Women have had enough of this sh*t

The sex of a perpetrator matters when recording violent crime

Image by Engin Akyurt at Pixabay

This article was first published in the Scotsman on Saturday 2 March 2024

In the run-up to International Women’s Day, held every year on 8 March, women are weary. On Monday, the world’s most famous living author spoke for many. “I’m so sick of this sh*t,” J K Rowling posted on social media, referring to a national broadcaster describing a man who had just been found guilty of murder as “a woman”.

A few days later, one of the country’s most recognisable MPs, Jess Phillips, could not hide her weary sadness when she read out the names of women killed since last International Women’s Day by men, ironically during a debate on language in politics. It is the ninth year in a row that Phillips has read out the list, which was started by Karen Ingala Smith and Clarrie O’Callaghan scouring local newspapers, and is now a trusted resource for academics, journalists and policy makers.

“While it is an honour to do it, and every year when I meet the families—many of whom are with us today—I am reminded of why I do it, I am weary and tired of this list,” said Phillips, to a near empty chamber, which in itself tells a story.

She went on, “I am tired of fighting for systemic change and being given table scraps. Never again do I want to hear a politician say that lessons will be learned from abject failure, because it is not true. This list is no longer just a testament to these women’s lives; it is a testament to our collective failure.”

The Scottish Parliament does not – yet – have a similar tradition of honouring the memory of those women killed In circumstances in which a man, or men, are the primary suspects, but their names should not be forgotten. In 2023, the women on the Counting Dead Women list were: Jacqueline Kerr; Darrell Buchanan; Susan Turner; Marelle Sturrock; Danielle Davidson; Elizabeth Watson; Amy Rose Wilson; and Kiesha Donaghy.

To that list, I will add Emma Caldwell. She was murdered 19 years ago, but it was only this week that Iain Packer was found guilty of her murder, as well as 11 rapes and multiple sexual assaults against a total of 22 women. It took the courage and tenacity of a woman, BBC reporter Sam Poling, to bring him to justice after the police dismissed him as the prime suspect, despite overwhelming evidence.

A weary Poling described how she feels now that Emma’s killer has been convicted. “It has taken 19 years to convict the man who killed her, and I don’t know how to feel about that. Yes, these women got justice but I just feel such an overwhelming sense of sadness that it has taken so long, and all those women were not believed, until now.”

Women are used to not being believed. The criminal justice system has long been biased towards men. The statistics speak for themselves. There were 2,298 rapes and attempted rapes reported in 2020-21, and only 152 of them were prosecuted, with just 78 convictions. And according to Rape Crisis Scotland, only just half of survivors who seek support had reported their assault to the police. Why bother, if you won’t be believed?

Even the NHS struggles to take women seriously. Endometriosis is a painfully debilitating condition of the uterus which affects 1.5 million women in the UK, yet according to Endometriosis UK, far too many find their symptoms are not believed nor taken seriously. It takes an average of eight years for a woman to get an accurate diagnosis.

And in recent years, women’s policy objections to self-ID, which allows people to choose their preferred ‘gender identity’ rather than their sex – have not been believed. Instead, politicians, employers, universities and government-funded women’s groups, among others, have lined up to dismiss such concerns as bigoted. Even International Women’s Day seems to be no longer for women only, with this year’s campaign embracing the “diversity” of women – their race, age, ability, faith, body image, and “how they identify”.

But, to paraphrase J K Rowling, this sh*t matters, and nowhere is it more important than in the criminal justice system. Rowling’s weary outburst came as it was revealed that convicted killer Scarlet Blake – a man – had been recorded by Thames Valley Police as a female perpetrator, because he ‘identified’ as a woman.

While some may argue that it is Blake’s ‘human right’ to be considered in official records as whatever gender identity he chooses, the consequences of such a policy are horrific. As Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justices Studies, points out, if just one male convicted of murder is classed as female, then total annual female murder convictions go up by around 5 per cent. “Class five males convicted of murder as female, then total annual female murder convictions go up by around 25%,” he says.

He goes on, “Classing male defendants convicted of murder as female is terrible for the integrity of social statistics. It is also terrible for public understanding of murder and who commits murder. This deceit by public bodies and news organisations needs to be sorted out, and quickly.” But even as I write, a complaint against respected BBC presenter Justin Webb has been upheld by his employers after he said, “trans women, in other words males” – a material fact.

As Jess Phillips finished reading out the names of the women killed by men, she said, “All of these women mattered. They need to matter much more to politics…warm words, with no political priority, will never make this list shorter.”

Nor will official lies. Women are weary of not being believed. Weary of the culture of misogyny that allows our very identity to be appropriated by men in the name of progress.  Weary of all this sh*t.