ukrfeminism

[ukrfeminism]

The creation of sexually explicit "deepfake" images is to be made a criminal offence in England and Wales under a new law, the government says.

Under the legislation, anyone making explicit images of an adult without their consent will face a criminal record and unlimited fine.

It will apply regardless of whether the creator of an image intended to share it, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said.

And if the image is then shared more widely, they could face jail.

A deepfake is an image or video that has been digitally altered with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to replace the face of one person with the face of another.

Recent years have seen the growing use of the technology to add the faces of celebrities or public figures - most often women - into pornographic films.

Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman, who discovered her own image used as part of a deepfake video, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was "incredibly invasive".

Ms Newman found she was a victim as part of a Channel 4 investigation into deepfakes.

"It was violating... it was kind of me and not me," she said, explaining the video displayed her face but not her hair.

Ms Newman said finding perpetrators is hard, adding: "This is a worldwide problem, so we can legislate in this jurisdiction, it might have no impact on whoever created my video or the millions of other videos that are out there."

She said the person who created the video is yet to be found.

Under the Online Safety Act, which was passed last year, the sharing of deepfakes was made illegal.

The new law will make it an offence for someone to create a sexually explicit deepfake - even if they have no intention to share it but "purely want to cause alarm, humiliation, or distress to the victim", the MoJ said.

Clare McGlynn, a law professor at Durham University who specialises in legal regulation of pornography and online abuse, told the Today programme the legislation has some limitations.

She said it "will only criminalise where you can prove a person created the image with the intention to cause distress", and this could create loopholes in the law.

It will apply to images of adults, because the law already covers this behaviour where the image is of a child, the MoJ said.

It will be introduced as an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament.

Minister for Victims and Safeguarding Laura Farris said the new law would send a "crystal clear message that making this material is immoral, often misogynistic, and a crime".

"The creation of deepfake sexual images is despicable and completely unacceptable irrespective of whether the image is shared," she said.

"It is another example of ways in which certain people seek to degrade and dehumanise others - especially women.

"And it has the capacity to cause catastrophic consequences if the material is shared more widely. This Government will not tolerate it."

Cally Jane Beech, a former Love Island contestant who earlier this year was the victim of deepfake images, said the law was a "huge step in further strengthening of the laws around deepfakes to better protect women".

"What I endured went beyond embarrassment or inconvenience," she said.

"Too many women continue to have their privacy, dignity, and identity compromised by malicious individuals in this way and it has to stop. People who do this need to be held accountable."

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper described the creation of the images as a "gross violation" of a person's autonomy and privacy and said it "must not be tolerated".

"Technology is increasingly being manipulated to manufacture misogynistic content and is emboldening perpetrators of Violence Against Women and Girls," she said.

"That's why it is vital for the government to get ahead of these fast-changing threats and not to be outpaced by them.

"It's essential that the police and prosecutors are equipped with the training and tools required to rigorously enforce these laws in order to stop perpetrators from acting with impunity."

#articles #mvawg #law

[ukrfeminism]

Hundreds of women have gone on strike in Scotland as three more councils face claims over equal pay.

Almost 500 workers walked out of their council roles in Falkirk, Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire in protest at a pay grading system which they say is outdated and pays women less than comparable male-dominated jobs.

Their action follows a strike by more than 8,000 female carers, caterers and cleaners in Glasgow, in 2018, which resulted in a payout of around £500m from Glasgow council, a bill it is yet to settle fully. It was the biggest equal pay strike in history in the UK.

Workers in similar jobs in Dundee, Perth and Kinross, Angus, Fife and Moray are now in ongoing disputes over equal pay.

The GMB union, which represents many of the women bringing claims, said local authorities across Scotland risk being bankrupted. GMB Scotland secretary Louise Gilmour said Scotland’s councils were approaching equal pay claims “like the Titanic approaching the iceberg”. “Councillors have their heads in the sand and executives have their fingers in their ears, but these equal pay claims will come, will be won and will need to be settled.

“We know local authorities are struggling to make ends meet and we know why. But to suggest women workers are somehow making things worse by asking for money they are owed … is as dishonest as it is disgraceful.”

In England, Birmingham city council last year said it was unable to balance its books due, in part, to equal pay claims. The GMB has ongoing equal pay disputes with a number of other councils including Coventry and Cumberland.

Gilmour called on the Scottish government to create a new specialist body to settle equal pay claims nationwide and enforce payments.

Fiona O’Brien, a home carer in Renfrewshire since 2016 and a GMB rep, said she took strike action “as a last resort because enough is enough”.

“For a long time, we’ve been told: ‘you’ll never go on strike, you care too much, you’ll never stand up for yourselves’,” she said. “But we’ve had enough now – we’ve been taken for granted for too long.”

She said her role is different to what was advertised and more complex than the grade it is paid at, including administering medications, caring for people with dementia and mental illness, using specialist equipment and physically moving people with restricted mobility.

“It’s been inspirational to see us all coming together and standing up for what’s right and fair,” she said. “This could potentially change the road for a lot of people working in care and could also bring more people into the sector.”

In the event of a successful equal pay claim, higher pay grades could be retrospectively applied, allowing workers to claim up to five years of back pay and costing councils millions of pounds, the GMB said.

The union said it expects to see pay reviews in at least a dozen more Scottish local authorities.

A spokesperson for Falkirk Health and Social Care Partnership said: “Falkirk council is committed to upholding equal pay, and continues to engage with GMB. We will seek to minimise disruption for those in need of our care and support at home services.”

A spokesperson for West Dunbartonshire council said: “We are committed to fair pay for home carers and, following a thorough and robust job evaluation process, the pay of a typical home carer has recently risen by at least £2,500 per annum through regrading of the role.”

A Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership spokesperson said: “Negotiations between the Health and Social Care Partnership with all trade unions continue. A further offer was presented to all three trade unions, and Unison and Unite have paused industrial action as they consider this renewed offer. Unfortunately, GMB is continuing with industrial action following a consultative ballot with its members.”

Renfrewshire council did not respond to the Observer’s request for comment.

