The Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands, Simon Foster, has today launched a campaign to highlight the lasting harm caused by verbal abuse.
Verbal abuse is the use of abusive, insulting or threatening language that causes someone else harassment, alarm or distress. It’s one several forms of abuse that are deployed by perpetrators of abuse and violence against women and girls.
The campaign will get under way with a series of adverts across the region throughout September, reflecting comments and feedback from young women and girls across the region who described the ‘ever-present’ fear and impact that relentless verbal harassment has on their day-to-day lives. It challenges the language used by perpetrators to reinforce that unwanted comments are far from harmless.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that for the year ending December 2023, 13% of women had experienced at least one form of harassment in the previous year. This was significantly higher among younger age groups, with one in five 16- to 19-year-olds (20%) and 20 to 24 year-olds (21%) having experienced at least one type of harassment in the previous 12 months. Three-quarters of victims of harassment experienced the behaviour in-person, rather than online.
The Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster, said: “When we hear from young women and girls about their experiences, there are some distressing themes that come to the fore. Firstly, this is a common unwanted occurrence and they can all recall instances of experiencing verbal harassment in public spaces and places. Secondly, the impact of these experiences is truly severe. The words used by perpetrators may differ slightly but the feelings of fear and being unsafe persist. It’s not ‘just’ banter. It’s abuse, plain and simple.”
“Ultimately, the buck stops with the harasser and we’re calling on these people to change their behavior and if they do not, then they need to be held to account and face the consequences of their actions. But there’s also more that we can do as family, friends and colleagues to call out these people for their actions and behavior. Change is long overdue, and we need the action and support of everyone to put an end to abuse and violence against women and girls.”
This continues a theme seen in last year’s YouGov research that saw 1,502 adults surveyed online between 21st April and 26th April 2023 for the OPCC. Only 33% of those surveyed said they had called out a friend, family member or colleague on their behaviour towards a woman.
Malia Dayus, from Dudley, is one of the Youth Commissioners who advise the Police and Crime Commissioner on matters affecting young people in the region. She said: “In my experience, verbal harassment in public spaces is very common and is almost always used to reinforce an imbalance in power. It almost never happens when we’re in groups with lots of friends or with our parents despite being in the same places. It often comes from groups of people, loud for everyone to hear like a megaphone of humiliation as you walk past silently. We never know if that catcall from someone on the street will end there or escalate to being followed or something more serious, and that’s what makes the seemingly simple action so profoundly damaging.
Conversation about verbal harassment is also very rare, it’s something a lot of people don’t talk about, and only when I mention it first am I able to discuss it with my friends and realise just how common it is, so l am incredibly glad this is being talked about more through this campaign.”
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