I brought the "upskirting law" into affect in 2019.
Le'ts talk about that image JK Rowling shared.
She did this to humiliate artist Freda Wallace. That is a specific motivation we included in the Voyeurism Act. We fought for, and included it *specifically* because... 🧵
men often upskirt women (it is overwhelmingly men) to "punish" them for their bodies, clothing and for being a woman, by humiliating them.
That's called misogyny and it's what we're witnessing Joanne do here: transmisogyny.
It goes like this:
1. Target someone you dehumanise 2. Assert power with demand (Joanne wanted to debate Freda, for me a man wanted a "yes" to his advances) 3. If they refuse, punish them by capturing a "humiliating" image of their body 4. Share it to exert power and humiliate
Exact same logic.
now, Joanne didn't captured this image and she didn't capture it 'beneath' Freda's clothing, which adds questions about prosecution under the Voyeurism Act (though it doesn't 100% discount it).
Sharing the image is a separate issue here too.
Even if it didn't fit neatly under The Voyeurism Act, that doesn't make it any less wrong.
The law is *never* a guide for morality and law's do not reflect the complex ways people harass and/or assault people.
Joanne is spending millions and committing her life to pushing trans people out of public life.
She is a harassing, harmful bully contorting the logic of advocacy to hurt marginalised people and retain some sort of twisted relevance.
I support trans people to live free from harassment, harm and demonisation.
I always will.
Because I believe in human rights.
I do not, and will never, support a billionaire using wealth and power to harass and harm people of any gender.
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A law I helped create was the reason Giselle’s husband was caught. It exposed the stomach churning abuse of his wife.
I have received hundreds of messages over the last 48hrs about it.
Here’s how I feel: 🧵
I‘ve been walking around the house unable to focus, staring, on the edge of tears because the facts of this case are stomach churning & feel both horrifically unthinkable yet somehow not shocking.
Yes, the strength of Gisele is unbelievable. But she should never have had to be.
I feel thankful that a law I worked on helped catch this man, yet I also feel devastated that it had to be used in the first place. I feel heartbroken every time it’s used, not proud. Just sad for the survivors.
When faced with misogyny in the headlines teachers and parents always ask:
"How do I talk to the boys in my life about sexual violence?"
You don't. You don't start there. If you want to have an actual conversation that works, it has to begin somewhere else. 🧵
The question really being asked here is "how do I help boys in my life turn away from/reject misogyny?"
Answer: you *frame* and *start* the conversations somewhere new.
Don't start at sexual violence because they know society says it's bad and explaining isn’t that effective.
It’s important I note here that the earlier these conversations are being had the better. I’m talking early. Little kids. Too many parents say “I can’t believe he thinks this, he’s only 14!”
The world has been shaping your sons perception of gender for 14 years by this point.
For years Tate and others have radicalised men/boys into believing masculinity is about control and abuse.
We mock them and they become a 'joke' to us
We denounce them because we're angry
But what we *think* about them doesn't change much, because what they're doing *works* 🧵
I've met teachers who had male students come into classes refusing to learn from 'women' because they 'don't know anything'. Later, Tate's name was mentioned one group of boys who were parroting these sexist lines.
I've met parents who found out their son's were listening to podcasts by men that framed success as controlling women. They were terrified that their son's seemed exactly the same around the dinner table, but were deeply engaged with misogynistic ideas in private.
One thing that I lie in bed worrying about is how my previous work on upskirting has been used by those who are intent on excluding trans people and non-binary people from public spaces. I have seen some high profile women using my work as a reason to keep trans women out
of women's spaces and I hate it. Often it's not even necessary to use it because they're *actually* referring to voyeurism which is a different act to upskirting, but we won't get into that detail right now.
In my time collecting stories of voyeurism as well as upskirting (almost 2 yrs and over 500+ stories) not *once* was there a story of a trans person photographing someone, but there *were* many of cis men (and cis women) being morbidly fascinated by
We aren’t safe walking mins from our home (Sabina Nessa)
We aren’t safe at work (Cathy Marlow)
We aren’t safe even when together (Nicole Smallman, Bibaa Henry)
We aren’t safe online (Alice Ruggles)
We aren’t safe with our own family (Banaz Mahmod)
We aren’t safe dating (Grace Millane)
We aren’t safe after reporting to the police 5 times (Shana Grice)
We aren’t safe with our neighbours (Nelly Mustafa)
We aren’t safe at home (Valerie Forde)
We aren’t safe with a police officer (Sarah Everard)
We aren’t safe because male violence is present in every part of society. More park lights, spike rings, rape alarms and even criminalisation won’t help this. Compulsory education programmes on gender and exploring masculinity early on, might.
In June The Prime Minister nominated me to Her Majesty The Queen for her Birthday Honours List, and I was asked if I would accept the honour of an OBE.
I was honoured to be asked and considered alongside everyone who accepted, but knew it was not for me.
Please do take a read.
I started this work because I wanted to fight for every day people and their rights, and in the last 2yrs, whether through working with charities or discussing issues on Parliamentary panels, I've sat next to and learnt from some of the greats of Civil Rights.
I've been educated on systemic racism and the history of The British Empire and I've objectively disagreed with so much of it. This summer many of us felt, acutely, the long shadow it has cast. I want to continue my work as an advocate for anti-racism & as a proud women from a