Violence against women isn’t the only national emergency – we must also tackle the misogyny that’s causing it

The National Police Chiefs’ Council has declared violence against women a national emergency in England and Wales. The first national police analysis of the scale of the problem estimated 2 million women to be victims of offences including stalking, harassment, sexual assault and domestic abuse.

But statistics can’t fully capture the magnitude of this violence. Many women and girls do not report sexual violence, in part because they do not have trust or confidence in the police. A recent report by the police inspectorate found that police are “struggling to get the basics right” when it comes to violence against women.

For those of us who research violence against women and girls and support survivors, the “national emergency” declaration is a long overdue acknowledgement – it has been an emergency for some time. Data collected by the Femicide Census shows that on average, a man has killed a woman nearly every three days in the UK since 2010.

Last year, police chiefs placed offences against women and girls on the same level as terrorism and serious organised crime. The decision to now declare it a national emergency is perhaps an acknowledgement that the situation has not improved.

But still missing from the conversation is what’s behind the emergency: the misogyny and male violence that underpins these stark figures.

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This violence is not just passively happening to women and girls. They are being subjected to violence predominantly at the hands of men. The majority (77%) of domestic homicide victims (killed by a current or former partner or a family member) from 2017-2019 were female, and 96% of the suspects in those homicides were male.

The national emergency is really men’s violence against women. Leaving out that important detail leads to interventions that only involve women changing their behaviour – for example, changing their route home or being advised to stop using social media. It is victim-blaming on a national scale. As Jackson Katz, scholar and activist on issues of gender, race and violence argues, violence against women is a men’s issue.

Men are also overwhelmingly the perpetrators of violence against other men. There are deep questions that must be answered to do with men, masculinity and violence.

Online misogyny

Part of this picture is also the spread of misogynistic messages and radicalising content online that is affecting young men. Top police officers pointed specifically to misogynistic influencers like Andrew Tate as part of their approach to violence against women.

A 2023 Women’s Aid report found a clear link between exposure to misogynistic views on social media, and having harmful perceptions of relationships. Schools have reported male students directing sexist phrases to female teachers and classmates such as “make me a sandwich”, and demonstrating controlling behaviours in relationships. This mirrors the language and actions of influencers who have become famous by capitalising on and promoting misogyny and sexism.

Their content involves demeaning and objectifying women, often portraying them as inferior or subordinate to men and advocating for gender stereotypes and traditional gender roles. When women are viewed as less than men, some men think it gives them licence to harm them. This harm often takes the form of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Coercive and controlling behaviour is actively encouraged by misogynistic influencers, who emphasise aggressive, domineering behaviour as ideal for men while belittling qualities like empathy and compassion.

Allegations of coercive and controlling behaviour by Tate have not diminished his appeal to millions of followers, who continue to be swayed by his “maverick” status.

Misogynistic and sexist ideas do not just take shape online. But technology exacerbates these ideas and allows them to reach new generations of young men and women. As researcher Azmina Dhrodia notes:

The widespread inequality and discrimination against women that remains embedded in society is increasingly replicated online. Acts of violence and abuse against women online are an extension of these acts offline.

Perpetrators of domestic abuse are also incorporating technology into how they monitor and control their victims. According to the latest national crime survey, 1.4 million women were victims of domestic abuse in England and Wales in the year ending 2023.

The accessibility of deepfake pornography is also disproportionately harming women, with boys and men creating and sharing images of their female friends, colleagues, classmates, partners and ex-partners. Sexual fantasy may influence their creation, but this is also about power and control, and humiliating women.

Men’s sexual entitlement over women’s bodies is also evident in the online chat rooms where such sexualised deepfakes and tips for their creation are shared.

To effectively treat violence against women like the national emergency it is, we need legal, social, educational and technological solutions to eradicate systemic misogyny. The normalisation of harmful ideas perpetuating gender inequality – both on and offline – must be tackled.