Protecting women | OC Comment
As the Prime Minister prepares to meet with the embattled Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick to discuss how the government can better protect women, the lines of the culture wars have once again been placed in stark relief.
The progressive media wasted no time in mobilizing; within days of the tragic event, social media was ablaze with militant pro-women groups and self-flagellating men. Even Baroness Jenny Jones could not resist grandstanding and proposed a 6 pm curfew on all men, which she described as “not altogether serious”. The narrative has been completely hijacked by the militant left, with the blame heaped, as usual, at the feet of the usual suspects; the patriarchy, men, rape culture, boys-will-be-boys-ism.
The solutions proposed have their origin in this wellspring of progressive sentiment. For example, several social media posts detail the ways men can act to make women feel safer; they include crossing the road to avoid walking near women walking alone, making noise to prevent startling a woman from behind, and other similar actions. Men have been instructed to “call out” friends saying things that make women uncomfortable or identify instances of patriarchal behaviour. Yet these suggestions miss a crucial point; they aim to make women feel safer, but do not actually make them safer. To put it crudely, no matter how many well-intentioned men cross the road to avoid startling a woman, a murderer will kill her all the same. In the same vein, no amount of anti-patriarchal rhetoric will spark a moral epiphany in a rapist.
Before we begin, it must be made clear that data on sexual violence is highly unreliable. Many women do not come forward due to social discrimination or other personal reasons. However, the Mayor of London Office for Policing and Crime (page 6) suggests that the rates of sexual assault and similar crimes in the UK are being reported more but occurring at the same rate. Barring increases in a few inner London boroughs, rates of sexual assault remain relatively constant.
The only way to reduce crime is to take concrete action. These actions must begin with the police, but also extend to wider society; both men and women can act. Yet it must be recognised that crime cannot be eliminated completely, only reduced. There will always be some people that, whether through nature or nurture, are induced to commit these horrible acts. Therefore while on one hand, we can hope to reduce the incidence of these crimes, we must also be aware that there will always be people that will commit them, and so take adequate precautions.
The first concrete step concerns the police. There is no way around it; it is the police’s job to prevent crime. The presence of law enforcement is a necessary condition for any safe society; to prevent a repeat of Everard’s murder, we need more policemen and better policing. We need only look at the example of 1990s New York. Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s tough policing measures, such as the “broken windows” policy and stop-and-frisk, had a clear downward effect on crime. The increase in the number of policemen was, according to Steven Levitt in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, one of the four major factors in crime decreasing. Perhaps, instead of entering homes to break up COVID-unfriendly family gatherings, or monitoring mean comments on Twitter,
Scotland Yard could devote more funding and resources to a strong street presence. Regular foot patrols would certainly dissuade would-be rapists, along with making women feel safer as well. If progressives demand women “feel” safe at night, then what better than the comforting presence of a constable on the beat?
Another way of reducing crime, or at least reducing women’s exposure to it, concerns the actions of men. However, unlike the virtue-signalling suggestions found on Twitter, men can take practical actions that actually help women now. Continuously taking offense at vulgar jokes will most likely only lead to a man being abandoned at the bar by his friends, while accompanying a woman home will actually protect her. Similarly, crossing the street might lead to a moment of relief for a woman walking alone, but offering to walk her home will ensure she stays safe.
Of course, it also goes without saying that men who witness a woman being accosted should immediately step in. Social conservatives recognise that it is part of a man’s duty to protect a woman in danger, and I think I speak for all men in saying that we wish to see those who commit such crimes in jail, or worse. Therefore, society must cultivate a moral imperative to make men feel responsible for the women in their life. Instead of being derided as macho-ism or toxic masculinity by feminists and progressives, we should cultivate the natural male instinct to protect the other sex. There is no shame for a woman to ask for help or protection from a man; this biological dynamic is so ingrained that men have literally evolved to be more effective at dispensing violence than women.
Finally, precautions are sadly necessary. Though we all wish women and children could walk the streets without fear, that is not the world we live in. Though progressives would have us believe utopia was around the corner, necessitating only a bit of social engineering here and radical ideology there, social conservatism requires a recognition of reality. Combined with our practical, realistic initiatives to reduce crime occurrence, we must also deploy sensible precautions to give women a chance to escape or avoid these tragic crimes.
Due to the biological differences between men and women, women are unlikely to win in a purely physical confrontation, therefore they must be given a way of equalizing the situation. Legalizing non-lethal personal safety items like pepper spray, CS spray or low-power tasers is a logical step. Being non-lethal, they reduce the negative externalities of mistaken use, while simultaneously allowing women to buy the moment they need to escape.
In conclusion, crime targeting women will unfortunately always be present. However, with increased policing, protection by men, and adequate precautions, women can be protected from suffering these horrific crimes.
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