A British police force has massively widened its definition of “hate crime” to include acts like wolf whistling and hitting on women.
Nottinghamshire Police, in the north of England, added “misogyny” to its list of motivations for “criminal” acts that can be as trivial as a greeting or text message.
It means that a woman can now report any unwanted interaction with a man to the police and expect to have it treated as a crime.
The widened definition means that women can conceivably report a man for flirting or wolf whistling in the street.
In a statement on the new policy today, police officials listed some potential crimes, including “unwanted or uninvited physical or verbal contact” and ” “unwanted or uninvited sexual advances”.
“Unwanted verbal contact” – i.e. anything any man says to any woman she that she didn’t want said – seems especially open to misuse.
Interaction over the internet or via mobile phones is also a potential medium for hate crime.
Police cited a further potential breach as “use of mobile devices to send unwanted or uninvited messages”.
Previously the force had narrower hate crime rules, and only racism, religious abuse, abuse the disabled and abuse based on gender identity or sexual orientation were permissible.
Promoting the new rules, Chief Constable Sue Fish said: “What women face, often on a daily basis, is absolutely unacceptable and can be extremely distressing.
“Nottinghamshire Police is committed to taking misogynistic hate crime seriously and encourages anyone who is affected by it to contact us without hesitation.”