'Words Matter' guidelines aim to reduce victim blaming

Gloucestershire Police believes the new reporting guidelines may be the first of their kind in the UK

New guidelines have been issued within a police force to help reduce victim blaming and misogynistic language when reporting instances of violence against women.

The 'Words Matter' reporting guidelines by Gloucestershire Police were created to "amplify the voices of victims and survivors, place responsibility on the perpetrator, and improve accuracy in its press communications".

Work on the project began in August 2022 in collaboration with the not-for-profit organisation This Ends Now.

Gloucestershire police and crime commissioner Chris Nelson said: "Women are not 'groped' in clubs, men are sexually assaulting them. Women are not 'playing hard to get', men are raping them."

The guidelines relate to the use of language used by the force, and is a guide for communications teams as they provide information to the public and press through witness appeals and publicising outcomes from court.

The guidelines were created by Gloucestershire Police, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and This Ends Now

Jo Webb, from Gloucestershire Police's press office, said the force wants to be sure it is "doing it right".

"We realised there was no set of guidelines for police communicators when writing about incidents of male violence committed against women," she said.

"In the past, we would have been quite passive with our language.

"We might have said for example, 'a woman was attacked' or 'a woman had been raped', with not a lot of detail or focus on the perpetrator.

"Now we would say, 'a man has attacked or raped a woman' - we're putting the onus and responsibility on the perpetrator."

Gloucestershire Police's violence against women and girls lead, Det Ch Supt Kerry Patterson, added: "These are subtle but powerful changes in the right direction."

This Ends Now was launched following a protest in Stroud in 2022

Gloucestershire based This Ends Now was founded in 2022 in response to a series of incidents of male violence against women and girls.

Co-founder and managing director Sydney-Anne McAllister said she hopes the new reporting guidelines will "reframe the conversation" and help crime reports to more accurately reflect the seriousness of the male violence against women.

The guidelines cover crimes committed primarily, but not exclusively, by men and boys against women and girls, the force said.

It covers rape and sexual assault, domestic abuse, child sexual abuse, indecent images of children and image-based abuse. It also provides tips on headlines, language around age and referencing a perpetrator's occupation.

Mr Nelson said: "Anyone can be abused, but the misogynistic abuse women and girls face every day has become normalised in our society.

"The Words Matter reporting guidelines may seem a small way to tackle this systemic problem, but by changing the way we talk and think about these types of crimes, we change perceptions."

Mr Nelson said the Words Matter guidelines run alongside their continuing work to end male violence against women and girls through funding vital victims services and educational programmes.