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Have you ever been sexually harassed in Bedfordshire or experienced unwanted advances in the street?

The Government is currently reviewing whether crimes motivated by hostility towards and power over women (misogyny), or men (misandry), should be brought under hate crime laws. This includes sexual harassment and unwanted advances in public spaces or your place of work. The United Nations describes sexual harassment as “a range of unacceptable behaviours and practices” that “aim at, result in, or are likely to result in physical, psychological, sexual or economic harm.” 

The Government has given police forces the option of whether or not to adopt misogyny or misandry as a form of hate crime for recording purposes, to gain an idea of the scale of the problem.

We have put together this survey as we want to fully understand what the picture is here in Bedfordshire. Please note, homophobic and transgender-based hate crimes have already been recognised in law. To find out more about hate crime, visit the Bedfordshire Police website.

We would be grateful if you could fill in this confidential survey and tell us openly about any experiences of sexual harassment you have encountered in Bedfordshire. It is not a place to report crime and you do not need to include any personal details, such as your name and address, only details of your experience of any incidents, to keep it confidential. It shouldn’t take too long and is your chance to help us to see if there is a problem in our county which needs to be addressed.

For the purposes of this survey we are focusing specifically on incidents in the public spaces or your place of work, that are not connected to intimate partner or family relationships. We take domestic abuse very seriously and are committed in other ways to addressing this in our community through our specialised Emerald Team. We are therefore asking those who reply to this survey not to include incidents of domestic abuse. If you have been a victim of domestic abuse you can contact us on 101 and we will fully support you.

If following filling out the survey you feel you would like to report any matters to police please contact us via 101 or report online at www.bedfordshire.police.uk/report

Similarly, if after filling out the survey you feel you would like some support following any incidents, please contact the Signpost Hub on 0800 0282 887, which offers free and confidential support to anyone affected by crime, whether it has been reported to the police or not.

We want everyone to feel safe in our communities.

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* 1. What gender are you?  We understand some people prefer not to say, but it would be beneficial for our survey data if one of the categories can be selected so we can identify what strand of hate crime is being referred to i.e. misogyny (hostility towards and power over women), misandry (hostility towards and power over men), or other gender identity  (which is already recognised in hate crime law as any incident which is perceived to be based upon prejudice towards or hatred of the victim, because of their actual or perceived gender identity).

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* 2. What age range do you fall into?

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* 3. Have you been a victim of sexual harassment or received unwanted sexual advances in a public spaces or the work place?

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* 4. What form did the harassment take? Please tell us about your experience of any incident/s and note you do not need to give us any personal details to keep the survey confidential, just outline what happened to you :

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* 5. How often have you experienced this harassment?

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* 6. Where has this taken place?

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* 7. Was this in Bedfordshire?

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* 8. How did this make you feel?

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* 9. Did it make you change your behaviour? Please tell us about your experiences. Did the incident/s make you for example change the route you walked, stop you from going to a certain area/place, change any aspect of your routine/ clothing? Again, please note you do not need to give us any personal details to keep the survey confidential, just outline how the incident/s made you change your behaviour.

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* 10. Thinking about your most recent experience of harassment in a public space or the work place, how long ago did this occur?

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* 11. Have you ever witnessed the sexual harassment or unwanted sexual advances in a public space or the work place of a friend/colleague/partner/family member?

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* 12. If yes what happened in these circumstances? Did it take place in Bedfordshire? Please give details outlining the offence and if they or you reported it to police and what the outcome was. But again, please note you do not need to give us any personal details of yourself or any parties involved to keep the survey confidential.

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* 13. Did you report your experiences to the police?

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* 14. If no, what do you feel prevented you?

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* 15. If yes, what was the outcome and were you satisfied with the outcome?

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* 16. Do you have any further comments you would like to make about the subject of sexual harassment or misogyny or misandry?

We appreciate you taking the time to complete this survey. Please note by filling out this survey you are helping Bedfordshire Police gauge whether we need to follow other forces who have already adopted misogyny and misandry as a form of hate crime. Completing this survey is not making a formal report of crime. If, following filling out the survey, you feel you would like to report any matter/s to police please contact us via 101 or report online at www.bedfordshire.police.uk/report

Similarly, if after filling out the survey you feel you would like some support following any incidents, please contact the Signpost Hub on 0800 0282 887, which offers free and confidential support to anyone affected by crime, whether it has been reported to the police or not.

Thank you.
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