#MisogynyISHate is the rapidly growing campaign aiming to make misogynistic acts, including domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault, a reportable offence in Greater Manchester.
In the campaign’s official statement, they explain, “Each policing precinct in the UK has the power to decide whether misogyny can be treated as a Hate Crime in that jurisdiction… this means that Chief Constable Ian Hopkins [of the Greater Manchester Police] COULD turn around tomorrow and make misogynistic acts a reportable offence in Greater Manchester.” The campaign is working alongside Greater Manchester Citizens and Citizens UK to make this a reality as quickly as possible.
Image by Misogyny Is Hate
However, in the wake of the chair of the National Police Chief’s Council, Sara Thornton’s damning comments, which reject its calls for misogyny to be made a hate crime, the campaign is facing the challenges that come with effecting change more than ever.
Speaking to a joint conference of the NPCC and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, Ms Thornton said we should “focus on crime, not misogyny”, however the campaign isn’t aiming to criminalise anything that isn’t currently illegal. Misogyny Is Hate within Greater Manchester is simply working as one section of a wider UK movement to have offences already deemed criminal – such as rape and sexual harrasment – categorised at hate crimes also.
Despite these simple goals, the campaign has been met with a fair amount of misunderstanding and backlash, with Tweets such as “the feminists have gone mad” and “you can’t make wolf-whistling illegal” rife on Twitter.
The campaign has also been subject to slander on platforms such as LBC where presenter, Nick Ferrari, repeatedly asked Misogyny Is Hate campaigner, Martha Jephcott, “What’s more important, catching a burglar or catching a wolf-whistler?”
The campaign believes what should be asked is, “Why would catching a burglar be more important to society than catching a perpetrator of sexual assault?” or, “In a society where 45 percent of women have been groped in a public place and one third of girls aged 14-21 have been sexual harassed, why is burglary more important?”
Although there are hopes that making misogyny a hate crime in Greater Manchester could potentially lead to legislative changes, the Misogyny Is Hate campaign’s top priority is to show survivors of sexual misconduct that the crimes against them are being taken seriously by both the police and their community. With GMP crime statistics revealing that, last year, only 5% of reported crimes in Fallowfield were solved – and with the most common crimes being of a violent and/or sexual nature – a campaign empowering victims is seriously needed.
A recent survey by Greater Manchester Citizens revealed that 81.5% of Manchester students and residents felt they had experienced an act of misogyny within their lifetime. It is this staggeringly high number that drives Misogyny Is Hate in their campaign for Manchester to follow Nottingham and North Yorkshire’s lead in making misogyny a hate crime.
Get Involved
Misogyny Is Hate has a number of upcoming events for those looking to get involved with the campaign.
- Drive days: Thursdays at University of Manchester’s Student Union and Saturdays in the city centre
- Demonstration [November 28th]: to be broadcasted via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
- 1000 Voices Rally [December 5th]: 1000 women from Manchester and the wider community will rally together to tell the GMP that we demand change
Misogyny is Hate would like to extend their gratitude to all volunteers helping their fight to improve the lives of the wonderful women of our city.