30 cases of misogyny have already been dealt with by Nottinghamshire Police

In July, Nottinghamshire Police made misogyny a hate crime in order to combat sexist incidents. Since then, 30 cases of misogyny have already been dealt with by Nottinghamshire Police.

Some of these registered cases occurred back in April, before misogyny was considered a hate crime.

The police noticed that approximately 37 per cent of the overall misogynistic crimes consisted of kidnapping, harassment, weapons’ possession and provoking public fear, apprehension or extreme anxiety. Meanwhile, about 63 per cent of offences, such as derogatory jokes or name-calling, were also motivated by hate, but did not consist of criminal acts.

Loretta Trickett, a criminologist at Nottingham Trent University, told the BBC: “For some women this has become an everyday experience. A lot of men are not aware of the implications it has on women…Women put up with it because it is trivialised in society. People say it’s complimentary to be wolf-whistled.”

Martha Jephcott, who has trained Nottinghamshire police officers on how to handle misogyny as a hate crime, also said: “Recognising misogyny as a hate crime is important because it acknowledges the world in which women live and the everyday nature of these sorts of incidents. I want forces across the country to adopt this. I think it’s a matter of equality.”

Work on the idea of including misogynistic behaviour as a hate crime started in June 2014, after a research project led to a conference where women, victims of sexist attitudes, gave examples of harassment they experienced.

The new classification means women feel more confident and encouraged to come forward and report incidents, which may not be regarded as a crime and still, investigation will take place.