UK Plans To Treat Extreme Misogyny As Terrorism

According to the Telegraph report, in order to tackle the growing incidents of violence against women and girls, UK’s home secretary Yvette Cooper has ordered a review of the counter-terrorism strategy which will help identify gaps in current laws and also study emerging ideologies especially online misogynistic discourse.

It is said the move will look at violence against women in the same way as far-right extremism.

With the UK set to bring in new legislation, it would be mandatory for school teachers to refer students they suspect of extreme misogyny to the government's counter-terror programme in the country.

Reportedly, anyone who is referred to the programme is assessed by local police to see if they show signs of radicalistaion and need to be deradicalised.

This comes after reports warned that misogynistic influencers like Andrew Tate are radicalising teenage boys online in the same way terrorist draw in their followers, the report said.The UK government is reportedly mulling to treat extreme misogyny as a form of terrorism.

Last year, counter-extremism workers warned of a rise in the number of cases being referred to them by schools concerned about the his influence, reports said.

The reports included incidents of verbal harassment of female teachers or other students which reflected the influencer's views.

The UK Home Ministry has several extremism categories marked as areas of "concern" and this includes a category for "incel" - an abbreviation of the term "involuntary celibate" - which refers to a misogynistic view that blames women for men's failure to get sexual opportunities, reports mentioned.