#articles #finance

[ukrfeminism]

Experts and lawyers involved in sexual offence cases in Britain have warned that suspected rapists are evading justice by claiming to have a rare sleepwalking disorder that causes them to engage in sexual activity while asleep.

They said there had “definitely” been cases where guilty people had been found not guilty, and warned of the potential for further miscarriages of justice – and harm to the public – without more robust challenges to “sexsomnia” claims put forward by defendants.

The warnings come after an investigation by the Observer uncovered a rise in the use of “sexsomnia” as part of defence cases in criminal trials. It found 80 cases over the past 30 years where defendants accused of rape, sexual assault or child sexual abuse claimed to have been sleepwalking or suffering from sexsomnia at the time.

But while there were only occasional cases in the 1990s and early 2000s, the analysis reveals at least 51 in the past decade and eight in the past year alone. The figures are likely to represent only part of the true total, with many not publicly reported. In about 60% of cases where sexsomnia was part of the defence, a not-guilty verdict was returned, the Observer’s analysis suggests. Overall, the average jury conviction rate for rape was 58% in England and Wales.

Charges against suspects have also been dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service before they even reached court after defence lawyers raised sexsomnia behind the scenes. One law firm advertised how it “kept pressure” on the CPS after it decided to continue with the prosecution of a wealthy client charged with sexual assault. The charges were dropped before the case went to trial.

Dr Neil Stanley, an independent sleep expert who has provided expert evidence in trials where sexsomnia was raised as an issue, said that while some claims of the condition were undoubtedly genuine, others were not.

“It is being used cynically,” he said. “There are cases that are in the public domain where it is clear that they’re just chancing their arm. Because, of course, if it is sexsomnia, you’re found not guilty. Judges haven’t a clue. Juries haven’t a clue. So it’s worth a try.”

Stanley said attempted use of sexsomnia by defendants had “massively skyrocketed” in recent years and that such claims were very difficult to definitively disprove – meaning often “just saying, ‘I don’t remember. It could be sexsomnia,’ is enough”.

He said the current system was failing victims – and true sufferers of the condition – and called for reforms including more robust challenging of sexsomnia claims and a less adversarial approach to questioning expert witnesses, so they could provide more nuanced responses in the courtroom.

“The law seems not willing to admit that there’s a strong likelihood of miscarriages of justice. And given the severity of the offence, we should be very certain of having checks and balances in place so we take as many precautions as possible to stop miscarriages of justice,” he said. “In terms of sexsomnia, that is not happening.”

He added: “I know in my heart of hearts that there are cases where guilty men have got away with it. And that cannot be a legitimate consequence of the system. The system has to change.”

Sexsomnia is recognised in the DSM-5 diagnostic manual of psychiatric conditions and is a type of para­somnia, a disorder involving abnormal sleep behaviour. Sufferers engage in sex acts while in non-REM sleep. They might have their eyes open but will have no awareness or memory of their behaviour.

If a jury decides that an accused person was in such a state – known as “automatism” – when they committed an alleged offence, they will be found not guilty. But while lab tests and partner histories can be used to try to establish whether a sexsomnia claim is genuine, sleep experts and lawyers say the system is open to abuse because uncertainty in the science means it is impossible to say for sure whether someone was or was not suffering from sexsomnia.

Many of those successfully pleading sexsomnia in court had no known history of sleepwalking and no formal diagnosis. Other cases involved defendants performing a complicated series of actions in unfamiliar settings, which experts said were less typical of genuine sexsomnia.

In about a third of the cases, the defendant was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and some were very intoxicated, but sexsomnia was cited as the primary factor behind their behaviour.

Sometimes, just a mention of the condition in court appears to sow a seed of doubt that can contribute to a not-guilty verdict. In one rape case, two expert witnesses said evidence for the defendant having sexsomnia was “weak” but that they could not categorically rule it out. The jury subsequently acquitted the man.

In at least one case, a man who avoided a rape prosecution after claiming to have sexsomnia went on to attack again. Joseph Short evaded charges in 2011 after saying he had no memory of an alleged rape. He was later jailed for 15 years for another violent attack. And a man convicted of strangling and beating his partner was acquitted of raping her and another woman after claiming to have been suffering from the condition.

Allison Summers KC, a barrister and head of Drystone Chambers, who has represented three clients who used sexsomnia as a defence, all of whom were acquitted, said the increase in defences using the condition could be in part because it had historically been “underdiagnosed generally” and that there were some “very genuine” cases.

But she said the presence of alcohol complicated things – “are they using the sleep defence to cover up what has happened?” – and that there was an issue of defendants “trying it on”.

“I think there are probably [defence lawyers] running these cases on fairly spurious evidence,” she added. “Juries are strange creatures and I suspect sometimes they give the benefit of the doubt when they shouldn’t.”

Summers said it was for defence counsels to investigate such claims and for prosecutors to robustly challenge them, but that this did not always happen: barristers instructed “rubbish” experts or failed to get relevant histories, or prosecutors did not properly interrogate claims in court. “It comes back to laziness and a lack of understanding,” she said.

Sexsomnia has also been used by defence teams in an attempt to discredit victims. Jade McCrossen-Nethercott, 31, from Croydon, is taking legal action against the CPS after it dropped her rape case days before it was due to go to trial after expert witnesses said she had sexsomnia.

McCrossen-Nethercott said the conclusion was made by an expert instructed by the defence who had never met her, and was based on her answers to a 15-question survey. “It was plucked out of thin air,” she said.

The CPS has since “apologised unreservedly” for its decision to drop the case and said “the expert evidence and defendant’s account should have been challenged and put before a jury to decide”.

McCrossen-Nethercott is now calling for “robust, rigorous and consistent” assessment of sexsomnia claims “across the board”, including a “thorough assessment, bed partner histories, extensive polysomnographies”.

“It has to be taken seriously to protect victims from being told they have it without significant evidence; to prevent perpetrators claiming they do when they don’t, but also for genuine sufferers, to prevent them being wrongly convicted,” she said.

