0:00:10.092,0:00:13.064
I'm Gina, and I've lost 23 debit cards.

0:00:13.914,0:00:16.872
I don't mean to, I'm just[br]an easily distracted person.

0:00:16.872,0:00:19.442
I've been known to show up[br]to events on the wrong date,

0:00:19.442,0:00:21.622
I always miss my Tube stop,

0:00:21.622,0:00:24.191
and I cannot for the life of me[br]wake up in the morning

0:00:24.191,0:00:26.251
without feeling personally attacked.

0:00:26.769,0:00:31.656
I'm also young, I'm female,[br]I'm working class,

0:00:31.656,0:00:35.885
and I'm not particularly academic -[br]I kind of was average in school.

0:00:35.885,0:00:38.216
And I think these are all[br]some of the reasons why

0:00:38.216,0:00:41.817
I probably never felt like I could really[br]'make a difference' growing up.

0:00:42.207,0:00:43.232
But it turns out,

0:00:43.232,0:00:45.525
with long-term things,[br]I'm actually pretty good,

0:00:45.525,0:00:47.199
with big ideas.

0:00:47.199,0:00:49.339
I might be the person[br]who lost 23 debit cards,

0:00:49.339,0:00:51.283
but I'm also a law changer.

0:00:51.283,0:00:54.999
When I was 25, I founded and ran[br]the national media and political campaign

0:00:54.999,0:00:57.645
to make upskirting illegal.

0:00:58.183,0:00:59.156
Thank you.

0:00:59.156,0:01:02.002
(Applause) (Cheers)

0:01:04.437,0:01:06.195
You may have heard that story by now,

0:01:06.195,0:01:08.815
but if you have, it will have been[br]in clickbaity titles

0:01:08.815,0:01:11.238
like 'I fought the law and won',[br]that kind of thing.

0:01:11.238,0:01:12.246
The reality of it is,

0:01:12.246,0:01:15.731
it is actually the most difficult[br]and uncomfortable period of my life.

0:01:15.731,0:01:19.255
And I would like to take this opportunity[br]to share that story with you now,

0:01:19.255,0:01:21.214
as it actually happened,

0:01:21.214,0:01:23.738
without the fierce-feminist[br]shiny wrapping of it,

0:01:23.738,0:01:26.698
but with some of the biggest lessons[br]we can learn along the way

0:01:26.698,0:01:27.864
and for the last time.

0:01:28.743,0:01:33.016
In July 2017, I was at a festival called[br]British Summer Time in Hyde Park.

0:01:33.304,0:01:35.593
Me and my sister were[br]in a crowd of 60,000 people

0:01:35.593,0:01:37.928
waiting for The Killers to take the stage,

0:01:37.928,0:01:40.291
when a group of guys[br]started hitting on us.

0:01:40.858,0:01:43.045
One of the guys was making[br]loads of gross jokes

0:01:43.045,0:01:45.678
and generally being really weird[br]and harassing us,

0:01:45.678,0:01:49.088
and we asked him to leave us alone[br]multiple times, but he wouldn't.

0:01:49.619,0:01:52.979
Five minutes later,[br]I felt them all laughing at me.

0:01:53.329,0:01:55.381
One of the guys[br]was standing in front of me,

0:01:55.381,0:01:57.433
so I peered around[br]to see what he was doing.

0:01:57.433,0:01:58.448
He was on his phone,

0:01:58.448,0:02:01.763
and he'd been sent a really well-taken[br]photograph of someone's crotch

0:02:01.763,0:02:03.194
that was taken up their skirt.

0:02:03.194,0:02:05.244
I knew it was me straight away.

0:02:05.775,0:02:07.788
I grabbed the phone, and I started crying,

0:02:07.788,0:02:11.508
and I held it up and was kind[br]of yelling about what he'd done.

0:02:11.508,0:02:14.314
And then a couple of people[br]in the crowd helped me get away,

0:02:14.314,0:02:16.515
and I ran through that crowd[br]holding his phone,

0:02:16.515,0:02:18.938
with him chasing me,[br]which was literally terrifying.

0:02:18.938,0:02:22.979
I managed to get a security guard,[br]who protected me and called the police.

0:02:23.709,0:02:27.062
When the police came,[br]they separated me and the guy,

0:02:27.539,0:02:29.698
and they said this to me,

0:02:29.698,0:02:32.498
'You should be able[br]to go to a festival at 30 degrees,

0:02:32.498,0:02:35.095
wear a skirt, and this not happen to you.'

0:02:35.465,0:02:38.043
But they also said,[br]'We've had a look at the photo.

