Curfew? Curfew this.

The above picture is of a comment I posted on my own Facebook page. My own anger at the metropolitan police, and their treatment of women.Within thirty minutes my post been taken down and I have been banned from the platform for twenty four hours.

Not great for me considering I’m about to release a new book and Facebook is one of my major promotional hangouts.

I do question whether this is some kind of media blackout. Are we now not allowed to comment on the police and the way they handle situations?

When a police officer has killed a young woman, the beautiful Sarah Everard, in cold blood, and the police in general have treated the women the way that they did yesterday, at the vigil for Sarah Everard, are we no longer allowed to voice our concerns about the powers that be?

It almost feels like we have moved in to the dystopia we have joked about. Is this the beginning of a police state?

The suggestion that women should be given a curfew, that we should be inside our houses by 6 pm, is absolutely disgusting and smacks of something from the handmaids tale. Never has anything made me more furious than that comment from the very constabulary that employed a murderer.

This morning had me questioning whether we are even living in the 21st century. This feels like something from the Victorian era, but maybe that’s what the men in charge would like. Maybe that’s what the police would like because it takes responsibility off them.

The fact is I am levelling my argument at men in general, but there are also women to blame for what happened in Clapham yesterday evening, the 13th of March 2021.

There were police women also at the scene, surely they must have some understanding of what these women are trying to do, of what they are saying. Yes all women. All women have had harassment, the majority of women have at some point of their lives being sexually harassed or assaulted, and have been in fear for their life.

To go to that place, to light candles for a spirit that has been lost, to be at peace, to share the space even a princess graced in her sorrow for her sister. And then to be shoved, pulled, kicked, and arrested. Is that the sort of world we now live in? These men and women are there to protect and serve. Well they have failed us. They have failed themselves. They have failed all women.

One death bought all these women together to pray, to share stories, and to realise that we all have the same thing in common, and unfortunately that problem is men.

If anyone should be having a curfew put upon them is men - As they seem to be the ones unable to control their urges maybe it’s time we kept them in check. Imagine a world where we could walk the streets where no male gaze is upon us. With no fear of being followed home, no worry about the cat calls and the “smile darlings” that we get all the time. No fear of being raped, no fear of being set upon, no fear of dying.

The fact is not all men are like that, but sadly there are too many there are and the responsibility is always put upon the woman.

“You are asking for it because you’re dressed like a whore”

“You asked for it because you didn’t show enough cleavage.”

“You asked for because your hair is too long.”

“you asked for it because you’re wearing a thong under your jeans.”

I have many many male friends and I know they would never do anything to hurt a woman.

But maybe men need to take responsibility for their actions as a whole. If you see one of your buddies is harassing a woman, call him out, question his behaviour, maybe educate him. It is the least you could do for your female friends, for your sisters, for your mothers.

I am not a person who believes there is one reason why there is so much violence against women, I’m not a person who believes in censorship, indeed I believe censorship leads to behaviour that is far, far worse. So there is no way I would suggest banning porn, for example, that’s just an excuse. It is a way to pretend that it’s something else causing the problem and not the responsibility of the individual.

For me, education of men and boys is so important to stop this kind of thing from happening. The police need to lead by example, not condone the kind of behaviour that we have seen over the last few days. If we lose trust in our authorities what have we left?

I really hope that we can open some kind of dialogue, try and let this tragedy guide us to a better place. We need open conversations.

I am afraid that I write this article in anger, because it feels that as always women’s voices of being ignored. We must all speak equally to try and be better to each other, be we men, women, trans, queer, or anything else.

This is a moment of transition. We have a chance to change things between us all. Let us not ignore it.

Germaine Mooney.