Dame Vera Baird KC, the former victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, called for safeguards to be put in place to protect victims and the public. She said sexsomnia was being seen as an “escape route” by some defendants and that in cases where it arose, prosecutors needed to be consistent in applying for sexual risk orders, which can be made regardless of whether someone is convicted if they are deemed to pose a danger.

Such an order could require a person to warn future partners, or others sleeping under the same roof, about their condition, or face prison.

Baird, a barrister who was previously solicitor general and a Labour MP, said increasing the use of such orders might also deter people from using sexsomnia as a “get-out-of-jail card”. “A person who says, ‘Oh dear, I raped somebody without knowing it,’ is a danger to the public and cannot be left simply acquitted,” she said.

A CPS spokesperson said prosecutors always “robustly challenge legal defences when contrasting evidence is available” and that sexsomnia was no exception. It said any decision to drop a case in response to a claim of sexsomnia “must now be approved at the most senior level” and that victims always had the right to seek a review. However, it said it did not record data on how many cases had been dropped due to sexsomnia claims by the defendant.

The Ministry of Justice said the government had taken “decisive action” to ensure rape victims got justice and that “the validity and credibility of a defence” was for the courts to decide.

Claire (not her real name), a complainant in a recent case where the defendant was acquitted on multiple counts of sexual assault after claiming to have sexsomnia, said the verdict had a “devastating” effect. She said the man did not deny the acts took place but said he must have done them while asleep, and that he had never sleepwalked before, had no formal diagnosis, and had had “no tests done”.

The woman, a mother from Lancashire, said the process had left her “baffled”: “It’s like they’ve said, ‘Well yeah, he might’ve sexually abused you numerous times but he did it in his sleep, so it’s OK. So you’re just going to have to get on with your life and deal with it and he’s got away with it.’ It’s like they just took his word for it. There is nothing to stop him from doing it again and just saying, ‘I was asleep’.”

#articles #mvawg #radblr

[ukrfeminism]

Sadiq Khan says the brutal London murders of four women in three weeks is “absolutely heartbreaking” and vowed to tackle violent crime if given a historic third term.

Police found Kamonnan Thiamphanit, 27, stabbed to death at a £4 million Grade II-listed property on Stanhope Place, Bayswater near Hyde Park around 8.30am on Monday.

Neighbours heard sounds of a loud party on Saturday night at the home being rented out as an Airbnb holiday let, followed by two high-pitched screams the following day. 

The Metropolitan Police search for Thiamphanit’s killer continues. 

Last Saturday, Kennedi Westcarr-Sabaroche, 25, was discovered dead in a Vauxhall car in Hackney.

The dismembered torso of Sarah Mayhew, 38, was dumped in a Croydon park on April 2.

Goldsmiths College student Zhe Wang, 31, was fatally stabbed in Hither Green, Lewisham on March 20. 

A spokesman for the London mayor said: “These murders are absolutely heartbreaking and Sadiq’s thoughts remain with their loved ones at this unimaginably awful time. 

“Tackling violence against women and girls is an absolute top priority and that’s why he’s investing in policing and prevention, tackling the causes of these horrific crimes.”

A source close to him added: “The Tory government has imposed £1billion cuts on the Met with a devastating impact on the services that keep women safe. 

“By contrast, Sadiq has invested a record £163m on tacking violence against women and girls in London.”

Susan Hall, Mr Khan’s Conservative opponent at the mayoral elections on May 2, said: “My thoughts are with the friends and family of the four women who have been murdered in recent weeks. 

“It is truly shocking and heartbreaking. 

“Everyone in our city deserves to feel safe, and to be safe, and I am determined to do all I can to reduce crime and make London safer for women.”

Lib-Dem Rob Blackie, another frontrunner, claimed there had been a “failure to tackle violence against women and girls under Sadiq Khan”.

He said: “Clear-up rates for rape and sexual assault have halved since he became mayor. And that is really because there hasn’t been any political attention to the problem.

“Police need the right IT and equipment. We have lost many cases due to freezers used to keep forensic evidence not being up to standard. Very often the same man will commit crimes again and again if you don’t catch them the first time. 

“My top priority would be to get more money into the Met by abolishing Khan’s phoney Tube fares freeze. That would put more officers on the front line. We have 6,000 police stuck in back offices, double the number of any force in Britain.” 

Commander Owain Richards said in Ms Thiamphanit’s killing there had been no signs of forced entry to the three-storey, five-bedroom terraced house. 

Mr Richards added: “We believe the suspect was known to the victim in this case and our homicide detectives are working around the clock to pursue all lines of inquiry to trace the suspect, arrest them and bring them to justice.

“This terrible incident follows a number of other horrific fatal attacks on women recently – including those in Croydon, Hackney and Lewisham.

“We recently shared information about the work we’re doing to tackle violence against women and girls using data-led tactics to target dangerous offenders and bring them to justice.

“Kamonnan’s murder makes us all the more determined in our efforts to do everything we possibly can to keep women and girls safe.”

The Metropolitan Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct watchdog over the incident.

Police were contacted twice on Sunday by a friend concerned about her welfare, but officers attended over 13 hours later.

Pacharapol Padermprach, press secretary of the Royal Thai Embassy in London, told the Standard his community is “shocked and saddened”, adding: “We have been in close contact with the Metropolitan Police on this case and in informing Ms Thiamphanit’s family. 

“We are confident that the Met will do its best to bring those responsible to justice. 

“Due to the ongoing investigation, we are unable to provide any further information.”

#articles #mvawg

[ukrfeminism]

The boss of the NHS has made a dramatic intervention in The Independent highlighting the shocking amount of sexual abuse against staff in the health service, arguing that a #MeToo moment is needed to safeguard staff.

Amanda Pritchard hit out at the “unacceptable” levels of abuse faced by doctors and nurses, demanding that health trusts be judged on their progress in tackling sexual harassment. 

She has called for sexual harassment against NHS staff to be “stamped out” after it emerged that one in eight workers – 58,000 – had reported experiencing unwanted sexual behaviour last year. 

