After watching a documentary about the murder of British traveller, Grace Millane, I was incredibly inspired to write this. To continuing analysing and unravelling the systemic culture of violence towards women. Since Grace’s tragic death in 2018, we are still seeing a ridiculous rise in violent attitudes and behaviours towards women. Something that must be stopped.
So, Grace, this is for you. I am so sorry this world failed you and all the other beautiful women who were lost to male violence. I promise to continue fighting in yours and every other woman’s name, refusing to stop until we see true justice.
Violence against women. A pandemic if you will. Something so prominent that almost all women are scared for their lives. As women, we are unable to do simple things, like walk home from work, go for a run or get to school, without being subject to harassment of some sort. Surely this is an issue.
Not only is this wildly concerning, but our fundamental human rights are stripped from us. We are no longer given the right to life, the right to be treated humanely, the right to respect and to not be discriminated against.
Let’s put it simply. Every three days, a woman is murdered by a man.
Women are even killed for rejecting the advances of men. And by women, I mean 15-year-old girls. Elianne Andam was murdered on her way to school. When her friend rejected flowers from a boy, Elianne stepped in to intervene and ended up losing her life.
She deserved to get to school safely.
Within this epidemic of violence, we are seeing a rise in violent attitudes towards women in younger men. In 2017-2019, reports of sexual abuse between children doubled, with 9 in 10 abusers being boys. If that’s not shocking enough, almost all women have been subject to some type of abuse within school, with 1 in 4 experiencing unwanted sexual touching.
It’s almost like the right-wing agendas spread online are grooming a new generation of male abusers… How surprising.
Incels – self-proclaimed, ‘involuntary celibates.’ Typically, straight, white men, who follow a misogynistic, violent agenda where they believe they are superior. They use the internet and forums to spread their disturbing ideologies, further promoting the acceptance and encouragement of hatred and abuse towards women.
But hey, what’s wrong with a couple of guys chatting shit on social media? It’s not like they’re directly responsible for male violence…
Jake Davidson, a man from Plymouth, killed five people, including his mother and a three-year-old girl after being an active member within online incel communities. He had a hatred towards women, this stemming from his inability to get a girlfriend, and therefore triggered his attacks.
One teenage boy spoke about wanting to commit a mass shooting on an incel forum, another being flagged to Prevent for carrying a knife in his school bag. Both were influenced by older incels online, even encouraging one boy to stop taking his anti-psychotic medication.
Gabrielle Friel who was caught preparing a terrorist attack in Scotland, was known for idolising fellow incel, Elliot Rodger, who killed six people in 2014.
Stereotypically, incels find their strong hatred for women stems from their inability to find romance / sexual relationships and feeling inferior with the rise of feminism. As men, they believe they should follow traditional ideas, finding the sheer concept of women being equal to them, horrifying. There is a clear link between these individuals and far-right extremism.
Academics from the University of Exeter have understood a clear overlap within this far right algorithm and the increase of young men falling prey to it. There’s no denying that the rise in female empowerment is making men feel inferior, their biological desire to be ‘stronger’ and ‘superior’ becoming squashed. This vulnerability is causing the youth to get roped into these extremist agendas, further encouraging violent attitudes and therefore leading to more women killed at the hands of men. A rather upsetting butterfly effect if you will.
Now I already have a whole blog post dedicated to the wonderful, Andrew Tate, but let’s clarify something.
1 in 6 teenage boys still have positive views towards Andrew Tate. A man who proudly promotes violence towards women and sexist agendas. A man who has been accused of rape, sexual assault and sex trafficking multiple times. A man that is notorious for being a twat.
They associate his luxurious lifestyle with his detrimental ideologies, unable to separate the two. They want his lifestyle and are therefore given his mindset too.
When you’re wrapped up in the confusing word of puberty, sex, change and the transition to manhood, the last thing you need is a bald wanker shouting about how men are better than women.
When violent, harmful men are allowed a platform in which they influence boys into these far-right agendas, can we really be shocked at the rise in behaviour?
The sooner we start to take this new generation of violence seriously, the sooner women can feel safe. We just want to be able to get to school safely, to get on the train without being harassed, to not be murdered. How many more of us must die before we stop seeing women as statistics and as people?
So, what can we do to combat this?
Have open conversations with young people, not only in schools, but at home – discuss emotions and promote healthier attitudes.
Hold social media platforms accountable. We must stop incel content from being promoted online, therefore we aren’t exposed to these harmful ideologies.
Educate and discuss ‘taboo’ topics to ensure we are creating a society that sees the empowerment of all. This prevents any confusion turning into hatred. When we are taught about sexism / privilege / race from young ages, we are less likely to have negative connotations towards it in the future.
Report any problematic behaviour that you see, whether it is online or in person.
Remind ourselves of the women who lost their lives to men, ensuring it stops completely. We must proactively change our ways and honour those lost.
This post was written in memory of every single woman who has been subject to male violence. If I could list all names, I would, so here I share 50 names of women who lost their lives at the hands of men. I am sorry this world failed you and promise to continuing fighting in your honour. I hope you take the time to think about each woman, remembering her and using the legacy left, to spark change.
To see lists of all women murdered by men each year: https://kareningalasmith.com
1. Loretta Herman
2. Sabina Nessa
3. Yasmin Begum
4. Beatrice Stoica
5. Grace Millane
6. Sammy Mills
7. Emma McArthur
8. Madison Wright
9. Marlene Doyle
10. Sarah Everard
11. Fawziyah Javed
12. Beth Aspey
13. Michaela Hall
14. Elianne Andam
15. Catherine Wardleworth
16. Hina Bashir
17. Chintzia McIntyre
18. Ann Blackwood
19. Sarah Henshaw
20. Zara Aleena
21. Holly Newton
22. Maddie Durdant-Hollamby
23. Ingrid Matthew
24. Geetika Goyal
25. Imogen Bohajczuk
26. Wenjing Xu
27. Karen McClean
28. Stacey Knell
29. Smita Mistry
30. Sally Metcalf
31. Sarah Keit
32. Peggy Wright
33. Charmaine O’Donnell
34. Michelle Cooper
35. Kerry Bradford
36. Julia James
37. Nicola Beck
38. Kerri McCauley
39. Eulin Hastings
40. Victoria Shorrock
41. Kirby Norden
42. Leone Weeks
43. Kiran Daudia
44. Kulwinder Kaur
45. Anne Forneaux
46. Chrissy Kendall
47. Gillian Zvomuya
48. Anita Downey
49. Amandeep Kaur
50. Molly McLaren
For further information on how you can get involved and fight with me for justice, I have linked resources below:
Comments