What’s just happened?

PC Wayne Couzens, a MET police officer, has been charged with the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard after her disappearance on the 3rd March. Sarah’s death has since brought women’s rights back to the forefront of political discourse in Britain. [1]

What does this mean?

The devastating news about Sarah Everard’s murder has led many women to open up about the dangers they face living in Britain. Many women have spoken out about past experiences and circumstances which were harrowingly similar to Sarah’s.

Numerous men responded empathetically, looking to listen to these women and hoping to learn how they can help tackle the dangers that women face daily. Unfortunately, many men instead attempted to redirect the conversation, and looked to shift the discourse to focus on themselves by using the hashtag #NotAllMen on social media.[2] What began as an opportunity for women to voice their experiences of sexual harassment and violence at the hands of men, quickly devolved into a situation in which countless men were defending themselves from accusations which were not even levied against them.

They decided to take personal offence from the struggles of women in an attempt to shift the focus of the discourse towards men’s struggles. Doing so undermined the message that these women were hoping to share on the abuse and harassment they have faced. Feigning outrage and using it to derail discussions is a phenomenon that is unfortunately commonplace amongst gendered discourse, and this occasion was no different.

The #NotAllMen trend takes a complete reactionary stance. Rather than creating a separate space for men’s issues it is utilised to distract from women’s issues. Stating the fact that not all men are murderers or rapists does nothing for men’s or women’s rights, it instead deflects from pragmatic change.

Issues that men face do deserve their own time to be discussed and addressed, but they should not be utilised to diminish and trivialise the experiences of women. High suicide rates, circumcision, and domestic violence are all-men’s issues that require their own time to be addressed and solved. Using them to deflect from the issues faced by women only goes to minimise their severity. Acknowledging that women face adversity should not be seen as an attack on men and attempting to make it such is overwhelmingly selfish and destructive. The issue of 97% of young women being sexually harassed cannot be tackled while movements like #NotAllMen exist. [3]

Written by Henry Fisher

Assessing firms:

#Saunders Law #Centre For Women For Women’s Justice #McKinsey & Company #FLOWS #Dentons #Hogan Lovells # JMW #Ben Hoare Bell #Matthew Gold

References:

1 Vikram Dodd, ‘Sarah Everard: Met police officer charged with kidnap and murder’ (The Guardian, 12 March 2021) <https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/12/sarah-everard-met-police-officer-wayn e-couzens-charged> accessed 13 March 2021.

2 Jenny Proudfoot, ‘’If you’re using the #NotAllMen hashtag, you’re part of the problem’ (Marie Claire, 12 march 2021) <https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/opinion/not-all-men-hashtag-731556> accessed 13 March 2021.

3 Alexandra Topping, ‘Almost all young women in the UK have been sexually harassed, survey finds’ (The Guardian, 10 March 2021)

4 <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/10/almost-all-young-women-in-the-uk-have-been-sexu ally-harassed-survey-finds> accessed 13 March 2021.

#NotAllMen is the latest culmination of the trend of whataboutism in British discourse. The current climate is much too reliant on sensationalism and partisanism. Parties and groups would rather engage in petty attacks and purity tests, instead of making attempts to enact tangible reforms. Women’s and men’s issues deserve to be taken seriously enough that they can be discussed without attempts of whataboutism or partisanship. Gendered issues can never be tackled unless there is unity between those who push for men’ and women’s rights, they should never be seen as adversarial.