concludes:
"Let’s be clear: it’s not the law on hate speech that is at issue here, it’s the addition of misogyny. This is a challenge to patriarchy itself, an ideology and political system that divides society into two groups: adult men and everyone else, where everyone else is of lesser value.
To reduce misogyny to mere wolf-whistling is exactly the kind of minimisation and rationalisation we’ve seen in attempts to reduce the MeToo revelations of serious sexual assault, even rape, to “knee touching”, or devastating sexual harassment in the workplace to “banter”.
Misogyny is the gateway belief justifying domination, entitlement and, in too many cases, abuse and violence. Anyone claiming they are in favour of law and order needs to take misogyny seriously. Turning a blind eye to the systemic abuse of women is not making anyone safer.
For too long women have been victims of a most virulent form of hate. It is only in the past few years that crimes against women and children have been talked about and taken seriously. Action and accountability against perpetrators is still a rarity. Sara Thornton and Cressida Dick are on the wrong side of history if they think they can tackle violent crime without taking misogyny seriously."
www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/misogyny-is-a-gateway-belief-justifying-abuse-ghdpmvzs5