How many stories of street harassment have you heard across your life? For most women, the answer will be in the hundreds, if not thousands. Today, a group of women in Walthamstow, London, are highlighting that very issue, releasing a short film called Hoe Street: Everyday Tales of Street Harassment.
The 18-minute film by the E17 Street Harassment Photo Project, exclusively shared with Grazia, is being championed by Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy – whose bill to make misogyny a hate crime will be discussed in the House of Lords today.
'We are a group of three friends who decided to use our professional expertise to tackle a big issue that affects almost every women,' producer Ruth Roxanne Board told Grazia. 'Hannah Starkey is the photographer behind the film and her work features women in the urban landscape so this project is a continuation of that. Liz Biggs, a documentary director who has worked on several hard-hitting TV programmes, did an outstanding job interviewing all our contributors and weaving all the stories together in the edit. So far it has been mostly self-funded and run alongside our day jobs and caring responsibilities. It's totally a passion project in an attempt to address the inequalities behind street harassment. We have been so fortunate to have Stella as a cheerleader for the film and we feel supporting her bill is vital to encourage change towards harassment of women.'
It comes as a cross-party group of Peers, including the former Victims’ Commissioner, are calling on the government to take action to tackle violence against women and girls by pushing through the bill first proposed in 2018.
Changes proposed by the group include legally requiring police forces to record all incidents of violence against women and girls which would allow regular offenders to be identified and action to be taken to prevent further violence. By ensuring that misogyny is recorded as a hate crime, it would also allow judges and the Crown Prosecution Service to consider hostility against women and girls when making decisions around prosecution and sentencing.
An amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill has also been tabled by Baroness Newlove, Lord Polak, Lord Russel and Lord Ponsonby which would add ‘sex or gender’ to the list of aggravating factors in section 66 of the Sentencing Act.
A pilot scheme testing the use of this was implemented in Nottinghamshire and proved successful. Police found that it led to increased recording of male violence and made women and girls more confident that crimes against them will be taken seriously by the police.
However last month, prime minister Boris Johnson said he did not support the bill to make misogyny a hate crime, because it would overload the police. Yes, seriously. 'If you simply widen the scope of what you ask the police to do you'll just increase the problem,' he told the BBC. What you need to do is get the police to focus on the very real crimes, the very real feeling of injustice and betrayal that many people feel.’
Of course, the implication that misogynistic hate crimes were not 'very real' did not go over well with female voters. Particularly, since prosecutions for domestic violence crimes and rape are abysmal. Perhaps when or if he watches this powerful video, he'll see how 'very real' misogyny is for the women of the country he leads.
After years of inaction, it is time for deeds, not words, from the government.
'Police often raise the lack of reporting by women as a reason why they aren’t able to address the harassment and violence they face,' Stella Creasy said in a statement. 'The first step to changing this must be the police showing women and girls that the crimes they face are taken seriously.
'Recognising misogyny as a hate crime doesn’t create any new crimes but helps identify the risks women face to improve detection and prevention of these crimes – by incorporating misogyny into hate crime legislation, ministers could send a powerful message about the seriousness with which we as a society take the threats and harms women face on a daily basis. After years of inaction, it is time for deeds, not words, from the government.'
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Boris Johnson Refuses To Make Misogyny A Hate Crime Because It Would Overload The Police