UK looks to treat misogyny as extremist violence, raising free speech crackdown concerns

The United Kingdom is looking to treat some forms of misogyny as a form of extremism under the new government’s Home Office, according to reports. 

"Hateful incitement of all kinds fractures and frays the very fabric of our communities and our democracy," British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said during an interview with LBC. "Action against extremism has been badly hollowed out in recent years, just when it should have been needed most."

Cooper revealed that she has ordered a "rapid analytical sprint on extremism" that will "map and monitor extremist trends," looking for ways to divert at-risk individuals from extremist views and "identify any gaps in existing policy." 

That catch-all for a range of views includes Islamist and far-right extremists as well as extreme misogyny or "fixation on violence" and causes of radicalization. 

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The Home Office in March – under the previous, Conservative government – redefined extremism as that which aims to "negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedom of others" or "undermine, overturn or replace the U.K.’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights." 

Floral tributes near the scene in Southport, Britain, July 30, 2024, where two children died and nine were injured in a "ferocious" knife attack during a Taylor Swift event at a dance school in split with emergency services responding to the attack. (James Speakman/PA via AP)

Including misogyny in that review has raised concerns that the government could lay the foundations to target free speech, to which Minister for Safeguarding and Violence against Women and Girls Jess Phillips has claimed, "You just use the exact same test you would with far-right extremism and Islamism, wouldn’t you?" 

"People can hold views about women all they like, but it’s not OK anymore to ignore the massive growing threat caused by online hatred towards women and for us to ignore it because we’re worried about the line, rather than making sure the line is in the right place as we would do with any other extremist ideology," Phillips argued, according to The Guardian. 

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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer speaks to supporters at a watch party for the results of the general election in central London, on July 5, 2024. (Jeff Moore/PA Images via Getty Images)

Peter Lloyd, author of "Stand by Your Manhood," branded the policy a "sexist move" and an "Orwellian attack on free speech," which left his debate partner Joanna Jarjue stunned during a debate on GB News. Lloyd insisted that there were "other issues" such as terrorism that "are the priority" and "not people like Andrew Tate." 

Jarjue said she was "offended" by Lloyd's comments, accusing him of minimizing the issue and citing a figure of two million women victimized by men in the U.K. each year. She called the issue an "epidemic" that "snowballs into a bigger position where women are dying and being raped."

Yvette Cooper, then shadow secretary of state for the Home Department, speaks at the Labour Party conference on Oct. 10, 2023, in Liverpool, England. (Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

"When you have women being attacked specifically because they're women, and specifically because there are some men within our society who have an ideology that women are fair game, or they're entitled to a woman's body – which is exactly what someone who would go and rape somebody would be thinking… that is very specific to a very specific group and gender," Jarjue insisted. 

The British government has had a review of how it responds to misogyny squarely in its crosshairs for a few years: The House of Lords held a debate in November 2021 to determine whether they would consider misogyny a hate crime.

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The Lords recognized calls for stronger action on misogyny "for years," including a campaign by Citizens UK in 2015 that called for sex and gender to be recognized as a protected characteristic for hate crime. 

The Nottinghamshire Police were the first constabulary in England and Wales to recognize misogyny as a hate crime, leading to other constabularies to follow their example. 

Jess Phillips speaks to the media as votes are counted on May 4, 2024, in Birmingham, England. (Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)

The Home Office changed the title of its junior ministerial role to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Preventing Abuse, Exploitation and Crime a few times since its creation in 2014, but expanded the role to include specifically Safeguarding and Violence against Women and Girls following the Labour Party victory on July 4, appointing MP Jess Phillips just days later. 

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Phillips this week told Glamour UK that "the last few weeks have been pretty tough on women and girls in our country" following the stabbing of several young girls that killed three at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in Southport. 

"I want to make sure that people realize that we recognize, here in government, how difficult it is and how much grief is currently being felt in the country, and say that we hear you," Phillips said. 

"And we know that we have to do everything that we can to start preventing rather than just cleaning up the violence committed by men against women and girls in our country," she added.