Femicide: an accepted fate?

Living in a society where “women can have it all!” has lulled us into a plastic sense of security that includes the respect of our humanity, our dignity and our future. A presumptuous feeling of equality seems to lurk in people’s opinions on the state of gender equality in this day and age, with fertility rates dropping and women’s employment rates increasing, from the outside it appears that women seem to be liberated from the patriarchal values that once constrained them. The harrowing truth lurks shallowly beneath the surface, with one woman being murdered every three days at the hands of a man, demonstrating that such violence is a little too familiar to many women. But can anyone answer how femicide is being combatted? Or has such violence become so ingrained into the female experience that we are expected to await a grizzly experience over, and over again?

Considering the painfully high statistics related to violence against women, such as the 85,000 rapes that happen every year, we would presume that if anyone is to protect us from such atrocity it would be the police. However, recent stories such as that of David Carrick suggest that this assumption is flawed. Carrick, a Metropolitan police officer who pleaded guilty to 43 offences including 20 counts of rape was referred to as “the bastard” by his colleagues and avoided suspension by Scotland Yard for 9 different offences all of which indicated to Carrick’s despicable crimes. In March 2021 Sarah Everard was kidnapped, raped and murdered by Met police officer Wayne Couzens. Couzens was nicknamed “the rapist” by former colleagues and pleaded guilty to 3 counts of indecent exposure before the abduction of Sarah Everard. Both of these individuals abused and contorted their position of power and authority in order to brutalise, humiliate (and in Couzens’ case) kill women for pleasure. Despite the overt warning signs that both of these men gave, the Met failed to recognise how significantly dangerous they were which only amplified their entitlement and risk further and it can only leave us thinking that if these individuals were investigated as soon as a complaint was made, then maybe the victims to their crimes would not have ever been harmed. There is extreme evidence to suggest that there are deeply rooted issues of systemic abuse within the Metropolitan police surrounding racism and misogyny and I am concerned and sickened by the extent of harm that has been perpetrated by the very institution that should serve to protect us. It is evident that this misogynistic ideology that women are disposable beings at the hands of men even resonates with members of the police force and with that, my hope begins to fade. 

“It is evident that this misogynistic ideology that women are disposable beings at the hands of men even resonates with members of the police force.”

An integral part of understanding how this culture of violence is culminated is to acknowledge that it is instilled in our young from a worrying age. The average age of first exposure to pornography is 12 years old and for a lot of children this is how they ‘learn’ about sex due to a lack of education from caregivers or their school. However, porn has come to feature prevalent themes of violence as though it is in partnership with sex, with one study showing that 97 percent of the targets of violence and/or aggression in porn were women. If teenagers are growing up constantly digesting the narrative that this is how women are meant to be treated, then there is no surprise that such ideology is so widespread and maintained in every corner of society. Social media has enabled people’s ideas and expression of free speech to reach people in their bedrooms all over the world, and as incredible as this can be it is equally as damaging. Social media figures such as that of Andrew Tate have gained millions of views for posting videos that spout continuous misogyny and topics of violence against women. Tate’s core message asserts that men should have dominance and authority over women to be masculine, creating a parallel between subjugating women and being a ‘real man’. With teenage boys being incredibly impressionable and eager to prove their masculinity, videos of Tate’s become incredibly popular with boys believing that it is perfectly ok and even admirable to cause harm to women. Young men and boys (and consequently women) are being failed by older men in society who confidently affirm this belief system, it is essential that this cycle of indoctrination is broken in order for the trauma that is inflicted upon women to end. 

It is evident that where the problem manifests is in a lack of education. It’s in boys not being corrected on misogynistic language from a young age, it’s girls being conditioned to think that cat calling is a compliment, it’s thinking that women shouldn’t enjoy sex, it’s victim blaming, it’s ‘locker room chat’ being accepted in the workplace, it’s children having access to inappropriate and radical information on the internet, it’s poor role models. The fact that violence against women is so deeply ingrained into our culture should be the extra drive to eradicate it from every corner of society but my fear is that it has the adverse effect where those unaffected can sink back into their corner of comforting privilege whilst another woman goes missing. I don’t want to bring a daughter into the world where harm is an inevitable and impending fate and I think it’s about time that those who should care, do too.