I have yet to understand why advocacy around violence crime, is centred around the group least likely to experience it. I have never once heard a single politician ever utter the words: “Violence Against Men and Boys”, yet it feels like every day I hear them wring their hands over “Violence Against Women and Girls”. ‘Violence against women and girls is our priority’, you’ll see written on the front page of the UK Govs latest strategy document. But surely the ‘priority’ should be those most impacted or at risk? Which is men. I understand such an acknowledgement won’t look good on your social media feed, or win you friends; in fact, it often causes outrage and offence. I’ve been called out more than once for making such an unpopular point, but here it is again – men and boys are the primary victim of violent crime, and yet, I hear little about it. Young, inner city, working class black boys, and mixed race boys, are specifically the most at risk – they are assaulted, mugged, stabbed, and even killed, at rates significantly higher than any other group, and yet they are a mere periphery. Sadiq Khan, who I voted for as Mayor of London, is a prime candidate for such flimsy virtue signals. This is a Mayor who presided over London’s deadliest year ever for teenage knife crime, where every single victim was male, and he still never used the words “Violence Against Men and Boys”. That’s right – 100% of the teenagers killed in London’s deadliest ever year for teen knife crime were boys, not 90%, or 95%, but 100%. Sadiq routinely forgets this in his media appearances; yet regularly calls Violence Against Women ‘a scourge’ or ‘an epidemic’ in London. And it is. But so is Violence Against Men and Boys. So where are the strategies, the funding, research and advocacy for those most at risk to violent crime? Where is the talk of fatherlessness, addiction, knife crime, gang culture, and violence in prisons? Where is VAMB? And if it did exist, what would it look like? ~ [1] [2] Images by Jackson David, Naraa In Ub, Helena Lopez, Ryan Grime, Camilo Jiminez, Jakob Owens, and Stuart McClean.

2023-08-15