Writing exclusively for The Independent, Ms Pritchard said the abuse now levelled at doctors and nurses is unacceptable – with some staff being raped at work, groped, and shown pornography.

Her bombshell warning follows a series of exposés by The Independent, which she credits for helping to highlight this issue, including uncovering widespread sexual harassment of trainee paramedics and the shocking number of sexual assaults on patients and staff within NHS-run mental health services.

“The #MeToo movement has powerfully called out this unacceptable behaviour and fuelled important discussions right across society, and the NHS must not be exempt,” Ms Pritchard wrote.

“But we can’t just call out unacceptable behaviour and move on: we need to stamp it out across all parts of the NHS.”

Praising this publication’s coverage of the issue, she added: “It can be incredibly difficult to speak up, and so I applaud those who have come forward to report unacceptable behaviour – and the powerful reporting in The Independent that has helped further to highlight this issue.”

Ms Pritchard’s strong comments were made in light of a recent survey that found that tens of thousands of staff had reported “unacceptable” levels of sexual harassment and assault while at work. 

The figures, published as part of the NHS staff survey, showed that one in eight workers – around 58,000 – had reported experiencing unwanted sexual behaviour last year, while one in 26 reported experiencing similar harassment from a work colleague – statistics Ms Pritchard described as “truly sobering”. 

She also highlighted a report published in September, which found that 29 per cent of women working in surgery had experienced “unwanted physical advances” from a colleague amid complaints of an “old-fashioned culture”.

Urging health leaders to “take ownership” of the issue and intervene, she said: “Such levels of abuse are difficult to comprehend when NHS staff come to work every day primarily to care for others. No one should experience sexism, sexual abuse, or assault in the NHS.”

In one of the worst examples of the abuse faced by staff, a mental health nurse said she was raped by a patient. Last year The Independent revealed the story of a paramedic who said she had been groped by one colleague and dry-humped by another before being locked in an ambulance and sexually assaulted.

Other horrific cases include that of a doctor who reported a sexual assault by a colleague. When the allegations were investigated, her employer asked the alleged victim questions about her sex life. It took 10 months for the hospital to investigate the incident, she told The Independent.

In stories shared by campaign group Surviving in Scrubs, a trainee GP who reported being raped by a colleague during a night out claims she was excused from the teaching programme rather than her alleged attacker being asked to leave.

And earlier this year, The Independent spoke to senior NHS nurse Michelle Russell, who revealed her eight-year hell at the hands of her NHS employer after she made allegations of sexual harassment against a male colleague.

NHS England has now sent out a letter to all health chiefs, warning that trusts and other organisations within the service will be measured and benchmarked in respect of their progress in tackling sexual harassment.

Ms Pritchard, who was appointed chief executive in 2021, has also said NHS England will work with trusts to ensure that concerns can be raised anonymously without fear of repercussions.

She wrote: “We must have a robust support system in place, where staff feel empowered to speak up and report incidents every time, and while this is a hugely complex piece of work, we are making this a priority.

“We won’t solve this issue overnight, but these actions are the beginning of an important journey to end unwanted, inappropriate and harmful sexual behaviour in the NHS, and I am personally committed to helping to make that happen.”

Last year, NHS England published a “sexual safety” charter, which sets out guidelines for organisations within the health service. This includes having 300 domestic abuse and sexual violence leads working across all services.

Ms Pritchard said the work being done to tackle the issue matters to her and should matter to all those who work in the service.

She wrote: “The NHS is nothing without our staff, and so it is right that we use their experiences, which are formally recorded as part of the staff survey, as a measure of progress.

“The work we are doing in this space matters to me and should matter to everyone working in the NHS.”

#Articles #health

[ukrfeminism]

Adult radfems, what is your biggest hurdle when it comes to meeting other radfems in person?

If you pick other, please chime in the tags! I want to encourage more meetups in the community.

[ukrfeminism]

The number of “honour-based” abuse offences recorded by English police forces has increased by more than 60% in two years, figures suggest, with concerns voiced that increased polarisation is partly to blame.

Data from 26 out of 39 constabularies approached showed that there were 2,594 cases of “honour-based” abuse – which includes forced marriage, rape, death threats and assault – in 2022, compared with 1,599 in 2020.

The increase, which was even more pronounced since 2016 (up 193%) may be partly explained by more victims coming forward and improved identification of offences by police – but other factors are also believed to be at work.

Imran Khodabocus, a director at the Family Law Company, based in south-west England, which sourced the figures, said: “In cases like this, you can’t minimise the impact of global political and social issues. In my experience, some people are becoming more rigid in their thinking and this is creating more instances where they feel they must defend their, or their families’, honour.”

He said the figures reflected his experience that honour-based offences “are not just rising, but getting more severe”.

The Metropolitan police, West Midlands and Greater Manchester forces recorded the highest rates of honour-based abuse in 2021 and 2022.

Across the two years, the Met recorded 1,213 cases, including 514 cases of violence. There were two attempted murders, 32 rapes, 310 cases of forced marriage and 49 cases of female genital mutilation.

Greater Manchester police’s tally of 729 cases included 42 of rape, 65 assaults causing actual bodily harm, 56 forced marriage offences, 104 of assault and battery and 153 instances of controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship.

West Midlands recorded 729 cases including 115 of coercive behaviour in an intimate relationship, 27 of rape, 19 forced marriages and 90 threats to kill.

Khodabocus said that delays in the family courts were exacerbating the problem.

“There is not the same drive to clear chronic backlogs in these courts as we have seen recently in the criminal courts,” he said. “This means many cases I act in are taking at least nine to 12 months to be resolved, leaving families and particularly children in a vulnerable position. For many of the cases I act in, a lack of court interpreters is also creating significant delays to cases.”

He expressed surprise that he was seeing more forced marriage cases, given that just over a year ago the legal age of marriage increased in the UK from 16 to 18 in an attempt to address the problem.

