Three days before Sarah Everard's abduction and murder PC Wayne Couzens, the suspect, was accused of indecent exposure in a London restaurant. He remained on duty, despite another similar incident on 28 February. 

This lead me to think about all the 'minor' assaults that go unchallenged and have been normalised, and how this can classically embolden offenders to go on to commit more violent crime. 

An ex-police officer admitted on Channel Four News that this type of incident is a low priority for the police.

Today a friend told me about about very disturbing countless and routine instances that took place outside her school, with seemingly no repercussions.

This lead me to look into the charges for Indecent Exposure. It's currently prosecuted under Public Nuisance or Outraging Public Decency. My view is that this and other misogynistic incidences against women should be reclassified as a hate crime, as a first step towards a zero tolerance policy of these kinds of offences and to help make our streets a safer place for women. 

The Met defines a hate crime as this on their website: 'A hate incident is any incident which the victim, or anyone else, thinks is based on someone’s prejudice towards them because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or because they are transgender.' It makes no mention of gender. I find this shocking.

A cross-party amendment which would make all police forces in England and Wales record misogynistic crimes as hate crimes is being voted on in the House of Lords next Monday.

Please sign and share if you agree. Thank you.