WORDS MATTER

Words Matter is This Ends Now’s flagship set of initiatives that aim to reframe the conversation on gender-based oppression and highlight the role that language plays in how society understands male violence against women and girls.

Male violence against women and girls (MVAWG) is a global epidemic that must end now. We can no longer allow sensationalist headlines to set the tone for how we discuss MVAWG.

This Ends Now was founded on the belief that changing language will change how society understands gender-based oppression. Generational patriarchy has woven misogyny into the victim blaming and perpetrator-erasing language that is predominantly used to describe MVAWG.

We recognise that media outlets draw much of their problematic language directly from police communications about these incidents and the context they occur in, so we decided to address media headlines where they begin - police external communications.

On 5 October 2024, This Ends Now launched the first Words Matter reporting guidelines with our collaborators, the Gloucestershire Constabulary and Gloucestershire’s Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. These guidelines provide clear information on how police external communications teams should avoid victim blaming language in their reports and use language that centres the actions of perpetrators and encourages greater respect toward victims/survivors.

The language used by police and media to describe incidents of MVAWG normalises patriarchy - particularly male aggression and social superiority - while simultaneously claiming that the abusive and violent outcomes of patriarchy are isolated and unpredictable. MVAWG is common but it shouldn’t be normal. We aim to highlight both of these elements in the Words Matter reporting guidelines.

We developed these guidelines through extensive consultation with people who live and work with the communities who are most impacted by MVAWG to empower victims/survivors to lead the dialogue on how to end this epidemic. We believe the only possible way to do this work accountably is through an intersectional feminist approach where we centre those who have long been silenced.

We know these guidelines will begin to create lasting change in Gloucestershire and we look forward to bringing these changes to communities and their police forces across England and Wales. 

Why do Words Matter?

The language we use depicts and shapes the world as we know it. When we use language that exposes the underlying assumptions in how we discuss gender-based oppression, we create a climate where MVAWG is no longer normalised. Patriarchal power depends on an assumption of male superiority and that male dominance is “natural.” It depends on the silence of those who are harmed. By championing language that respectfully and compassionately describes the experiences of those who have been silenced, This Ends Now knows we can create a culture that respects those who have been silenced and makes MVAWG inexcusable. By changing the words we use, we change how people act.

We will no longer allow perpetrators of MVAWG to control the narratives around these crimes. We will no longer allow the police and media to portray victims/survivors as responsible for their own harm. We will no longer allow words to shame us into silence. We will challenge and dismantle misogynistic reporting through a radical shift in the language we use. 

Words matter. This ends now.