A spokesperson from women’s rights organisation IKWRO(Iranian & Kurdish Womens Rights) said it was deeply troubled by the increase. They added: “The observation that global political and social factors contribute to the polarisation of views and exacerbate ‘honour-based’ abuse is particularly noteworthy. It highlights the intersectionality of this issue with broader societal dynamics and underscores the need for nuanced approaches in addressing it.

“IKWRO echoes Imran’s call for more education and training for authorities to recognise the signs of ‘honour-based’ abuse and respond effectively working collaboratively with specialist organisations.”

They agreed that family court delays were “leaving victims, particularly children, in vulnerable situations for extended periods”.

A government spokesperson highlighted the increase in the legal age of marriage and the creation of a dedicated forced marriage unit to support victims, adding: “Meanwhile our courts are running at full throttle delivering justice for victims and holding offenders to account.”

#articles #mvawg #law

[ukrfeminism]

If you’re a UK-based radical/gender critical feminist interested in irl meetings with other women, please get in touch. I’m going to try to start organising again.

[ukrfeminism]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-68604787

One thing I want to know is why isn’t his son charged with helping fake a death to a fugitive

#No paywall #thanks for sending!

[ukrfeminism]

Imagine chasing top medals and trophies for Great Britain while earning less than the minimum wage.

That might sound surprising yet it appears to be the reality for some women competing at the highest levels of sport.

More than a third of 143 respondents in a BBC study of elite British sportswomen said they have considered giving up sport because of the cost of living crisis.

More than three-quarters said they earn less than £30,000 a year from sport - with more than four in 10 earning less than £10,000 and six in 10 earning less than £20,000.

According to Office for National Statistics data, the average salary in the United Kingdom was £34,963 in April 2023. The national living wage for someone aged over 23 working a 35-hour week would be up to £18,964 a year.

The BBC study, released on Monday, covered a wide range of issues affecting sportswomen, which we will be covering in a series of stories this week.

Respondents were asked to fill in an anonymous questionnaire. It was sent to 615 athletes across 28 sports and 143 responses were submitted.

The questionnaire was sent to British sportswomen above the age of 16 who compete for their country in senior sport, or at the highest level in their sport at top club level.

It is the fourth time the BBC has conducted research on elite British sportswomen, having previously done so in 2013, 2015 and 2020.

Below are some of the experiences athletes shared with the BBC about the impact of the cost of living crisis, social media trolling, sexism and maternity in sport.

Chasing medals on 'less than minimum wage'

One athlete, who is aiming to qualify for the 2028 Olympics and has won junior world titles, told BBC Sport she had "thought about" quitting sport because of cost but is "not ready to".

She says the starting salary for a job in the field she has studied at university would be more than double what she currently receives in funding for her sport.

"You'd never think I'd be on less than minimum wage," said the athlete, who receives funding of £16,000 a year.

She added that while she should probably get a job on the side to support herself, it simply was not practical because of training times.

"I'd have to work night shifts - you're not going to get international medals if you've got to do that," she said.

She added that the current economic climate made it "hard" to get sponsorship and that her male counterparts seemed to get more sponsorship than women "even though their achievements are the same".

Her views were echoed by others, with one respondent writing: "As much as the profile of women's sport is on the rise, in the smaller sports, sponsorship is decreasing and making it harder to survive even with world-class results and world top-10 rankings."

Another sportswoman spoke of working five jobs to fund her sport, and another said she had struggled to get sponsorship early in her career because she did not have the right body for "bikini modelling".

Six respondents said their income was between £100,000 and £500,000, two put theirs at more than £500,000 but none made more than £1m.

According to the study, more than three-quarters of respondents felt sportswomen are not paid enough compared with sportsmen.

"If a female sportsperson is doing exactly the same training as their male counterpart, but they get paid less, then it will always mean that women are underpaid compared to men, but I do believe it is all going in the right direction," another anonymous response read.

'Requests for naked pictures' and 'I know where you live'

More than a third of respondents said they had been trolled on social media and a quarter had received social media abuse of a sexual nature.

One athlete was trolled after what she said was a result of people betting on her matches.

"Some matches, if it was a big win or big loss, I'd get 15-20 people messaging me on Instagram or commenting all sorts of things," she said.

"A lot of it was about weight, sometimes people would comment on my upper body being leaner than my lower body.

"Some of it was, 'I'm going to find your mum and do x, y and z. Some of it was, 'I know where you live.'"

Another anonymous athlete said they "receive an influx of sexual abuse" after winning medals and another said they had received "requests for naked pictures" and "offers of sponsorship or funding in return for a relationship".

While not directly comparable, a BBC questionnaire in 2020 found 30% of elite British sportswomen had been trolled on social media, a figure that had doubled since a previous questionnaire in 2015.

'I was told my award was for best bum'

Sexism offline is still a concern for sportswomen too, with almost three quarters of respondents saying they had experienced sexism in their sport.

"I'm just so shocked, I'm just on the edge of tears," one athlete told BBC Sport when recounting the time in the past few years that she had gone up on stage to receive a top award for performance and the presenter had announced it was for having the "best bum" in her sport.

"[It was] in front of a room of all the people that I looked up to and aspired to as a young female," she said. "[I wanted to] just get it over with, just let me get off the stage. Now I know what to say. But then I definitely didn't."

The study also found sportswomen felt they were being treated differently to men in terms of coaching.

A third said they did not get enough coaching support compared with men, and a third said their governing body does not support them equally compared with male colleagues.

More than four in 10 said they had experienced another form of discrimination.

Maternity 'feels taboo'

More than a third of respondents said they do not feel supported by their club/governing body to have a baby and continue to compete.

Almost two-thirds do not know what their club/governing body's parental leave policy would be.

One sportswoman said the topic of maternity "feels taboo", another felt their career might be "in doubt" if they brought up the issue, and another said their governing body "has repeatedly put off signing our maternity policy".

A third have delayed starting a family because of their sporting career. Six women said they had had an abortion because they felt a baby would impact their sporting career.

One athlete said she was returning to sport a year after giving birth and had been "severely let down" by her governing body, which had "not been willing to compromise" or understand her needs.