0:02:38.043,0:02:41.369
It shows more than you'd want it to show,[br]but it's not a graphic image.

0:02:42.119,0:02:45.455
If you'd chosen not to wear knickers,[br]we could do something about this.

0:02:45.455,0:02:47.765
But you did, so you[br]won't hear much from us.'

0:02:48.826,0:02:51.775
They told the guy to delete the photo,[br]so my evidence was gone,

0:02:51.775,0:02:54.247
and then they told us[br]to enjoy the rest of our night.

0:02:54.247,0:02:56.402
And I tried to,[br]but I felt humiliated and sad,

0:02:56.402,0:02:59.592
and I knew the guys were probably[br]just carrying on with their night,

0:02:59.592,0:03:00.787
having a great time.

0:03:02.933,0:03:05.889
I went home, and a few days later[br]I got a call from the police,

0:03:05.889,0:03:08.165
and they told me my case was dropped.

0:03:08.165,0:03:10.782
And I swear to God,[br]when I put that phone down,

0:03:10.782,0:03:13.172
something inside me sort of snapped.

0:03:13.562,0:03:16.936
I've been dealing with sexual harassment[br]for as long as I can remember,

0:03:16.936,0:03:19.719
and I'd been brushing it off,[br]and I was so over it.

0:03:19.719,0:03:22.973
I couldn't believe that there wasn't a law[br]covering this in some way.

0:03:22.973,0:03:24.927
So I started to try to look into it.

0:03:24.927,0:03:28.077
Everything I read was written[br]by politicians and law-makers,

0:03:28.077,0:03:30.044
academic people who spoke with jargon,

0:03:30.044,0:03:31.472
they don't speak like me.

0:03:31.472,0:03:34.163
I didn't really understand[br]what they were fully saying.

0:03:34.163,0:03:35.172
So I looked into law,

0:03:35.172,0:03:38.444
and I thought I'd found[br]that upskirting was not a sexual offence,

0:03:38.444,0:03:41.443
but I thought I must have got it wrong[br]because I'm not academic.

0:03:41.443,0:03:44.974
So I asked a friend of mine who was[br]a law student to look into it for me.

0:03:44.974,0:03:46.386
And she said, 'You're right.'

0:03:46.386,0:03:47.935
I had found that upskirting,

0:03:47.935,0:03:51.584
the act of taking non-consensual photos[br]or video up someone's clothing,

0:03:51.584,0:03:53.737
was not a sexual offence[br]in England and Wales,

0:03:53.737,0:03:56.090
but it had been in Scotland for 10 years.

0:03:57.300,0:04:00.333
We ask a lot from[br]victims of sexual violence.

0:04:00.333,0:04:01.354
We question them,

0:04:01.354,0:04:04.494
we hold them to a higher standard[br]sometimes than we do perpetrators

0:04:04.494,0:04:06.073
in the moments after an incident.

0:04:06.073,0:04:08.145
But I had done everything asked of me.

0:04:08.145,0:04:12.069
I'd got witnesses, I'd kicked up a fuss,[br]I had a photo, the phone.

0:04:12.069,0:04:15.862
I even handed the guy into the law,[br]and apparently it couldn't help me.

0:04:16.386,0:04:18.796
And this is where we learn[br]our first lesson:

0:04:18.796,0:04:22.312
Women and marginalized genders[br]who often deal with sexual violence

0:04:22.312,0:04:23.317
shut their mouths

0:04:23.317,0:04:26.115
because we make it harder[br]for them when they're open.

0:04:26.634,0:04:27.687
We have to stop acting

0:04:27.687,0:04:30.900
like they're navigating[br]some simple and perfect system.

0:04:30.900,0:04:31.921
They're not.

0:04:31.921,0:04:35.220
They're navigating one that's working[br]against them a lot of the time.

0:04:36.330,0:04:39.634
You see, when sexual harassment happens,[br]there are one of two options.

0:04:39.634,0:04:42.051
Number one, you brush it off,[br]you shut your mouth.

0:04:42.051,0:04:43.444
It happens, it is what it is.

0:04:43.444,0:04:47.035
Number two, you do something about it,[br]literally anything.

0:04:47.035,0:04:49.871
Because it's not funny,[br]it's not a joke, it's humiliating,

0:04:49.871,0:04:52.007
and someone should do something about it.

0:04:52.509,0:04:56.684
I can tell you right now[br]that I'm good at number one.

0:04:56.684,0:04:59.220
Women and marginalized genders[br]are good at number one.

0:04:59.220,0:05:01.992
We've been doing number one[br]for as long as we can remember,

0:05:01.992,0:05:04.568
and we are really, really[br]bored of number one.

