It's not immigrants that are a threat to women and girls

Women and girls have a legitimate reason to feel increasingly unsafe in our society, but it’s not because of immigrants and foreigners, it is far simpler than that; it’s because of men.

I can hear the protestations already, ‘Not All Men’, and of course, that would be ridiculous to assert. So then, why do we feel so comfortable to slap a label on all male immigrants, simply because the establishment tells us to?

When we dig just a little deeper, it very quickly becomes obvious that the ‘threat of the immigrant’, touted by the mainstream press and far-right pundits is as baseless as their moral consciences. Trust me, it would be wonderfully helpful if there were identifying characteristics that could help women and girls stay safe, but that is a complete fiction.

Stop saying its Black and brown men when it’s not

Just in the last few days, a 61-year-old man, Gavin Shaw, from Woolston in Warrington stabbed a 55-year old woman, subsequently being charged with attempted murder. In the same week, a 64-year old man, Graham Jones, was sentenced to 21 years in prison for years of sexual abuse against a young girl, starting from just age nine.

That is just from my hometown, yet where is the moral panic in the establishment media about this ongoing and accelerating pandemic of violence against women and girls? Nowhere to be seen.

It becomes ever more suspicious and infuriating, as a woman and mother of young girls, when we dig into the statistics around sexual offences.

The Office for National Statistics doesn’t differentiate between ethnicities so it can be more challenging to refute the accusations made by the likes of Farage, Trump, Musk and Tate. However, a brief glimpse of the breakdown of offences is provided for the period of April 2021 to March 2022 where offences are broken down by ethnicity.

During this period, there are 2,079 sexual offences perpetrated by white men, and 171 of Asian descent. That accounts for 8.25% of sexual offences being carried out by other ethnicities compared to the ‘patriotic white British male’. However, as a proportion of the population, our Asian demographic represents a higher 9.3%, which simply does not support the moral panic we see in the media and wider society.

Nevertheless, sexual violence is on the rise for all women and girls and this issue is one that legitimately warrants our focus and serious attention. We cannot allow what is a very real and present fear for women and girls, to be weaponised for furthering the agenda of the far-right.

‘Immigrants’. Really?

Between April 2023 and March 2025, in cases related to domestic abuse, all categories of offences saw a reduction year on year, all except for sexual offences, which on average has seen a 25% increase in occurrence.

Domestic abuse is a serious issue, accounting for 54% of rape crimes between April 2024 and March 2025, with the remaining being committed by men over the age of 16. There is also a marginal difference between the likelihood of being attacked by a stranger or an acquaintance, making it a minefield for vulnerable women and girls.

In the last 20 years, sexual offences have increased: from 970 against young girls under-13, and 8,192 against women over 16 to 5,067 and 49,075 respectively. When looking at all rapes, crimes have increased by 511%.

In fact, rape offences doubled between 2014 to 2019, rising from 29,420 to a horrifying 59,999. There is a slight reduction seen in 2020/2021 down to 55,685, during COVID and lockdown periods, before shooting up to 70,031 the following year.

Perhaps most concerningly, the government doesn’t even collect the data on the ethnicity of survivors and victims of sexual assault and rape, either. However, it is thought that Black and brown women are over-represented.

These figures are truly horrifying and should have people protesting across the country about the rising violence of men in western culture.

Criminal justice failings

Victims of sexual assault are equally finding it harder and harder to engage with the criminal justice system, or even in just speaking to their own friends and family about what they have endured.

In order to try to provide women and girls, and men, a safe space to tell their story without fear of misplaced judgement or negative impacts on their relationships, a website, Outcry Witness, is now set up to help address this largely unspoken and unduly ignored issue.

But we should be most concerned by what it says about our society that more and more women and girls are having to deal with these very real traumas and pain in secrecy, with little to no confidence that they will be safe in the criminal justice system as a victim. This is supported by a recent study that found that more than half of victims felt that the system was ineffective.

If we were to believe the right-wing press, then we should surely see proportionate increases in population as we do in the increase of crime. Yet, we haven’t seen an increase in male population of 511% to coincide with the huge increase in sexual crimes.

So what have we seen an increase in?

Society and men are the problem

We have seen a huge increase in the platforming and amplifying of blatant misogyny, in society and in politics, with repeated examples of derogatory treatment towards women in power.

We have arguably seen an increase in the objectification of women, with even the introduction of services like OnlyFans.

We have seen the widespread glorification and pedestalling of abusive and morally questionable men, like Boris, Trump, Tate, Farage, and Musk, seeking sensationalism over sense.

All whilst failing to platform men that actively speak up against these behaviours amongst their gender, creating a gross public perception of what it is to be a ‘proper man’.

As Ed Sykes reported at the start of 2025, toxic men, alongside toxic narratives and institutional practice, are what is at the heart of this urgent issue, not ethnicity or politics.

Our media has long had issues with creating moral panics, creating a disproportionate perception of fear amongst the public in order to increase engagement, but it is seriously failing right now when we have a very serious cause for great concern in our society.

Rising misogyny, and the reduction in access and confidence in the justice system for victims, and the continued willful ignorance of the media to all crimes against women and girls, regardless of religion or skin colour, have increased the prevalence of threat in society.

If women and girls are the far right’s concern, then we should be talking about this very serious issue, and focus on the one factor that unites them all – their gender.

Featured image via the Canary