North Yorkshire Police urges victims of misogyny to come forward after becoming second force in country to class targeting of women as a crime

North Yorkshire Police declared in May 2017 that it would be treating misogyny such as objectifying comments and sexism as hate crime, following in the footsteps of Nottinghamshire Police which was the first force to do so.

It means that women who are harassed in the street and subjected to lewd comments which make them feel unsafe or objectified are able to report it to the police, and that sexual offences and harassment cases specifically targeting women can be recorded with the added caveat of misogyny as an aggravating factor.

A Freedom of Information request to the force has now revealed there have been 15 incidents of misogyny reported between January and September this year. Although these are few, the figure has been higher than the number of incidents reported in the three previous years since the force began recording it.

There were eight such incidents in 2017, 10 in 2018 and seven last year.

This means, in total, there have only been 40 incidents of misogyny reported to North Yorkshire Police since its announcement it would be recognising it as a hate crime.

More than half of these incidents (21) were classified as public order offences, such as causing public fear, alarm or distress.

There were also 12 incidents of violence with a misogynistic element recorded in this time.

So far, there have been only six charges brought over alleged incidents of misogyny, all of which were in 2018.

Pc Stuart Henderson, North Yorkshire Police's Hate Crime Co-ordinator, said misogyny in society remained prevalent, but offences remained under-reported as not many women realised it was a crime.

"We are aware that reports of hate crime are increasing every year, but you could probably add 200 to 300 per cent to those for all the offences which aren't reported.

"Misogyny, I think, is still something that is misunderstood."

"There is a multitude of things we would record as a misogynistic hate crime," Pc Henderson added.

"Sexual offences, including incidents such as flashing and upskirting. Any form of harrassment or stalking which is specifically targeting someone because they are a woman.

"These are all offences in their own right, but the fact we class this as a form of hate crime now means it can be recognised as an aggravating feature. We also urge women to report incidents of objectifying comments shouted at them in public.

Currently, there are only eight police forces which recognise misogyny as a hate crime, according to charity Citizens UK. In March this year, a Bill was proposed in Parliament for all forces nationally to class it as a crime, with the Bill to be next read in the Commons in January.

A report published by Citizens UK earlier this year found that gender was a motivating factor for around a third of all hate crimes (33.5 per cent).

Pc Henderson added: "One of the things we would like to see is a sentence uplift for crimes which have the aggravating feature of misogyny.

"Women are targeted as victims of crime and it's important we treat this with the urgency that it needs."

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