Why Are Hate Crimes And Women Mutually Exclusive?

So, reported hate crimes in Canada are up 42% from 2009. Which, of course, means that unreported hate crimes must also be up a gazillionfold. The breakdown is that 54% of these crimes were motivated by race or ethnicity, 29% by religion and 13% by sexual orientation. Of that 29% of religion-based hate crimes, seven out of ten were directed at people of the Jewish faith. Muslims also saw an increase of hate crimes directed towards them, and to show that it happens to Catholics too, they saw hate crimes go up against them by three. That's three incidences since 2009. I'm not saying that the Catholics deserved whatever happened to them, but somehow I get the feeling that a hate crime directed towards a Jew or Muslim is carried out differently than one being directed at a Catholic.

Four in ten hate crimes consist, either in whole or in part of violent assault. This is particularly true in offenses against people based on sexual orientation. Police hate crimes are up, especially against Arabs and West Asians. The cities with the highest increases of hate crimes, committed by police or otherwise, are Ottawa (our nations' capital) with a rise of 83 crimes since last survey, followed by Toronto at 79, Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo at 62 and Montreal at 61. The top three cities are in Ontario, a province that boasts a supposedly "Liberal" population and mindset.

So, bad news all around, but there seems to be something missing here. We've got reports on hate crimes against every oppressed group... except women. Aren't women discriminated against, hated, beaten, raped, killed, kidnapped and rendered homeless and jobless all the time, simply because they're women? Does that not constitute a hate crime?

Let's look at what a hate crime is. Stats Canada gives this explanation, in regards to the article I'm citing from.

Police-reported hate crimes refer to criminal incidents that, upon investigation by police, are determined to have been motivated by hate towards an identifiable group. The incident may target race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, language, sex, age, mental or physical disability, or other factors such as profession or political beliefs.
Police-reported hate crime data have been collected on an annual basis since 2006 and cover 87 per cent of the population of Canada. This … article focuses on 2009 data, the most up-to-date information available on the extent and nature of police-reported hate crime in Canada.
The number of hate crimes presented in this release likely undercounts the true extent of hate crime in Canada, as not all crimes are reported to police. Self-reported victimization data from Canadians suggests that about one-third (34 per cent) of incidents perceived by respondents to have been motivated by hate were subsequently reported to police.
— Statistics Canada

Interesting. They clearly state sex in their description of hate crime. However, not a single statistic about crimes against women was provided for the article. Not even the barest mention of crimes against women, in fact. The part of the definition which lists groups likely to be the victims of hate crimes mirrors the passage in section 718.2 of the Canadian Criminal Code, which describes sentencing principles. So, if this is true, why is rape not considered a hate crime? Why is battery not considered a hate crime? What about wage disparity? Sexual harassment in the workplace, why is that not considered a hate crime, especially since the Canadian Labour Code prohibits it?

The answer is, of course, because since men make the laws, men also choose how said laws are enforced. If women were to truly be treated as a class worthy of protection, men lose their precious power over their "chattel". Pornography would have to be abolished, as it is a hate crime. Forcing women into sexual slavery would be abolished as it is a hate crime. Forced pregnancies and denied access to abortions would be abolished as they are hate crimes. Wage disparities and workplace sexual harassment would be abolished as they are hate crimes. Street harassment, cat-calling, eve-teasing and yes, RAPE would all have to be abolished because they are hate crimes.

White males hate to be told what they can and can't do to oppressed groups. That's why they hate that "P.C. bullshit" and they hate affirmative action and they hate feminism. They hate when the savages begin to think for themselves. But to deny women to even be recognized as a hated group, a group which by and large suffers more and is targeted more by what are undeniably hate crimes than any, than all other groups put together, is the supreme travesty. Women need that voice, that recognition. They need the law to say to men for them "No, you cannot treat us this way simply because we are women and you are men. It is wrong and we are protected from you and your violence. We are protected from your sexual aggression. We are protected from financial dependence on you. We are not objects for you to use and abuse as you please. There are laws that will be upheld."

The police are some of the most heinous perpetrators of hate crimes against women. The police rape. The police beat. The police bully women. The police blame victims. The police are supposed to uphold the laws that protect oppressed groups, which in this country, I am told, includes women. I have stated my opinion on police before, and I everything I said then rings true now. The police need an overhaul if they are to be taken seriously as protectors of the populace, seeing as the populace includes women and people of colour and people of other religions and LGBT people and people who belong to all other oppressed groups. Canada always touts itself as a place of diversity and tolerance, yet more and more every day the proof is in the shitty pudding we're forced to eat. Hate crime law needs to be enforced and the police that are supposed to be enforcing it need to monitored more strictly. I hope that this change can be brought about in my lifetime.