Ensuring the momentum continues and things change

[Changemusthappen]

Does everyone agree that one of the key questions to come out of the current debate around the safety of women, sexual harassment etc is what happens next and what can be done in the short and long term to tackle this.

Short term - can be put in place/motion immediately:

• continued and increased awareness of the harassment and threats that women and girls receive on a daily basis. There have been many phone ins on the radio this week and newspaper articles, these need to continue/be revisited regularly
• immediate zero tolerance in schools regarding sexual harassment of girls and inclusion of this in PSHE (it may be already). Additionally the emphasis that it is 'everyone's responsibility' to call out this behaviour.
• more police presence on the streets, trains, tubes
• Immediate government action to stop self id and repeal/reform the GRA
• Protection of all women's single sex spaces including toilets, prisons, sport etc
• detailed logging and followup of every report to the police of harassment, sexual assault, threatening behaviour
• increased cctv on tubes and trains

Long term

• a complete review within the police force regarding how sexual abuse/harrasment, threats etc are logged and dealt with
• Better planning around facilities, street lighting etc to improve safety

Obviously this is just a starter but I am interested in other's views. I am planning to write to my MP about this, it is important it is kept in the public eye.

Hibari

It happens every thread. Every thread gets made about trans people.

Every. Thread. Someone pipes up with "what about the trans issue?" How do those of you who aren't obsessed tolerate it?

That someone is a transwoman. Quoting an irrelevant tweet.

What is happening is the opposite of 'losing momentum'.

From listening to the radio etc one thing that has stood out is that men seemed to have no or little idea about what women go through and need to be aware of. The 'small' things like having your keys ready, taking lit streets, planning your journey. I am hoping that we can use this awareness to show men and make them think more and understand that safe single sex spaces are imperative for women. This will build on the momentum we already have. This and a change in education will see posituve changes.

Biscuits
I seriously think that the DoC could be an advocate for this.
Making sure that the police treat women's complaints properly.
Making sure that kids in schools learn about respect.
She and her hubby are very into MH and resilience.
She KNEW she would be filmed there.
She was making a statement by her presence.
Build on it.

There's a growing awareness that women must be permitted to speak freely without monitoring and censorship

This. They're not believed. They're told they're not credible. It's minimised. And completely normalised.

Male violence makes the papers every single day. Often 5, 6, 7 stories. Every day. And no-one ever calls it male violence.

It needs to be named. To drag it up out of the banal, the commonplace.

It needs naming. Every time.

@Biscuitsanddoombar

Very good list OP

Women & girls single sex spaces must be protected and equality act exceptions adhered too

A male person wearing female clothing doesn’t suddenly become less of a threat to women the same way I don’t suddenly become more of a threat to women because I’m wearing jeans, DMs and have short hair

good point Biscuits - female single sex spaces are enormously important and must be protected properly.

It would be helpful if we could think about a safe way of dealing with the situation if we encounter a male person in a women's single sex space. During lockdown it has obviously been less of an issue but who knows how many changes have taken place to create mixed sex (or effectively mixed sex by allowing male people to self-id in) facilities etc in the meantime. Sports as well.

I honestly don't know how I would react to finding a male person in a female only space and what I could do about it in the event. I have been conditioned over nearly 50 years to assume that a man in a female single sex space is either hopelessly lost or a predator.

I've seen the panic on a couple of older men's faces when they thought they had wandered into the female changing rooms (but actually it was council mixed sex space) so I can spot those easily. When we are talking about a single sex space, no man should be there (even male cleaners are super careful and ensure that there is no chance of frightening women) so by default is a predator - that is not me being mean, it is how my instinctive survival brain works.

A huge win for all this would be to get Stonewall out of workplaces and government organisations - the root of much of this unlawful undermining of single sex spaces and provisions comes from them and we must stop that.

Agreed Changemusthappen
Looking at the facebook groups I'm on, so many tone deaf men with zero understanding or experience of all the strategies that women use to keep ourselves safe. It's a uniting experience for women - and our daughters.

Well said Datun.
Without sounding like a kiss-arse, I find that your posts are always right on the money.

Male violence is what it’s called. People need to keep hearing it.

Agree listening I think unfortunately the Palace would think it too ‘political’

Male violence is what it’s called. People need to keep hearing it.

Can you imagine using the words male violence never using time is happened? The pattern recognition would be obvious to everyone in less than a week.

*sorry! I meant to say every time it happened. Grr.

Biscuits
Possibly.
But she went there this afternoon without a mask and her security people let her be filmed.

