Probably one of the best news this week: The UK recently implemented an anti-misogyny law in Nottinghamshire. This means that any act of sexual harassment, catcalling, and other unwanted contact toward women will officially be considered a hate crime in the county.
“Incidents against women that are motivated by an attitude of a man towards a woman, and includes behaviour targeted towards a woman by men simply because they are a woman,” the official guideline states.
According to End Violence Against Women Coalition co-director Rachel Krys, 85 percent of women aged 18 to 24 experience sexual attention, while 45 percent experience unwanted touching in Nottinghamshire alone. “We know that ignoring harassment and sexist bullying creates the impression that other types of violence against women will be tolerated so we welcome any action which counters this,” she says.
There’s no news yet whether this law will be implemented everywhere else in the UK, but this is a huge step for them. Hopefully more women can walk down the streets of Nottinghamshire, and similar places like in Germany and even in Quezon City, without getting unwarranted wolf whistles.
[Dazed]
Photo courtesy of Cosmopolitan
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