Another said her decisions around maternity were based on "fear of time out of sport and fear of not returning", and another said theirs were around the cost of childcare she would need to continue training.

However, one anonymous response came from a mother back in full-time training after having a baby.

"There is a very good balance to allow me to train a week full-time in the environment and a week training at home, which helps with being an athlete and mum," she wrote.

There was another example of a national team saying they would support athletes wanting to give birth and "return to sport in the quickest and healthiest way possible".

Is any progress being made?

Sportswomen highlighted many challenges in their responses, but several pointed to the success of the Lionesses' high-profile Euro 2022 win as a sign of progress.

When it comes to media coverage, three-quarters do not believe the media does enough to promote women's sport, but more than nine in 10 think media coverage of women's sport has improved over the past five years.

Sports minister Stuart Andrew said he would be convening the first Board of Women's Sport later this month, where "former sportspeople, industry experts and academics come together to explore opportunities and best practice" for women's elite sport.

"We are at a defining moment for women's elite sport in this country," he said. "I want to see it continue to go from strength to strength, with a collective drive to deliver positive change."

Triathlete Laura Siddall spoke of an expectation of women's sport to "be grateful for where you are now".

"I think we can be grateful, but that doesn't mean we're satisfied," she continued.

"We are super thankful that we've made huge progress and super thankful and grateful that we are here now, but does that mean we should be settling? Because there's still a disparity."

#articles

[ukrfeminism]

Women in the UK are waiting almost nine years for an endometriosis diagnosis, according to research that found many women are "dismissed, ignored and belittled".

The study by the charity Endometriosis UK found waiting times for the condition to be formally identified have significantly deteriorated since the pandemic, increasing to an average of eight years and 10 months - up 10 months since 2020.

The report, which surveyed 4,371 women, also found that almost half of respondents had visited their GP 10 or more times with symptoms before receiving a diagnosis.

Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes.

It impacts around one in 10 women and symptoms can vary from person to person.

"My periods are… painful to the point where I'm bedbound," said Sanchia Alasia, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2010, after 15 years of symptoms.

As a former mayor of a London borough, she has led a busy and productive life - but pain and discomfort were never far away.

"I've missed so many engagements," she said.

"I remember missing my nephew's funeral. I've missed dinners, day trips. I wouldn't even count the amount of money I've lost over things that I've booked and not been able to attend.

"It can be incredibly frustrating," she added.

Emma Cox, chief executive of Endometriosis UK, said the problems with diagnoses persist because symptoms are often misunderstood.

"Day to day, without a diagnosis, some people have real issues both physical and mental health, because they'll be in severe pain," Ms Cox said.

If left undiagnosed and untreated, endometriosis can lead to worsening physical symptoms and even permanent organ damage.

The charity's research showed that, while women in England and Scotland wait an average of eight years and 10 months for a diagnosis, those in Northern Ireland wait nine years and five months, and those in Wales wait nine years and 11 months.

It also found that 52% of respondents had visited A&E at least once due to symptoms of endometriosis.

Ms Cox said: "We want this to be a real wake-up call for governments and the NHS.

"What we'd like to see is a commitment from the NHS and governments in each nation in the UK, to have a target of an average diagnosis time, by a year or less by 2030.

"We believe that's doable," she added.

Minister for the Women's Health Strategy, Maria Caulfield, admitted more needs to be done to improve women's experiences of the healthcare system.

"From getting an initial diagnosis to getting the right care and treatment, we must learn from this report," she said.

"We launched our Women's Health Strategy to do just this - listen to women. Endometriosis is a priority area within our strategy, so expect to see more in this space.

"Through the strategy, we are working to turn 'dismissed, ignored and belittled' into 'listened to, understood and empowered'."

#articles #health

[ukrfeminism]

If you’re a UK-based radical/gender critical feminist interested in irl meetings with other women, please get in touch. I’m going to try to start organising again.

[ukrfeminism]

A lawyer and the government department she works with are being sued after she made gender-critical statements at work, including expressing the belief that only women menstruate. 

Elspeth Duemmer Wrigley works at an arm’s-length body affiliated to the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and is a chairwoman of a civil service network that represents staff with gender-critical views. 

She is one of three key signatories of an explosive letter sent in October to the cabinet secretary warning the impartiality of the civil service was under threat because anyone with gender-critical views was “openly and unlawfully bullied and harassed”. 

The confidential letter, seen by The Times, makes serious claims about a “small number of active gender ideologues” embedded in the civil service who brief against ministers and seek to alter official documents.

Duemmer Wrigley will appear at an employment tribunal next week accused of harassment for several comments and posts shared in the workplace. An employee of another body affiliated to Defra is suing the government department for allowing the network to exist and Duemmer Wrigley personally for her views. 

These include a statement made during a seminar on female autism that “only women menstruate” and a link to My Body is Me!, a book that encourages young children to understand and accept their bodies. A post in which she celebrates “diversity of belief” and explains that being gender-critical is a protected belief has also been penalised.

The Sex Equality and Equity Network (Seen) is an official civil service network with more than 700 members in 50 government departments who support the belief that biological sex is binary and immutable. Duemmer Wrigley is chairwoman of Defra’s Seen network and believes she is being targeted as a figurehead.

The claimant, who has not been named, has accused Defra bosses of creating a “intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and/or offensive environment��� and is calling for a disbanding of the departmental SEEN network and, potentially, the cross-governmental network as well. 

Duemmer Wrigley warns that if successful, the case would have a “chilling effect” that could silence all gender criticism in the civil service.

“[It] would effectively preclude any public gender-critical discourse in the workplace,” she writes in a statement. 

“It has been brought at a time when employees with gender-critical beliefs in many organisations, both in the civil service and beyond, are already facing vexatious, chilling or bullying attacks. I believe if this case succeeds, these attacks are likely to escalate. I believe if this case succeeds there will be no place in the civil service for those with sex realist views.”

It comes months after the letter to Simon Case, the head of the civil service, called for “urgent action to ensure that civil service impartiality is upheld, and freedom of belief is respected”.

It warns that unchallenged bias in relation to gender is having a direct impact on policy, based on interviews and evidence from SEEN members across government.

