Meeting of the Parliament 05 December 2024
I spoke earlier about oor fierce girls in Dundee and the brave lassies blether campaign in Angus, which are making a huge difference to the lives of young people. Again, I thank and applaud them. I also wonder what more they would be able to do if they did not have to put those energies and that creativity into the basic foundational work of enabling decent, non-toxic relationships. What transformations could all that solidarity and care achieve if it did not have to resist the ever-increasing violence that women and girls are facing?
Zero Tolerance found that less than a fifth of girls and young women feel completely safe in educational settings, that the number feeling unsafe has doubled in the past 10 years, and that girls are silenced in class, losing sleep and concentration through fear of violence, harassment and rape.
How did we get here, after decades of activism, political change, public education and awareness campaigns? The Zero Tolerance briefing gives us some clues. It found that boys and young men are absorbing deeply misogynistic material without any awareness that that is not normal. The language of the incel movement and having Andrew Tate as a role model are no longer confined to a troubled niche. They are, for a growing number of young men, the mainstream—the norm.
The effects of that poison are deep and broad. A heavy cloud hangs over the lives of girls and young women, as risk and the perception of risk, everyday misogyny, hostility and insult, anxiety and fear affect almost all—with worse for many. That stifles the development of boys and young men, exploiting their emotions with predatory role models, insidious narratives and toxic tales of patriarchy. It oppresses, insults and undermines young people who resist binary heteronormative gender roles and undermines healthy relationships for all young people.
We cannot shrug that off as a passing craze. The normalisation of deep, extreme misogyny; the othering of anyone outside of what is a self-imposed identity; the toxic concept of the alpha, or high-value, male; and the increasing gulf between young women and young men in their experiences, attitudes and values are all profound dangers to individual and community wellbeing.
The attitudes and behaviours of radicalised adolescence find their reflection in older generations, too. Being successful means being able to assault women with impunity. It does not take the re-election of Donald Trump to demonstrate that rule—just look at this week’s news in the UK and Ireland. What can we do? We need primary prevention, education and training as Zero Tolerance, the Scottish Women’s Convention and Close the Gap recommend. We need action on economic and other abuse, as highlighted by Aberlour Children’s Charity and Scottish Women’s Aid. We need robust and effective misogyny law, and we need action, urgently, from men as our allies.
The boys and young men who have been radicalised by extreme misogyny will not listen to women or girls—we know that—but they may listen to other men. We need more men to step up and name misogyny, call it out and tell the truth about the harm that it causes. We need that to happen now, and we need that to come not only from those whose job it is; not only from those who have a son, a nephew, a grandson or a brother; and not only from those who have a sister or a daughter. Misogyny harms women, but it harms men too, in some ways more deeply. Toxic narratives created the crisis, but honest conversations can help to heal it: conversations about what it truly means to be successful, and about living an authentic, compassionate life—a life where women and girls feel safe and respected in your presence.
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