First and foremost, I want to thank you for visiting my website and blog.
Let me make one thing clear from the outset: No woman deserves to experience physical or sexual violence, regardless of her attire, level of intoxication, or demeanour. Violence against women is unequivocally unacceptable. My future blogs will leave no doubt about my stance on this issue.
Throughout 2024, The Guardian newspaper aims to report on every woman allegedly killed by a man, drawing on the work of campaigns such as Counting Dead Women, the Femicide Census, and Killed Women. As of today (13 August 2024), 50 women’s deaths have led to a man being charged.
A survey conducted by “Killed Women,” a UK-based organisation and network of families of women killed by men, revealed some harrowing findings: 67% of families believe the killing of their loved one was preventable. This definitive guide to women’s safety aims to help prevent both physical and sexual violence.
Violence against women demands our full attention, particularly given that, in 2023 alone, police recorded 68,387 rapes in England and Wales. According to a national study conducted for police chiefs, Sir Mark Rowley, head of London’s Metropolitan Police Service, stated in June 2024 that there are up to 4 million perpetrators of violence against women and children in the UK. Other data shows that there are more than 1 million domestic violence incidents and crimes each year, 800,000 women become victims of sexual assault annually, and over 90% of those committing these crimes are male.
A 2018 study by researchers from Glasgow University, involving almost 1,000 rape survivors, found that more than 90% of rape and sexual assault victims knew their attacker.
These statistics and critical insights into these crimes and their most likely perpetrators are reflected in the content and advice you will find in my future blogs and forthcoming book, “NEVER A VICTIM – The Definitive Guide to Women’s Safety.” This truly comprehensive guide contains 504 pages, over 110,000 words and numerous safety recommendations aiming to enhance your personal security. Some of these recommendations may feel restrictive to your freedom.
Women’s safety can indeed be limiting, sometimes preventing you from doing exactly what you want. Unfortunately, this is an unavoidable reality that I cannot change. You will need to find a balance between enjoying your freedom and ensuring your safety. This may involve doing things differently from your preferred way or altering certain behaviours and habits altogether.
If you feel it is unfair and wrong that women must be cautious, careful, and conscious of their actions—limiting what, when, and how they do things—I wholeheartedly agree with you. It is not women who should have to change and adapt to a world where sexual abuse and physical violence have become too common. Although there are many good men out there, it is men who need to rethink their attitudes and behaviours.
Of course, it would be ideal if men behaved differently—much differently at times. It would be good, right, and just if the world were a place where the entire contents of my future blogs were unnecessary and irrelevant. But sadly, today, that is not the case.
This is why, through my future blogs, I aim to empower you, offer encouragement, and help you live a safer life.
– Robert Kaiser –