The new Government has made reducing male violence against women and girls (MVAWG) a priority. This comes in the wake of the National Police Chiefs’ Council warning against the “epidemic scale” of the crime, with 20% of all police-recorded crimes – more than 1m offences a year – recorded as MVAWG. These include sexual assault, stalking, harassment, domestic violence, and controlling and coercive behaviour.
Increasingly, MVAWG is being waged online.
The recent passing of the Online Safety Act, a landmark moment in many ways, has failed to address issues relating to online and digital forms of violence and, in particular, the effect that violence normalisation has on the perpetration of sexual violence against women and girls. Studies of online sexual harassment among adolescents have found that girls are victims in the vast majority of cases.
The Women’s Policy Centre aims to help drive government policy to tackle online MVAWG.