If you talk to a woman in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands in the United Kingdom and she doesn't want to be spoken to by you, prepare to get a call from the police.
In an effort to crack down on the alleged "tidal wave of abuse and harassment" women face every day, the county's police force is now considering things like catcalling and pickup lines to be a hate crime if they are directed toward a woman from a man.
The incredibly vague definition of a misogynist hate crime from Nottinghamshire reads: "Incidents against women that are motivated by an attitude of a man towards a woman and includes behavior targeted towards a woman by men simply because they are a woman."
Of course, that could include anything a woman deems offensive or unwanted from a man. It's completely subjective. If a man approaches a woman in a bar and attempts to flirt with her, but she doesn't find him attractive, he could be guilty of a hate crime. Unattractive men, beware.
Newsweek reports that now "everything from verbal comments to unwanted physical approaches" will be considered a hate crime. Send a woman a text when she doesn't like you? Hate crime. Tell your female friend she looks good today? Hate crime.
The only thing mentioned in the Newsweek article that even remotely sounds like it merits the time of police officers is when a man takes a photo of a woman without her consent. Depending on the type of photo and reason for taking it, that can be disgusting.
Even with that, not every unsolicited photo should be considered a hate crime. I've had friends send me a photo of a woman they saw out somewhere who looked just like me, adding "doppelganger?" There was no intent to disrespect the unknown woman, but now, just because a man took the photo, that could be a hate crime.
All those whiny outrage feminist articles that most people laugh off as first world problems are now influencing actual criminal law.
"What women face, often on a daily basis, is absolutely unacceptable and can be extremely distressing," Chief Constable Sue Fish said. "Nottinghamshire Police is committed to taking misogynistic hate crime seriously and encourages anyone who is affected by it to contact us without hesitation."
Shockingly, domestic abuse won't be considered a hate crime, even though it is an objectively offensive crime, because it has its own established procedure. Go figure.
Of course, women's groups were all for the new law.
"We're pleased to see Nottinghamshire Police recognize the breadth of violence and intimidation that women experience on a daily basis in our communities," The manager of Nottingham Women's Center, Melanie Jeffs, said. "Understanding this as a hate crime will help people to see the seriousness of these incidents and hopefully encourage more women to come forward and report offences."
Sam Smethers, Chief Executive at the women's rights group The Fawcett Society, told Newsweek: "Women and girls face a tidal wave of abuse and harassment every day. Our law has to send a clear signal that this is not acceptable. It is a crime."
Rachel Noble, Women's Rights Policy Adviser at ActionAid U.K., also praised Nottinghamshire Police for "recognizing the scope and scale of the violence and harassment that women face every day."
It must be nice to have so little actual crime that the police can focus on such things.
In their article, Newsweek links to a severely flawed study that shows women make up to 50 percent of online misogynistic comments. If we take that study at its word, like Newsweek does, then why are only men being punished for alleged misogyny? Want to know how to determine if a crime is bogus? When only certain people are punished for committing it.
That actually makes this law misandrist, since only men can be the perpetrators even though women are guilty as well.
As we've seen time and time again from outrage feminists on social media, any criticism of a woman is misogyny. That would make this article misogynist, but I wouldn't be prosecuted — not just because I don't live in Nottinghamshire — but also because I'm a woman.
It's almost as if we abandoned our moral standards and manners, and then panicked over their absence and are now trying to bring them back in the form of legislation.
I wouldn't be surprised if outrage feminists in the U.S. start pushing for this to be the law over here, too.
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment