Introduction
You can’t go far on the London Underground without seeing posters for the Mayor’s campaign Have A Word campaign about male violence against women. The slick video produced for the campaign sets out the message: a group of male friends are out one night at the same time as two girls, when one of the men starts harassing one of the girls; thankfully one of the other men has had a word with himself in the mirror and is able to step in and tell his friend off. Violence is averted. The caption says that “male violence against women starts with words” and that men who see it happening should “have a word with yourself - then your mates”. But is this true?
What does the Have A Word campaign say?
On the campaign’s official website it states there is an “epidemic of violence against women”, that “a violent man kills a woman every three days”, and that this violence “starts with words”. The website includes a form where people can sign up to receive emails from the Mayor about this, apparently helping them be a “better ally”. There is also a sidebar setting out what “problematic behaviour” and misogyny are, how and why it is important to call out sexist or problematic behaviour, and even a list of “common sexist phrases to challenge”.
Misogyny is usually defined as hatred of women but the website claims that it should also encompass objectifying women, treating women differently, and even “staring”. Among the phrases deemed sexist on the website are calling ex-girlfriends “crazy” or calling a woman a “drama queen”.
What is the Have A Word campaign based on?
The figure about a woman being killed every three days seems to come from 2017, in the Femicide Census launched by charity Women’s Aid. The report was inspired by feminist Karen Ingala Smith, who ran a blog called Counting Dead Women, which tried to count the number of women in Britain killed by a man each year. The blog drew up lists for 2012 to 2019 but then appears to have gone into hiatus, with Ingala Smith now largely focused on whether male to female transgender people should have access to sex segregated spaces such as women’s shelters.
The Counting Dead Women blog gives details of 151 women in 2017 who were killed by a man (or 1 every 2.4 days), while the Femicide Census report gives details of 139 women who were killed by a man. Based on their statistics, they say that 1 woman was killed by a man every 3 days between 2009 and 2017, with 1 woman being killed by her current or former partner every 4 days.
The ONS data on homicides unfortunately ends in March each year, so there isn’t a perfect match, but in the year ending March 2018 (which therefore contains most of 2017) there were 726 homicides, with the homicide rate for men just over double that of women (17 per 1 million men versus 8 per 1 million women). The vast majority of men were killed by other men.
The Femicide Census report found that 46% of women were killed by their a former or current partner, rising to 54.2% if terrorism was excluded (the statistics for 2017 are skewed by the Manchester Arena attack by an Islamist, which killed 22 innocents, of whom most were female). Most women were killed at the home they shared with the killer, then those killed at their own home, then those killed outside their home (due to the terror attack, this rose from 7% of deaths to 22.3% of deaths). In 41.7% of cases there was evidence of “overkilling”, where the killer inflicted injuries, whether out of rage or sadism, well beyond what was required to kill the victim. Sadly the police did not keep much ethnicity data on victims but 20% of victims weren’t born in Britain.
What does the data say?
Have A Word is based on the idea that sexism leads to street harassment which leads to violence. The Femicide Census makes it clear that the majority of femicides were the result of intimate partner violence, usually taking place in the home, rather than being the work of strangers in public places.
To examine the issue it further, it’s worth taking the examples in the 2017 Counting Dead Women list (as the Femicide Census doesn’t give a full list of victims).
According to the blog, the women killed in London in 2017 are:
Eulin Hastings (black, 74) murdered by “prolific burglar” Aaron Fyle (black, 29).
Lea Adri-Soejok (white, 80) murdered at an allotment by former asylum seeker Rahim Mohammadi (Middle Eastern, 40) over the running of the allotment.
Sabrina Mulling (possibly mixed race, 38) murdered at home by her “controlling boyfriend” Ivan Griffin (black, 24).
Aysha Frade (white, 43) murdered by terrorist Khalid Masood, born Adrian Elms (black, 52).
Andreea Cristea (white, 31) murdered by terrorist Khalid Masood, born Adrian Elms (black, 52).
Karolina Chwiluk (white, 20) murdered in a flat by “bitter ex-boyfriend” Grzegorz Kosiec (white, 22).
Emma Day (white, 33) murdered by father of her child Mark Morris (black, 39) as she walked home, over his refusal to pay child support payments.
Mohanna Abdua (South Asian or Middle Eastern, 20) shot to death on the street by accident in a gang related shooting said to be perpetrated by Kylann Grannum (black, 21), Mohammed Tawfik (19), and an unnamed 17 year old. All three were found not guilty.
Romina Kalaci (unknown, 32), a prostitute, murdered in her flat by Noor Mohammad (South Asian or Middle Eastern, 29) for unspecified but presumably sexual reasons.
Christine Archibald (white, 30) murdered by terrorists Khuram Shazad Butt (South Asian, 27), Rachid Redouane (Middle Eastern, 30) and Youssef Zaghba (Middle Eastern, 22).
Kirsty Boden (white, 28) murdered by terrorists Khuram Shazad Butt (South Asian, 27), Rachid Redouane (Middle Eastern, 30) and Youssef Zaghba (Middle Eastern, 22).
Sara Zelenak (white, 21) murdered by terrorists Khuram Shazad Butt (South Asian, 27), Rachid Redouane (Middle Eastern, 30) and Youssef Zaghba (Middle Eastern, 22).
Ilona Czuper (white, 63) murdered at home by her paranoid schizophrenic grandson Kordian Filmanowicz (white, 21).
Vera Savage (unknown, 89) murdered at home by her son John Savage (unknown, 54), in a murder-suicide which may have been a result of his depression and alcohol abuse.
Celine Dookhran (South Asian, 20) kidnapped and murdered by Mujahid Arshid (South Asian, 33), her uncle who was sexually obsessed with her.
Vanessa James (black, 24) murdered by Tre Cameron (black, 22), a drug dealer who was staying at her flat and killed her while drunk and on drugs.
Florina Pastina (white, 36) murdered by Lucian Stinci (white, 34), her housemate who was sexually obsessed with her and with torture pornography.
Leah Cohen (white, 66) murdered at home by her son Joshua Cohen (white, 27), possibly over him being cut out of the family business.
Hannah Cohen (white, 33) murdered at home by her brother Joshua Cohen (white, 27), possibly over him being cut out of the family business.
Catherine Burke (white, 55) murdered at her home by Kasim Lewis (black, 32), who searched for “granny porn” after the killing.
Iuliana Tudos (white, 22) murdered while walking home by Kasim Lewis (black, 32), who robbed her.
Marie Brown (black, 41) murdered with her father Noel Brown (black, 69) at home, probably by Nathaniel Henry (black, 37), possibly over sexual crimes Noel had committed years ago, with Nathaniel subsequently killing himself with an overdose.
In total, the blog counted 22 women murdered in London in 2017, 5 of whom were the victims of terrorists.
The victims were: 14 white, three black, two South Asian or Middle Eastern, one possibly mixed race, and two unknown. Of the unknown, one was Italian and the other was an elderly lady in Romford and therefore both were probably white.
In 2021, the closest census year to 2017, the demography of London was: 53.8% white, 13.5% black, 20.8% Asian, and 5.7% Mixed. Excluding victims of terrorism, the 17 murdered women were: 52% white, 17.6% black, 11.7% South Asian or Middle Eastern, 5.8% mixed race, and 11.7% unknown. So black women were slightly more likely to be murdered than their share of the population, South Asian or Middle Eastern women significantly less likely, and white women slightly less likely (although if victims of terrorism are included they rise to 66% of all victims and become more likely).
The murderers were: four white, seven black, five South Asian or Middle Eastern, and one unknown (probably white). That means the 17 murderers were: 23.5% white, 41% black, 29% South Asian or Middle Eastern, and 5% unknown. If the four terrorists are excluded then that becomes: 30% white, 46% black, and 15% South Asian or Middle Eastern. Even if the unknown is assumed to be white, it still means white men are significantly under-represented (with three of the five Eastern European). Black men meanwhile are heavily over-represented, while South Asian or Middle Eastern men are over-represented if terrorists are included but under-represented if they aren’t.
When it comes to the location of the murder, 11 of the 22 were murdered at home, one was murdered in the flat of a known third party, one in an address unknown to her (after being kidnapped), and one in the allotment where she often worked. Of the eight murdered in public, five were killed by terrorists, one by unknown gangsters, and two walking home. Excluding terrorism, 64.7% of murders took place at home.
Only four women were murdered by a stranger: a prostitute by a customer, a woman by a burglar, and two women by the same sexually motivated killer. Of these, three of the four victims were white, with the other victim being black. Of the three stranger killers, two were black and one was South Asian or Middle Eastern. Overall, white women seem to be much more likely to be killed by terrorists or stranger killers while not a single white man was the stranger killer of a woman.
In terms of relationship between victim and killer: five were killed by terrorists, one by a co-worker (on the allotment), one by gangsters, one by a burglar, four by angry or suicidal relatives, three to four by current or former boyfriends, two by sexually obsessed people known to them, three by stranger killers, and one by an enemy of their father. In most cases therefore the killer was known to the victim before the murder: excluding the terrorist victims, 11 of 17, or 64.7%, knew their killer.
In terms of motivation: five were killed for terrorist reasons, one by accident, one over a work dispute (the allotment), four by angry and/or suicidal relatives, one by a violent addict, two in the course of another crime, and eight for sexual or relationship related reasons.
Comment
Excluding terrorism, it’s therefore clear that sex and relationships are the most likely reason for a woman to be murdered (in London, in 2017). However, far from being the result of the sexual harassment of a stranger escalating into violence, all of these cases involved either a domestic dispute or a sexual predator. The scenario depicted by Have A Word in its promotional video is therefore false.
Although cases like the murder of Florina Pastina involved “staring”, this was much less relevant than her murderer watching sado-masochistic pornography before the killing. The murderer of Celine Dookhran also used the same pornographic website, while double-murderer Kasim Lewis also viewed pornography after one of his killings. In fact, that three of the 13 non-terrorist killers viewed extreme pornography suggests a much clearer red flag for potentially murderous behaviour than “sexist phrases”.
While violence against women and girls is a serious topic, the Have A Word campaign ignores the data and is instead based around trying to enforce rules of social conduct. In doing so, it loses sight of what male behaviour is actually concerning and misleads people about what they should really be worried about. Most men are not potential murderers who need to be restrained by their “mates”; instead, to keep women safe, the focus should be on abusive partners, known criminals, and sexual predators. That would have been a much better use of the at least £18 million spent on the flawed Have A Word campaign so far.