The letter cites efforts from some staff to “remove contributions to government consultations that relate to sex instead of gender” and “quietly briefing external organisations on how to circumnavigate ministerial direction”. 

It alleges there is an “active obfuscation of facts” among some trans activist civil servants to “prevent ministers seeing the impact of trans-inclusive policies” and evidence of internal policy being leaked to “partisan organisations”. 

Maya Forstater, executive director of Sex Matters, a human rights organisation that campaigns for clarity on sex in law, policy and language, said: “This is a shocking case, which follows revelations by civil servant whistleblowers about a ‘culture of fear’ among gender-critical civil servants across Whitehall. 

“It is not reasonable to view the existence of a network of gender-critical colleagues as ‘harassment’. 

“The civil service needs to have a robust culture of integrity, objectivity and accountability, and treat all its employees fairly. Civil servants should not expect to be kept “safe” from encountering ideas or people they don’t agree with.”

A government spokesman said: “We are unable to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”

#articles #law

[ukrfeminism]

The family of a 21-year-old woman who died at a flat in Derbyshire have said she will be “missed beyond words”.

Derbyshire constabulary said officers were called to reports that a woman had been assaulted at a home in Greenhill Lane, Riddings, at shortly after 1pm on 18 February.

Christine Everett-Hickson, better known as Chrissie, was taken to hospital and died in the early hours of the morning five days later. Kain Tailby, 30, has been charged with murder, the force said.

Before her death, Tailby – who was arrested at the scene – was charged with attempted murder.

Tributes from Everett-Hickson’s family described her as a “joyful, kind-hearted and affectionate” woman whose death would “leave a void in our family that will never be filled”.

In a statement, the family said she would be “missed beyond words” and that she had “one of life’s purest hearts”.

The statement said: “Her charming nature always sought out the best in everyone and everything. Her bubbly though occasionally shy personality highlighted her passion for animals, creativity, music and art.

“She had the most infectious smile and a laugh that could brighten up even the darkest of days.

“Losing her will for ever leave a void in our family that will never be filled as she really was one of life’s true blessings and she will be missed beyond words.”

Tailby, from Riddings, is due to stand trial later this year.

#articles #mvawg

[ukrfeminism]

The first person in England to be convicted of a cyberflashing offence has been jailed for 66 weeks.

Nicholas Hawkes was convicted under the Online Safety Act after cyberflashing became an offence in England and Wales on 31 January.

The 39-year-old, from Basildon in Essex, was already a convicted sex offender when he sent unsolicited images of his genitals to a 15-year-old girl and a woman on 9 February, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Southend crown court heard on Tuesday that Hawkes asked to use his father’s phone to call probation. He went into another room, where he sent the indecent photo via WhatsApp to a woman in her 60s. Minutes later, on the same device, he sent an explicit image to the child over iMessage, who was said to have been left “overwhelmed and crying”.

Both victims took screenshots of the messages and the woman reported him to Essex police the same day.

David Barr, prosecuting, said the offences “fall as part of an established pattern of behaviour of the defendant”.

Despite his previous offending, Hawkes has reportedly not received any treatment. Though he was offered 12 appointments with a psychiatrist, he never received them as the waiting list was too long, the court heard.

Hawkes admitted during an earlier hearing at Southend magistrates’ court to two counts of sending a photograph or film of genitals to cause alarm, distress or humiliation.

Cyberflashing can involve offenders sending people an unsolicited sexual image on social media, dating apps, Bluetooth or Airdrop. Victims of the offence and other image-based abuses receive lifelong anonymity under the Sexual Offences Act.

Hawkes was on the sex offender register after being convicted last year of sexual activity with a child under 16 and exposure, for which he received a community order.

On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to breaching the order and breaching a suspended sentence for another sexual offence.

He was jailed for 66 weeks and handed a restraining order for the woman and the girl lasting 10 years, and a sexual harm prevention order banning him from approaching women who he does not know on public highways and in parks for 15 years.

#Articles #MVAWG #law

[ukrfeminism]

Dozens of mothers and children gathered at Guernsey’s Premier Inn to show solidarity with a mother who posted on social media that she was asked not to breastfeed there.

The meeting was organised after Kelly Corbin said she was asked by a member of hotel staff to feed her baby “out of the way of the public” as “the residents won’t like it”.

Ms Corbin posted about her experience on social media, writing that she felt “humiliated”.

Premier Inn said: “We’re sorry for the confusion between one of our team members and Ms Corbin in our Guernsey hotel and we wish to apologise to her."

Ms Corbin wrote on Facebook after the incident on Sunday that she left the Premier Inn restaurant at Admiral Park in tears and fed her baby in her car after being asked to move by a member of staff.

Fellow mother Rebecca Greening organised the protest by sharing the post and asking “breastfeeding mothers past, present and future” to show the woman was "not alone”.

About 30 women and children met at the Premier Inn on Monday and those with hungry babies breastfed them in the restaurant.

Premier Inn provided free teas, coffees and snacks to the mothers.

During the protest, one woman described the behaviour of staff as “absolutely lovely".

A spokesperson for Premier Inn said, “Breastfeeding mothers are wholeheartedly welcome in all our sites across the UK.

“We’re proud to be a family-friendly business and it’s really important to us that all our guests including new mums and their babies have a relaxing, comfortable and enjoyable experience when they stay, enjoy a coffee or dine with us."

They said they had "reached out to speak to" Ms Corbin and "hope to welcome her back soon”.

#articles #Action #Children

[ukrfeminism]

Though British farming is arguably at the most precarious point in its long history – thanks to changes caused by Brexit and food industry subsidies, lack of clear food production policies and increased concern over environmental issues – more women than ever are choosing a career in agriculture and, more importantly, moving into leadership roles.

Back in the 1970s, Holly Collins was studying for her A-levels in Sussex. While her friends sent off their university applications, she wrote to the Royal Agricultural College asking for an entry form, hoping to follow her dream of becoming a farmer.

“They wrote back with the following answer: ‘Dear Miss Collins, we do not admit women.’”

