Page 11 - BPW-UK - E-news - Edition 120 - March-April 2024

Should misogyny

be a hate crime

Panel
Angela Loveridge: Founder of ‘Better Together’. Online safety workshops
Nick Gazzard: CEO of ‘The Hollie Gazzard Trust’ after daughter was murdered by an
ex-boyfriend.
Claire Hazelgrove: Prospective Labour candidate for Filton and Bradley Stoke.(Bristol)
Moderator: Chris Nendick, VP Advocacy.
Chris reminded members of the motion passed at last year’s conference on misogyny and since then
we have watched with concern its perceived increase particularly from online influencers and in-
creased violence and harassment in schools. Will the Online Safety Bill recently passed through Par-
liament help?

Angela Loveridge
Running courses for the last nine years to educate parents and carers about the dangers of online
grooming whilst their child’s cognitive development is still maturing and therefore easily influenced.
The Bill is more about systemic issues rather than reaction to individual cases.
There is always a delay between passing a Bill and its implementation. Technology moves very quick-
ly and we will always be in a catchup situation.

Claire Hazelgrove
This should be a cross party situation politically with an improved response and better support for in-
dividual victims. Education should begin at a young age. Sexual harassment was increasing in schools
and pupils and teachers deserve a safe space and the ability to discuss these with mutual respect.
The Metropolitan Police have introduced the
V100 scheme which monitors the worst perpetrators of VWAG and these individuals will receive the
same scrutiny as terrorist suspects. This should be rolled out to all police forces.

Nick Gazzard
Many violent perpetrators are narcissists and cannot cope with rejection. He prefers to use the term
‘male violence’ not VAWG because that's what it is. We need to educate at an early age and his Trust
does a lot of work in schools. Change the emphasis from blaming men and bring them in as part of
the solution. Boys and men need help in realising what it is to be a real man and how to deal with
rejection. Schools lack experience in this and we run courses in schools to reshape individuals and to
cope with the pressures society puts upon them.
There then followed questions from the floor around parental awareness, the possible influence of vi-
olent computer games both on and offline and the acceleration of A.I.

Conclusions
More rapid response needed from the police and CPS.
More education and at an earlier age.
Parents, teachers and carers all have a part to play, to educate themselves and work to-
gether.
More responsibility needs to be placed on IT platforms in taking down harmful content.
We need to respond rapidly to concerns as technology moves even quicker.
YES, misogyny should be regarded as a hate crime and have as high a criminal profile as
terrorism.

Chris Nendick, VP Advocacy