary man is hunting down and murdering women. We watch this shit for entertainment without wondering why?

don't try and tell me that we fail the vulnerable in society.

Bullshit.

So what happened in Rochdale and the absolutely disgusting failings of GMP totally passed you by did it?

@maxiflump1 it’s not about you.
It’s about an organisation that is deeply sexist and misogynistic.
I have no doubt you are working hard to support those victims. But unfortunately it doesn’t mean that the organisation as a whole does.

A police officer who acts the way he did should never have been left to carry on working like this.
Police officers who also think nothing about beating their partner shouldn't be in the street.
Etc..
But yet, still they are.
Rape convictions are at all time low.
Victims often end up having to defend themselves wo a lawyer and be cross examined by the man who abused them.
Laws that asked VICTIMS of rape to hand over all electronic devices and then see those devices used against them (both in building the case ito their detriment and in finding ‘unlawful actions’ they never knew existed)
Etc etc

Women don’t trust the police as an organisation. And tbh I can see why. And yes that’s despite of all the good work some/a few people do.

Jesus, just read about 'the rapist' nickname.
It's unbelievable. They covered for him.
Shame on them all. I'm so angry at the police right now. And Cressida Dick needs to fucking go now. Disgusting.

@MarshaBradyo

I don’t want to hear about men either

I’m so saddened by this I want to talk to women who feel the same.

This.

I work alongside the police daily in multi agency. I have to say every interaction except one has been good on the police officers part.

There's always rotten apples in the cart, same in all walks of life.

I wouldn't say though "all police officers"

When a teacher is exposed as being a pedophile, we all don't suddenly start saying "all teachers" do we?

This man is a vile human being. He deserves nothing less than a whole life tariff, for his abuse of trust, the false arrest, the heinous and horrific murder of a young woman. Absolute disgusting creature.

@Littlehaven998 I also think they need to be taught the statistics.
The ones that show how many men are responsible of violence, against men and women.
The ones that show the level of rape (esp when it’s NOT reported), sexual assault and sexual abuse.
The ones that make it clear where the problem is.

Because my experience with my teens boys is that they just don’t believe that the situation is that bad for women.

The ones you really don’t want is all the crap about dressing approximately, staying in lit areas etc… that are making women responsible of their rape/abduction, not the perpetrators

Hardest is explaining to my teen dd. Having always told her that the first thing to do in danger is "look for a policeman" (not that you see them much these days).

If it was a first offence I could forgive the force for not knowing but they had information, they knew what he was. They still allowed him a warrant and cuffs.

Absolutely shocking and heartbreaking and I honestly just don't know what else to say.

@ShinyThingsDistractMe, like it’s very often the case, the quality of interactions you have with an organisation will depend a lot on WHY you have that interactions.

You might have a great work relation with the police. This doesn’t tell you anything about the quality of the police response to a rape/sexual assault etc…

Jennifermadison After Sarah Everard disappeared the Met told all the women who lived locally to not go out at night. An effective curfew. Forty years ago in Bradford we faced an actual curfew with Police stopping anyone they saw out and telling us to go home, often threatening us with being forced into the Police car and taken home with the added, often explicit, implication that we were slags for being out at night. This was when the Yorkshire Ripper had just murdered a fellow student. In both cases it might have just been one man but it was 100% of women. I really thought that after all the years, and all the campaigning, that the emphasis had changed away from society's response being that it was the woman's responsibility to keep herself safe from a default of male violence towards her.

I am sorry but just maybe if 100% of men faced the same restriction on their lives, it might start to penetrate their unconscious male privilege, and society might start to think about change. Probably not though, because they wouldn't face the same level of threat and fear and they would just winge, as you are doing, about how unfair it is, and their consciousness will be completely protected from realising where the unfairness actually lies......

@ShinyThingsDistractMe

I work alongside the police daily in multi agency. I have to say every interaction except one has been good on the police officers part.

There's always rotten apples in the cart, same in all walks of life.

I wouldn't say though "all police officers"

When a teacher is exposed as being a pedophile, we all don't suddenly start saying "all teachers" do we?