Undeterred, she worked on a farm the following summer: “A lot of the tasks then were manual labour, so I’d just turn up at the farm gate and ask for a job. I was paid much less than the male students I worked with because I was female. The farmer’s father told him that, because I was the hardest worker, he should pay me the same as them – but he didn’t.”

Things, says the 64-year-old who now has her own upland farm, Hollin Bank, at the head of Coniston Water in the Lake District, have improved a lot for women in agriculture since then.

Though British farming is arguably at the most precarious point in its long history – thanks to changes caused by Brexit and food industry subsidies, lack of clear food production policies and increased concern over environmental issues – more women than ever are choosing a career in agriculture and, more importantly, moving into leadership roles.

Minette Batters, the first ever female president of the National Farmers’ Union of England and Wales (NFU), may have stepped down this spring after six years in office, but women are still well represented in the union, with Rachel Hallos, a South Pennines farmer, installed as NFU vice-president and Abi Reader as deputy president for NFU Cymru. The Great Yorkshire Show has just got its first female show director in its 186-year history – dairy farmer Rachel Coates takes over after this year’s show in July. In the field of specialist skills, the UK has also just appointed its first female wool grader. Amy-Jo Barton, 22, is based at British Wool (formerly the British Wool Marketing Board) in Bradford where she sorts wool by hand based on style and characteristics; a job she finds “very therapeutic”.

While women comprised 17% of farmers in 2019, data from the Office for National Statistics for 2023 shows that of the 104,700 registered farmers, 22% are female. In the broader category of managers in agricultural services, women make up 32% of the workforce. According to recent figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, 64% of agricultural students are women. For an industry that historically relies on father-to-son succession to pass on land and which used to exclude women from many of its educational establishments, farming has come a long way.

Coates, incoming director of the Great Yorkshire Show, says: “Women have always been the backbone of a farm. Now they’re no longer in the kitchen tied to the Aga, they’re at the forefront of the industry. It’s good to see this take-up of leadership roles.”

Louisa Dines, principal lecturer in agronomy at Harper Adams University in Shropshire, thinks farming has lagged behind in terms of gender diversity but is finally catching up with other industries.

“Farmers’ wives and daughters were always important – farms are typically family businesses and intertwined with home life – but women used to operate below the radar,” she says. “Historically local meetings were in the pub or village hall. Wives often weren’t invited or had to look after the children. Even if they did go, it can be intimidating walking into a room full of men, but new communication platforms – such as social media and video conferencing – have made it easier for women to take part.”

There are more than 14,000 members of the Facebook group Ladies Who Lamb and farmers such as the Yorkshire Shepherdess and the Red Shepherdess have huge followings on TikTok and Instagram. Dines says she recently attended an agritech conference to promote links between women in farming in Poland, Ukraine and England. Previously these women had worked in isolation but not had a sense of community. “It was so interesting to see how far we’ve come.”

Traditions need to change more, though. The average age of a British farmer is 59 and the business is still typically passed down the male side of the family. A 2022 survey in Northern Ireland found that inheritance was the second biggest challenge faced by women in farming. The biggest was male dominance.

Molly Lewis, whose family have farmed sheep on 250 acres of pasture in Powys, Wales, for 350 years, says this attitude is starting to shift. The 20-year-old plans to take over when her father and his brother retire. She splits her time between working in the family business and the local agricultural market.

“In the past, sometimes men felt pressured to take on the farm even if their heart wasn’t in it, but now it goes to whoever is interested. I’ve noticed a lot more women happily getting involved. It feels natural, especially here. We have an open hill farm in the Elan Valley, and do a lot of community work with all our neighbours. You see women and girls on the hills doing the same jobs as the men and no one thinks anything of it.”

Lewis also talks of the community’s fury at the Welsh government’s sustainable farming scheme – the post-Brexit plan for funding the industry which includes ensuring 10% of farmland is under tree cover.

Collins’s farm has low densities of mixed livestock and a nice sideline in educational courses teaching traditional farming skills such as dry stone walling and coppicing. It’s currently host to two masters students researching finance and birdlife. She brought in two women – Megan Jones and Katherine Andrews – to manage Hollin Bank alongside her.

She says she has had difficulties with “a lack of respect” from male farmers. “But I am learning at a late age and from the wonderful young women who work with me that you don’t have to instil fear in others to succeed in this very male world. We try to be warm and encouraging of anyone who is interested. I’m not sure this is a ‘female’ attitude to farming but I suspect it might be.”

None of the three at Hollin Bank grew up in agricultural families, bucking the tradition of succession. While Collins had a “striking ambition” to farm her whole life, her colleagues originally worked in conservation and nature restoration.

“As 70% of the UK is farmland, I wanted to understand how conservation and agriculture intertwine,” says Andrews. “I also believe we need to localise the food economy to save food miles, create jobs and deepen our connection to the land.”

If farming is in crisis it may be this new generation who look to change the status quo who will be able to find a resolution. All of them seem keen to evolve. Coates’s big ambition for the Yorkshire Agricultural Society is to engage young people because “we need to make farming relevant – there are going to be changes in agriculture over the next few years and we need to adapt”.

Dines points to the increased importance of marketing and communication – from farm shops and crafts to environmentally friendly farming practice – “all the public-facing activities at which women excel”.

Jones, who worked in restoration before joining Hollin Bank two years ago, also points to the need for communication within the indusry as well as with the public.

“We need to strengthen food systems that value farmers’ extensive knowledge of the landscapes they work in,” she says. “I think we need to listen to farmers and figure out what works financially and ecologically. How can we build resilient ecosystems?”

The reason so many more women have moved into farming is perhaps best explained when Jones talks about what she enjoys most about her work.

“My favourite thing about working on a farm is the daily and seasonal rhythms. Each day you adapt and respond to the environment and the animals. Days when we move the sheep or cows are always good days, walking with them is like a moving meditation. For someone who spent very little time doing practical work growing up, I find working with my hands very rewarding and empowering – especially as a woman.”

#articles #finance