We have been working with several police forces and PCCs on their misogyny issues for months now, and I can tell you that some forces are absolutely ready, and have the right people at the top, to challenge and explore their misogyny throughout the force for years to come.
In all cases, they approached us (which is great).

They all already accept their misogyny issues exist, and are impacting their staffing, and their responses to crime.

Crucially, it’s about who is in charge and who is ready for uncomfortable exploratory work.

Some are.
What I can tell you, is that in some forces, it’s easier than others. One force found out that someone in leadership was trying to address misogyny and woman blaming and called them in for a meeting to shut them up.

But other forces are way ahead.
Misogyny exists in all police forces for many reasons; patriarchal ideals, lack of women in leadership, subscription to belief systems and narratives about violence against women and girls, and a strong ‘protect the police at all costs’ expectation so critique never occurs.
The forces we have the most progress and the most open conversations with, are the ones that are ready to forsake their ‘protect the police at all costs’ mantra, and look at themselves honestly and with humility. Some are already doing this, even individual officers are, too.
Like anything really, people have to be ready for change and ready to do that deep work. For some forces, the concept of misogyny is ignored because when asked, most leadership and officers do not believe misogyny exists at all. Some instantly respond with whataboutery.
However, as I say, some are being led by people who are ready for the challenge and ready to stick their necks out to change their misogynistic culture and I am proud of them for that. It’s not easy - and they certainly don’t earn many friends from being that person.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Dr. Jessica Taylor

Dr. Jessica Taylor Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @DrJessTaylor

6 Oct
Just saw yet another academic supporting ‘women’s self defence’ as a ‘solution to VAWG’ and honestly I am sick to the back teeth of hearing it.

70% of women will naturally freeze when attacked, no matter what skill or belt they have.

And what about disabled women & girls? Hmm?
It might sound like a progressive, cutting edge study to do conversation analysis interviews and funded interventions of teaching young women self defence with self reported confidence measures but when you’re being raped, groomed, abused or controlled THAT SHIT WON’T WORK
We also know from decades of research that women and girls are very likely to self blame (and be victim blamed) if they don’t fight back when being raped or abused, so this suggestion only furthers the original rape myth that ‘if you were really raped, you would fight back’
Read 4 tweets
3 Oct
I do find it interesting which feminists are being ‘allowed’ to publicly talk about their work and their personal experiences - and which ones are being accused of attention seeking, lying, and self gain.

Almost like there’s a disgusting cliquey hierarchy that’s developed 👀
I guess it’s the same with any women, and any communities, there’s always the ones that are allowed to speak, and the ones that aren’t perfect enough to speak on their own lives.

Almost ironic that this dynamic continues in an arena where it’s not supposed to exist at all.
Maybe for clarity, we could make a list of the feminists who have been able to openly talk about their own work and their own experiences in the last week and which ones have been criticised or have been accused of doing it for self gain - so we know for future reference.
Read 11 tweets
30 Sep
To everyone commenting on my thread about police corruption (most are well intentioned comments), saying to ‘take it higher’ or ‘go to your MP’. It doesn’t work. I’ve done this several times & had the same outcome. Scrutiny of police needs to be external, powerful & independent.
I have twice taken something to professional standards and conduct but it’s been completely covered up or denied. When I pushed for the truth and an outcome, I was actually threatened with arrest for ‘harassment’ for writing a letter back to the force saying I disagreed.
I still have that letter. It said that if I made any more complaints about a particular officer (I’d only made one but wouldn’t accept the decision), they would charge me with harassment lmfao

I laugh because of how ludicrous that really is
Read 4 tweets
29 Sep
In 2014, a police officer entered my house under false pretences & threatened to ‘kick my head in’ if I didn’t drop assault charges against someone he was related to. He came in patrol car & uniform. Station denied it ever happened.

The info about Couzens today is way too real.
I let him in because… well, he was a police officer. Why wouldn’t I? I thought he was there to help.

I invited him into my living room.

He walked in and instantly switched on me. My kids were asleep in bed upstairs and I was alone. He backed me into a corner.
He told me he knew everything about me and had looked me up. He raised his fist and looked me in the eye and leant over me and threatened me not to tell anyone who had put me in hospital.

I got his badge number and patrol car number and the next day I went to station to report.
Read 6 tweets
26 Sep
I don’t know why this is controversial but when I managed rape centres and victims services I would absolutely change the therapist if the woman didn’t want them, triggered by them, couldn’t relate to them, wanted someone else…

It’s HER journey, not ours.

It’s not about US.
I would always tell my staff that it wasn’t about them, not to take it personally, and that they needed to move aside to ensure the woman or girl got the best support.

Women requesting specific therapists: sexes, ethnicities, languages, backgrounds, accents, demeanour is common
It’s such a sorry state of affairs that therapists and managers are putting themselves, their needs and their validation above what a traumatised child or adult needs in that moment. These stories, they don’t belong to us, we don’t get to dictate what they need in their trauma.
Read 5 tweets
25 Sep
A thread on this atrocity from @TheLancet

1

The Lancet, how you gonna play like you care that female bodies and female biology have been excluded from medicine and science WHEN YOU WONT NAME THEM?
Thankfully, some of us actually can recognise, name and discuss medical misogyny, and will continue to do so.
2

Women are being given medications that have only been tested on men. This is because female hormones & menstrual cycles have always been seen as variables that need to be eliminated or controlled instead of included/explored in the way medicine metabolises & acts in the body.
Read 12 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(