This man is a vile human being. He deserves nothing less than a whole life tariff, for his abuse of trust, the false arrest, the heinous and horrific murder of a young woman. Absolute disgusting creature.

We would if there were as many teacher pedophiles as misogynistic police officers. If sexual abuse was as endemic in teaching as it is in the police, we definitely would say that.

But we have systems in place to make pedophile teachers very rare. We learn from past mistakes.

And of course, the police have a huge amount of power. Much, much more than teachers.

So why do we trot out the old ‘bad apples’ nonsense about the police? We don’t say it for any other profession, we don’t say it for the NHS.

Any hint at all of any wrongdoing as a police officer and you should be sacked. Literally anything - violent pornography, drunk and disorderly, speeding. We should hold the police to a much, much higher standard so we can trust them with the incredible amount of power we give them.

@ILoveJamaica

Isn't it interesting, that a huge proportion of Horror Movies, feature a story whereby a very scary man is hunting down and murdering women. We watch this shit for entertainment without wondering why?

Yes and it needs to change. It isn’t entertainment. It is the male directors wet dreams. Just look at the Quinton Tarantino films - the way his brain works - is actually sick.

@Emilyontmoor you said what I wanted to but much more articulately.

It’s so angering be a there is a feeling that he could have been stopped earlier if his previous crimes were taken at all seriously. Isn’t it very common for offenders to start with ‘minor’ crimes like flashing? They test the water, inevitably get away with it and push a little bit further. If any institution were going to stamp down upon it you’d hope it would be the police. The MET are racist, sexist and corrupt to the very core. That stuff about his colleagues calling him the rapist is just so sickening. This should be the most enormous wake up call for the police, but we all know it won’t be. Yes he is a piece of shit and I hope he rots in hell if there is one, but Christ this is a complete failure of the MET too.

Unfortunately it’s a depressing reminder of how unsafe women are in our society and how comfortable so many men feel in abusing whatever power they have.

Just horrifying. How is any woman alone supposed to feel safe with a male police officer.

A slight derail, posters have mentioned Harold Shipman with regards to not all GP's are like that. Rules were brought in to prevent GP's working in a practice alone after his crimes came to light. I wonder if the police will change any rules or procedures in view of this awful crime.

*There's always rotten apples in the cart, same in all walks of life.

I wouldn't say though "all police officers"*

These two sentences are mutually exclusive.

@maxiflump1 my husband was a police officer for many years, he’s always been the first to speak about how he witnessed misogynistic and frankly, abhorrent behaviour of other officers over the years. He also saw and was part of some wonderful work but he is well away of many many failings and people ghat should never have been given power of a remote control, let alone of a police officer.

I’m sure you and your colleagues do a great job but you can’t just ignore there is a inherent problem within the organisation. Namely racism and misogyny.

When a teacher is exposed as being a pedophile, we all don't suddenly start saying "all teachers" do we?

No but there are always processes and policies put in place to ensure that that situation is astonishingly rare. Safeguarding policies are adapted, things are reviewed. Same as in healthcare. For all the pros Turing about how there will be “investigations” into what happened with Couzens, I’d lay everything I own on nothing being changed within the police service.

Just so utterly fucking furious. Reading Sarah’s mum’s victim impact statement in full is heart rending. May she rest in peace and may her poor family find some peace - at some time. Fuck him and every other man who feels entitled to “take” whatever the hell they want from a woman, no matter what.

@ShinyThingsDistractMe

I work alongside the police daily in multi agency. I have to say every interaction except one has been good on the police officers part.

There's always rotten apples in the cart, same in all walks of life.

I wouldn't say though "all police officers"

When a teacher is exposed as being a pedophile, we all don't suddenly start saying "all teachers" do we?

This man is a vile human being. He deserves nothing less than a whole life tariff, for his abuse of trust, the false arrest, the heinous and horrific murder of a young woman. Absolute disgusting creature.

Working alongside them Vs experiencing them as a member of the public. Not the same thing at all.

Also, if a teacher shows themselves to be a pervert, they are removed from the profession. No, not all police are flashers, murderers and rapists but as an organisation they allow the ones that are to carry on unchecked.