The new Labour Party government in Britain is reportedly planning on treating “extreme misogyny” in the same manner as terrorism amid a supposed rise of radicalisation of young men on the internet.
Teachers, healthcare professionals, and local officials in Britain may become legally obligated to report young men to the government’s Prevent counter-terror programme in the same manner as Islamic terrorism or far-right radicalism if they are suspected of “extreme misogyny,” The Telegraph reports.
Under the programme, those referred to Prevent are assessed by police and their local authority to determine if they are in need of deradicalisation training.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has launched a review of the government’s counter-extremism stance that is expected to be completed by the Autumn.
Cooper told the paper: “For too long, Governments have failed to address the rise in extremism, both online and on our streets, and we’ve seen the number of young people radicalised online grow. Hateful incitement of all kinds fractures and frays the very fabric of our communities and our democracy.”
“Action against extremism has been badly hollowed out in recent years, just when it should have been needed most.
“That’s why I have directed the Home Office to conduct a rapid analytical sprint on extremism, to map and monitor extremist trends, to understand the evidence about what works to disrupt and divert people away from extremist views, and to identify any gaps in existing policy which need to be addressed to crack down on those pushing harmful and hateful beliefs and violence.
“That work will underpin a new strategic approach to countering extremism from government, working closely with communities to build consensus and impetus for our plans.”
It comes as police in Britain have claimed that the rise of anti-feminist influencers like Andrew Tate represents a “national emergency” over the potential radicalisation of boys and young men. Tate is currently awaiting trial in Romania over allegations of human trafficking and rape, charges which he denies.
Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth said last month: “We know that some of this is also linked to radicalisation of young people online, we know the influencers, Andrew Tate, the element of influencing of particularly boys, is quite terrifying and that’s something that both the leads for counterterrorism in the country and ourselves from a VAWG [violence against women and girls] perspective are discussing.”
Responding to the reported crackdown on “extreme misogyny,” Tate wrote on X that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper “pretends to care about the safety of women while allowing hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants to arrive by boat.”
“What is ‘extreme’ misogyny? Being masculine. They want to kill the spirit of any man who will resist enslavement,” Tate added.
Others were also critical of the reported plans, including comedian and GB News presenter Leo Kearse, who quipped: “Misogyny is going to be outlawed by people who can’t say what a woman is.”
The previous Tory government frequently came under criticism for placing to much emphasis on non-Islamic extremism, particularly on the far-right, despite Islamic terrorism representing a much larger threat to society. In 2019, the MI5 security service admitted that the threat from far-right extremists was “absolutely dwarfed” by that posed by radical Islamists.
Nevertheless, out of all referrals from teachers and other local authorities to Prevent in 2022-23, just 11 per cent were suspected of Islamic extremism, compared to 19 per cent for the “far-right”, and 37 per cent of “vulnerability present but no ideology of counter-terrorism risk”.
According to The Guardian, British boys are already being reported to the counterextremism programme by their schools for repeating Tate’s views or for “verbal harassment” of female teachers.
A Prevent staff member told the paper: “He [Tate] obviously doesn’t fit within the Prevent sphere but incels do. He is parallel to them and has a crossover. When I’m in schools I find myself describing him, effectively, as toxic misogyny on steroids.”
