Only men can solve this. Only men can take ownership of this
– Baroness Helena Kennedy
Men must take ownership of the everyday abuse and harassment of women if it is to be curbed, according to the leader of a Scottish government taskforce.
Baroness Helena Kennedy warns the seeds of abusive behaviour are sown in childhood and, unchecked, they can end with men committing acts of violence against women.
Kennedy, who is leading a Scottish government working group examining whether misogyny should be made a criminal offence, says she sees evidence of
it all around her, and it has to stop.
She said: “It starts when boys are young, in the playground, and by the time they are 11 or 12 years old, porn is so readily available on the internet, we’re seeing them passing it around and speaking about girls in such a derogatory fashion. It’s deeply unsettling.
“By the time they are adults, its too late to say to them that’s not the way to treat women, making love should be a special thing between two people not what you see on those awful porn sites.
“I was on a crowded train not too long ago and there was this group of football supporters sitting loudly discussing what they would like to do to women and it was so vile and awful I actually had to go over and challenge them and stop them. The place was crowded and all the women were nodding but not one single man stood up to say their behaviour was unacceptable. They were all too busy keeping their heads down and looking at their feet.
“That’s what’s wrong with how we’ve become. Where are all the men who should be standing up and saying they are feminists too?
“Violence and abusive behaviour towards women is not a woman problem – it’s a man problem and they have to tackle it.”
Kennedy said the abuse of women in public life is a specific aspect of the wider crisis. She said: “It’s almost as if they are punishing us for having the temerity for speaking out, we’ve become too pushy because we won’t be silenced.
“The internet has become a megaphone for awful examples of this, and it saddens me deeply every time I see another women being targeted or feeling she has to leave her job.”
She said: “There is a failure to truly understand life as it is lived by women. I see this in domestic abuse cases all the time, where there are still those who will somehow seek to find a way to place some of the blame on women, that they have contributed.
“And sometimes, it’s women who blame other women.”
The Labour peer said women must be persuaded to report and record even what she describes as “low-grade instances” so society can see the full extent of the problem.
She said whenever women place their heads above the parapet, they are subjected to the most vile and violent threats.