Being a young woman is hard enough without walking into your local pub and having to navigate the delights of modern day misogyny with every step. Suddenly, you’re a player in the Hunger Games just to make it to the bar, order a £2 pint of cider (or a glass of wine if feeling fancy) and not get verbally assaulted on the way.
Misogyny at the local pub
My friends and I recently went out for a few drinks down our local pub to celebrate their 20th birthdays. Two tables across from us sat three, securely middle-aged men, all sporting some kind of patterned, knitted turtlenecks drinking wine. One of them, on their way to the toilet (located behind our table), decided it was a bright idea to leer over us and say “You good ladies? You all look fit”. Turtleneck number two then decided to join in the fun.
Things got ugly, as pink turtleneck turned to me shouting “It’s a joke! You’re a bunch of weirdos, we’re old enough to be your dads, you’re all weird”. Not that I’d asked him. In the end, I stood my ground, removed my hoop earrings, and was ready to pull a Katniss Everdeen – because of how belittling it is to be attacked over my Kopparberg cider.
After we’d finished our round of drinks and experienced four rounds of misogynistic language that you’d think might nowadays be a thing of the past, we left pink turtleneck and his cronies alone with their Pinot Grigio.
This can be a depressingly familiar experience for young woman, who finish the evening enraged, shaken and disappointed at the state of attitudes towards women.
Misogyny and harassment
Crimestoppers defines misogyny as “unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature that violates your dignity, makes you feel intimidated, degraded or humiliated or creates an offensive or hostile environment”.
Drinkaware in 2017 said that 79% of women had expected inappropriate comments, touching and behaviour when going out, and 63% of women had been the recipient of some form of sexual harassment. It’s safe to say that hasn’t changed much as we near the end of 2024.
Similarly, a 2021 report by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for UN women found that 71% of women from all ages have experienced a form of sexual harassment in a public space. The statistic sadly rose to 86% amongst 18–24-year-olds. We have clearly failed at protecting the safety and dignity of all women in what we might like to think of as our progressive society.
In an article by the Crown Prosecution Service, Siobhan Blake, CPS national lead for rape and serious sexual offences, said: “It is sickening that seven in 10 women have been subjected to this disgusting behaviour” (in reference to the sexual harassment study conducted by APPG).
The University of Suffolk also found in their 2023 ‘Sexual Harassment in Public Spaces’ report that around one in six participants’ first experience with a form of sexual harassment occurred when they were aged 10 or younger. I’ll leave that to sink in for a second.
‘Catcalls of Sheffield’ have also taken to the streets, in activism that takes the form of recording harassment incidents in chalk in the places where these have happened, such as “you’d be safe getting sexually harassed”. Whilst this raises a great deal of attention, what is actually being done to put an end to this kind of casually abusive behaviour?
Current changes and legislation
In 2023, the Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Act 2023 came into effect. The legislation now makes a range of sex-based harassment such as catcalling, lewd comments and physical contact illegal. This extends across all public spaces. Much to pink turtleneck’s despair this does also include pubs.
Whilst it’s a step in the right direction to have a recognised piece of legislation to wage the battle against harassment and misogynistic jabs, it has not yet come into force as of November 2024, meaning no real justice can yet be offered.
Even then, I have to pose the question as to whether it will actually help to decrease the harassment women face on a daily basis. I say this because more often than not, people either do not care about the impact or in some twisted sense think groping a woman or screaming some profanity is actually a compliment. To the man in Leeds who screamed at me as 17-year-old “I bet your p**sy tastes good”, I promise you it was absolutely not taken as a compliment.
Teaching respect
As a society, education is an essential part of learning how to respect others and, in my opinion, the basic decency you owe to others. Transport for London launched a campaign back in 2021/2022 which featured a range of posters of what is not to be tolerated on their services. This included behaviour (offences) such as cyber flashing (sending or showing someone sexual content without consent), intrusive and sexual staring, deliberately pressing up against someone, catcalling, upskirting and similar.
As a 16-year-old to see this on the underground, it did give me hope that perhaps we were moving towards a society where targeting women with disgusting comments and behaviour was to be left behind. However, it seems that there is a lot left to be done because a world where 71% of women have experienced a form of sexual harassment is a world that needs drastic change.
I sincerely hope that my times in pubs or any public space will get more pleasant than my tales as a 19-year-old, because I believe we deserve better than to be hollered at and called a “bunch of silly bitches”. Thank you, pink turtleneck for that lovely endearment.
As a society, let’s work on building women up and not belittling them with comments, insults and modern day sexism at every chance.
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