This will never end in my lifetime. Respect for women will be a long time coming. This time I am showing you how this lack of respect is spread in every area of our society.
Male Politicians– these are fairly common.
Charles Elphicke ex MP sent to prison for sexual offences.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, former leader of the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland has been charged with rape, gross indecency, and other offences over a period of 21 years.
Armed forces: Salute Her – A charity set up to help serving female personnel and veterans who have suffered sexual abuse and rape in the armed forces. Paula Edwards, one of the charity founders said:
“We’re still investigating sexual crimes in the armed forces. Women in the military need to be given choice, respect and dignity. Instead we are still seeing a victim-blaming culture. As shocking is the extent to which the military will go to cover up these crimes.”
Anna, a victim of sexual abuse in the army said:
“Sexual abuse can be just as bad on civvy street, the difference is that the army is not just a workplace, it’s a way of life.”
The Garrick Club – This is a very powerful men-only club made up of judges, Kings Counsel lawyers, MPs and the King, a stronghold of male elitism. It was only recently forced to hold a vote allowing women in. The women won by 60- 40 votes. The question I ask is who are the 40 powerful women-haters?
A senior woman KC said: “When you are an advocate in front of a judge, so much of what happens depends on the trust between the judge and the advocate. If you happen to know each other socially then of course that’s going to make a difference.”
The Garrick Club is an important influence here, an influence against women.
Men on night outs – women have been secretly filmed on nights out and these videos have been posted online. These have resulted in hundreds of women-hating comments. The police are trying to catch these men and the women do not even know they are being filmed.
Female pianists and conductors – Marian Alsop was the first woman conductor to perform at the Last Night of the Proms in 2013 and returned in 2015 and 2023. The Proms started in 1895. It took 118 years for a woman to wield a conducting baton at the Proms.
Of 20 piano soloists who performed at last year’s Proms only 2 were women. Of the winners of the 40 top international piano competitions only 18% were women. A 2022 survey found that sexual harassment in the classical music industry was rife with “unsafe workplaces where perpetrators face no repercussions” and where “a number of allegations of sexual assault would be a criminal matter” were made.
Concert pianist Joanna MacGregor said: “ Women in classical music have to work tremendously hard and can be judged more harshly. People comment on what they wear and what they look like.”
Ministry of Defence – Scores of female staff report sexual harassment at work. 60% of Prospect (a Civil Service Union) had personally experienced problems and a similar number had witnessed it.
They reported that just under half said they had experienced it. They reported rape, receiving a photo of a colleague’s penis, sexual advances including from their bosses, insults about their appearance and the offenders were not dealt with even though these were serious problems. Other women have had to pull male colleagues off female colleagues when rape was taking place in public view.
Schools – Sexual harassment happens in school because boys believe they are superior to girls. One of the reasons is the curriculum where girls are invisible.
There are no positive female role models and no opportunity to discuss a female perspective of the world.
Melbourne schoolboys were expelled over sexually rating their female classmates and they even made a list. The school reported it to the police.
The Premier of Victoria said: “This is no joke. Respect for women has to be at the forefront of every classroom, of every household, of every part of our community because too many women are subjected to violence, too many women are losing their lives.”
The boys in that school were what we would call Posh boys who come from rich families and therefore they really know that they are superior in their world.
Sport – An example was the manager who kissed a female member of his football team on the lips. She was shocked but he thought it was OK to do this in public. He eventually got the sack but it took a while.
A footballer raped a sleeping woman twice in the night and then took naked photographs of her to send to his mates, saying “ anyone want a go?”. One of his friends on receiving these photos said, “show us her gash” so he sent them photos of her vagina.
When are men going to show women respect? We are still waiting.
