What on earth is 'extreme misogyny'?

It's like saying something has an 'effervescent fizz'

Rape is already a crime. Domestic violence, stalking, drink spiking, revenge porn, these are all very serious illegal offences, despite the fact that the perpetrators are rarely sanctioned.

Inventing a new category of 'extreme misogyny', as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced she intends to do as part of a review of Britain's counter-terrorism strategy, will do nothing to clamp down on these crimes.

On the contrary, I am deeply concerned that by treating misogyny as a terrorist offence, the government risks minimising many offences against women. What we need is to change our culture, and to challenge the impunity with which men commit such crimes. 

This is a cheap shot by Labour to win back the feminist vote after its shameful support for transgender rights, which are an extension of men's rights over women.

To give Cooper her due, she has shown initiative over the years in improving the lot of women. I don't suspect her of dreaming up this plan as cynical 'clickbait', to earn headlines or strike a pose.

Around the world, countless millions of women live in terror of male violence. In some countries, for instance, rape within marriage is considered normal – and it's still common, though illegal, in Britain. Women and girls do experience male violence and sexual harassment as a form of terrorism.

Male contempt and loathing for women has always existed. But it's on the rise, elevated to the status of a perverse fashion by online influencers who make money from stirring up hatred, resentment and violence.

The young men who subscribe to this vile lifestyle are completely unlike religious extremists. They don't see themselves as part of a common cause or as freedom fighters. And they don't have any twisted sense of self-righteousness. 

Their behaviour stems from anger, a sense of sexual entitlement, depravity learned from easily accessible porn, viciousness, alcohol and drug abuse, greed and narcissism – a foul brew summed up in the phrase 'toxic masculinity'.

I've been a campaigner against men’s violence towards women and girls all my adult life, and I'm seeing these attitudes spreading to ever-younger boys. Thanks to social media and the prevalence of online pornography, children as young as 10 are being groomed into viewing females as subhuman.

Schools are one of the places where action is needed to challenge this poisonous culture, and the introduction of a policy against 'extreme misogyny' is actively unhelpful. 

A teacher who discovers a 14-year-old pupil is distributing sexual images of a classmate should not hesitate to contact the police. That's the obvious response to an increasingly frequent crime. 

But how is it helpful for that boy to be reported to Prevent, the government's counter-terror programme? What can the Home Office do that the police and the school cannot?

The offender needs to understand that what he is doing is profoundly wrong. It's not a laugh, it's not proof of his sexual dominance, it's a crime that carries a long prison sentence. 

Telling him it's a terrorist offence does nothing to make him and boys like him grasp the reality of male violence – and could well have the opposite effect, by glamorising it. 

Many teachers might feel truly uneasy about referring one of their pupils, a child they might have known for years, to the counter-terrorism squad. The end result could well be that crimes go unreported, when previously the authorities would have been informed.

In the wake of lockdown, there is a catastrophic backlog in the courts and the Crown Prosecution Service, with waits of up to three years before domestic abuse cases are heard. If Cooper is in earnest about tackling male violence, she should start by clearing this.

Yvette Cooper, July 2024

And if the focus is on terrorism, any misogynist behaviour that doesn't involve outright violence will effectively be downgraded. But equally, it's wrong to minimise how frightening and harmful it can be. 

Introducing a two-tier system will only end up minimising the borderline cases, and raising the bar for what is reported.

Our culture has to change. Boys and young men who currently make and share porn videos, for example, need to be shown that this is not the mark of a wannabe celebrity – it's sexual exploitation and bullying. 

Often, it's proof of rape: a not insignificant number of videos on the website PornHub, for instance, depict real sexual violence. 

Violent sexism and misogyny is a threat to every woman in this country, and we have to put a stop to it. But the way to do that is to use the laws we've got and make them stick. The police, CPS, and judiciary has to be motivated to take male violence towards women seriously.