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Misogyny is far too common in our political culture

Many women on the left have described widespread harassment amid a hyper-masculine environment. As socialists, we need to do something about it, says JYOTI WILKINSON

RECENTLY, a woman I know posted on social media a meme which called out cultural patriarchy. 

The post was by no means aggressive — it was actually quite humorous in tone despite the seriousness of the issue in question. Yet it was subject to an onslaught of bigoted responses from full-grown men, who instantly took issue with the points raised.

These responses, which now seem to be commonplace, were all misogyny by numbers. One-by-one they clumsily marched through every cliche in the chauvinist playbook. 

From shifting blame and responsibility for the unacceptable behaviour of men onto women, right through to accusations that “media snowflakes” are creating some sort of needless conspiratorial hysteria around the issue. 

One man took exceptional glee at trying to cause outrage by stating that he had to leave the conversation as his wife was waiting at home with his dinner for him while he was out drinking at the pub and only engaged with any sort of self-reflection when held to account by another man.  

When these sentiments were challenged further, women were written off as being irrational or too sensitive. And the sad fact is that none of the men in question was willing to concede that misogyny is a widespread societal problem — or even that it simply exists, never mind taking any responsibility for it. Indeed, many claimed that it was merely harmless banter.

However, this culture is far from harmless and the attitude it perpetuates is as toxic as it is unnecessary.  

According to statistics from Rape Crisis, the chances of a woman suffering sexual assault are one in five, while the chances of the man responsible receiving any sort of justice is one in 20. 

To put this into context, statistically, a woman is more likely to be a victim of sexual assault than she would be successful when applying for a new job.  

Furthermore, we know these statistics are likely to be conservative and that the real number of victims will be much higher as most sexual crimes go unreported.

If you take the time to listen to women talk about their experiences, most will tell you that at some point they have been assaulted by men, have received inappropriate messages and unsolicited dick-pics on social media or have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. 

This, alongside the elections of Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh to high office is a damning indictment of where attitudes are right now. The evidence could not be stronger that the power structures that exist around gender desperately need to be challenged and changed.

This culture is rife among the political class and, if you set foot into the continuation of public schoolboy life that is the Westminster bubble, you will soon come across middle-aged male MPs being followed around by young female interns and parliamentary assistants, exploited both financially and sexually, on the promise that it will help boost their careers. 

Last year we saw a number of parliamentary sex scandals, and a number of women came forward to expose the sleazy underbelly that has been allowed to cultivate itself in Westminster.  

Following this, a dossier, seemingly leaked by someone from the the whips’ office, ensured that the seedy nature of political life was under some form of public scrutiny. 

However, the sad fact is that the leak was itself pure opportunism and only happened in order to gain political collateral. 

There was no real intention to challenge the appalling behaviour and change the rigged system, completely undermining those who had come forward in order to attempt to change the squalid power structure. 

Shamefully, the leak only happened so that it could help advance the careers of ministers with aspirations for higher office.  

Let’s be frank, the labour movement in Britain has not always been where it should in the fight against gender inequality and has never given the same platforms that have been afforded to tackling other forms of bigotry such as racism and homophobia.  

To be clear, each is an important issue as the last and all bigotry must be challenged with the same degree of tenacity.

Steps in the right direction have been taken by the Labour Party in an attempt to address the balance, with the recent proposals adopted from the democracy review strengthening female representation and engagement in the political process by ensuring women’s representatives on regional executives and greatly expanding women’s conference. 

But it could be argued that these are merely lip service and are still nowhere near radical enough. We still have not had a female leader of the party and men still vastly outnumber women in elected office. 

Many female activists and officials have testified about harassment and the toxic male culture that has a tendency to permeate through all aspects of our society. 

This for a socialist party is a disgrace. We need to ensure that women are given parity in office and one way to do this would be to make every remaining empty seat in both local and the next general election an all-women shortlist. 

The answer to the argument that this will prevent good socialists and left-wing male candidates from standing is simple. Any real socialist should be more than willing to make this small sacrifice in pursuit of true meritocracy and the impact it would have on our political culture would more than justify this. This is a risk the Labour Party could and should take.

Of course, this would only be the first step. You only have to look at Theresa May to see that simply putting women in positions of power does not equal feminism. 

And while radical policy initiatives such as universal basic income, which would give women more freedom over their own finances and lives, or rebuilding our now defunct legal aid system so that those who are victims of harassment and exploitation can have access to true justice are important, the fact is that true cultural change must come from the grassroots. 

Writing as a man, ultimately, it is up to us to change our behaviour, our culture and the patriarchal hegemony that dominates our society today. 

We must accept the role we have all played in the rigged unjust system and rally to change it. We must hold ourselves and others to account and stand in solidarity with those who have suffered as a result of our chauvinism at every level and in every circumstance, rather than shift the blame.  

“Nevertheless, she persisted,” as the feminist slogan says, and we should join her in the struggle until she doesn’t have to any more. Remember, there is no socialism without feminism.

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