IT WILL ENTRENCH THE IDEA THAT WOMEN ARE VICTIMS

IF WOMEN’S campaigners are to be believed, the move to require that police record whether crimes are motivated by ‘ hatred of sex or gender’ is a ‘game-changer’.

So will millions of women now be able to happily walk home alone on dark nights without having to nervously glance behind them all the time?

Will millions jump for joy because they will never again have to endure comments about their bodies from a complete stranger?

Of course not. Sadly, adding misogyny to the long list of existing hate crimes is simply a kneejerk wish to ‘ do something’ in the wake of the horrific death of Sarah everard and will do nothing to protect women.

Indeed, far from empowering women, this firmly entrenches half of the population as victims. It is, first and foremost, wrong to add yet another category to the already long list of Orwellian thought crimes of ‘ hate’, where an action or words are recorded as a hate crime based on the subjective perception of the victim, not any objective evidence.

It is also wrong to turn women into a special class of victim.

Are there really men who go around abusing or attacking women in public places who will suddenly realise the error of their ways simply because their actions are now classed as a hate crime rather than harassment or gBH?

What would be the real game- changer is if the police and the courts started enforcing the laws we already have.

What most women need to feel safer is not more laws policing men’s thoughts but more officers policing our streets.