It would be a good project to pick up on

• rights for her friends and their daughters
• education for their husbands and sons
• making London more welcoming

No need to dip into other issues
just about making all of us safer
worth a try ?

Zero tolerance of all inappropriate male behaviour.

Apparently that policeman had exposed himself in public 4 days (?) prior to the kidnap and murder of Sarah.

I totally get that women are fed up of reporting to police when they are harassed and indecently assaulted etc and I don't blame anyone for not but maybe if we can report more of the incidents and not just accept a brush off (difficult I know because of the reaction an already traumatised woman can receive).

We need to demand better treatment loudly like the suffragettes.

Agree, a great list. And I like naming it as male violence when it is against men too. Sadly that should help gain momentum.

I think schools have a big part to play in this, as well as parents. We need to put the onus on our boys to also call out misogynistic behaviour & like pp says, acknowledge it as a hate crime.

Sex not gender needs to be a fundamental principle. No more attempts to introduce self ID by stealth.

If misogyny is to be made a hate crime then the definition needs to be based on sex, not gender.
sex-matters.org/posts/single-sex-services/stonewalling-the-domestic-violence-bill-why-make-misogyny-gender-neutral/

@RobinMoiraWhite

A great start would be getting a grip on the real issues and allies and not targeting another group.

@JackMunroe tweeted recently about safe spaces:

‘And trans women aren’t trying to ‘identify into’ them, for fucks sake. Trans women experience abuse, assault, harassment, sexual violence, ABH, they’re murdered, abused, and violated. My feminism is for ALL women. The men who abuse us don’t give a damn what our chromosomes are.’

I agree.

A great start would be men not trying to force themselves into every fucking conversation we have.

Centring women is not targeting other groups; me me me me me is not a valid political argument.

On a night where women are being called ‘transphobic’ for asking whether £350k+ of fundraising will be going to protect women, (the biological kind, the cunty kind), and then being blocked by the organiser of this fundraiser, I have one thing to say to men, however they identify, whatever they wear, and whatever piece of paper they might be in possession of: READ THE FUCKING ROOM!

Wow, that is so indpiring. I would love to hear you saying that in real life. Thank you it it a brilliant summary and motivates me to keep going in my own small ways and gardening where I can.

Bloody well said Barracker

Well, I came on here to say something about addressing the abysmal rape conviction rates in the UK, but I see that, like 99% of conversations in FWR nowadays this has just turned into a bunch of people blarting on about trans issues, so that's me fucking off again then.

Epic post Barracker

We need to keep protesting: silent vigils, meetings, campaigns and involving men in policing their own behaviour, not women's.

Male violence, including male pattern violence, attacks women, men, PoC, and every other protected characteristic. Men, including trans women and non binary AMAB, need to work together to unlearn the current poisonous accepted level of behaviour and adapt to a kinder, more respectful society.

Perhaps not shouting at people on social media just for holding an opposing view would be a start.

And learning not to use sexist slurs for any woman who dares speak up would be the next step.

We need to start from first principles once more and demand a Sex Discrimination Act all over again. Written properly for our sex, to recognise and protect our sex properly. A law written for female people that recognises the reality of being female.

Yes, absolutely. As ever, brilliant post

Thank you @Barracker. Brilliant post

Street harassment. They're hate incidents, in everything but name, as Laura Bates' excellent project illustrates.

Hate incidents and hate crime are acts of violence or hostility directed at people because of who they are or who someone thinks they are.

For example, you may have been verbally abused by someone in the street because you’re disabled or someone thought you were gay.

If you’ve experienced a hate incident or hate crime you can report it to the police.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/discrimination/hate-crime/what-are-hate-incidents-and-hate-crime/

I want them recorded as such. If Greater Manchester Police can experiment with making being an emo a protected category, police forces can damn well cope with recognising that women are abused in the street.

@RobinMoiraWhite

A great start would be getting a grip on the real issues and allies and not targeting another group.

@JackMunroe tweeted recently about safe spaces:

‘And trans women aren’t trying to ‘identify into’ them, for fucks sake. Trans women experience abuse, assault, harassment, sexual violence, ABH, they’re murdered, abused, and violated. My feminism is for ALL women. The men who abuse us don’t give a damn what our chromosomes are.’

I agree.

Except transwomen are men. Hardly any transwomen are murdered - they are the safest demograpic. None have been murdered in the last two compared to 118 women this year. More transwomen are murderers than are murdered. Half of transwomen in jail are there for sex offences. They have the same level of criminality as other men.