0:05:05.384,0:05:07.907
Number one, I think,[br]has affected me more than I know.

0:05:07.907,0:05:08.961
Because of number one,

0:05:08.961,0:05:10.965
when I watch news stories[br]about this stuff,

0:05:10.965,0:05:13.155
I start crying out of nowhere.

0:05:13.155,0:05:15.691
When someone tells me a story[br]about sexual harassment,

0:05:15.691,0:05:18.972
it somehow partly feels like it's mine[br]because of number one.

0:05:18.972,0:05:20.215
And because of number one,

0:05:20.215,0:05:24.144
I have struggled to articulate[br]this problem for such a long time.

0:05:24.144,0:05:27.762
Because I'd shut my mouth about it,[br]and I didn't have the language.

0:05:28.401,0:05:33.760
I'm frustrated that year after year,[br]number one seems like our best option.

0:05:37.980,0:05:39.705
But what about number two?

0:05:40.045,0:05:43.471
OK, well, number two isn't something[br]that people like me do really.

0:05:43.471,0:05:47.576
Number two is for brave people,[br]literally amazing people,

0:05:47.576,0:05:50.548
people who are in power,[br]people who didn't scrape by in school,

0:05:50.548,0:05:52.548
people who have one debit card, I'd say.

0:05:53.395,0:05:56.492
People who wrote those documents[br]I struggled to read.

0:05:56.492,0:05:59.112
But you see, I couldn't forget it,[br]the upskirting thing,

0:05:59.112,0:06:02.115
because for me it felt somehow[br]possible to forget, for instance,

0:06:02.115,0:06:04.929
the hand that had been on my bum[br]on the Tube a year earlier,

0:06:04.929,0:06:06.791
because that hand was no longer there -

0:06:06.791,0:06:08.645
not easy, but possible.

0:06:08.932,0:06:12.546
But I couldn't forget the upskirting thing[br]because they still had the photos.

0:06:12.546,0:06:14.405
They probably still do now.

0:06:15.084,0:06:19.535
It felt impossible for me to forget,[br]I think, because they did straight away.

0:06:19.535,0:06:22.339
I don't think they even thought[br]they'd done that much wrong.

0:06:22.339,0:06:23.879
And therein lies our problem.

0:06:24.739,0:06:26.545
A few days later, while I was at work,

0:06:26.545,0:06:29.119
I put up this photo of me[br]and my sister at the festival

0:06:29.119,0:06:31.402
that happened to have[br]the guys in the background.

0:06:31.402,0:06:34.215
I thought, 'The law can't help me,[br]the police can't help me,

0:06:34.215,0:06:35.555
but maybe social media can.'

0:06:35.555,0:06:38.045
And I asked people to share it[br]and identify the guys.

0:06:38.045,0:06:39.951
And then Facebook got in contact with me

0:06:39.951,0:06:42.501
and told me I'd violated[br]their community guidelines.

0:06:42.501,0:06:47.295
Apparently, me putting this photo up[br]constituted harassment against the guys,

0:06:47.555,0:06:50.552
but them taking photos up the skirt[br]and sharing them, no.

0:06:51.235,0:06:54.581
I was incandescent with rage[br]at this point.

0:06:54.581,0:06:57.719
Every single safety net that was meant[br]to have caught me hadn't,

0:06:57.719,0:07:00.289
and the one thing I worked in[br]and had done for years

0:07:00.289,0:07:03.436
that was about democracy,[br]community and human connection -

0:07:03.436,0:07:04.448
social media -

0:07:04.448,0:07:06.233
had also rejected me.

0:07:06.233,0:07:09.385
You remember what I said about a system[br]that's working against you?

0:07:09.385,0:07:12.093
Everything at this point[br]is forcing me back to number one,

0:07:12.093,0:07:14.750
to brush it off, to forget[br]about it, 'it is what it is'.

0:07:15.893,0:07:17.631
I think when Facebook censored me,

0:07:17.631,0:07:21.270
I actually just got angry enough[br]that number one stopped being an option.

0:07:21.270,0:07:23.804
And I'm not really embarrassed[br]about the anger either

0:07:23.804,0:07:25.376
because here's our second lesson:

0:07:25.376,0:07:28.753
Anger is a very normal response[br]to having your human rights compromised.

0:07:28.753,0:07:30.270
That's important to say.

0:07:30.270,0:07:32.768
We have to stop using it[br]to delegitimise people,

0:07:32.768,0:07:35.119
with 'angry feminist'[br]or 'angry Black woman',

0:07:35.119,0:07:36.663
all of these stereotypes.

0:07:36.663,0:07:38.905
People are allowed to be angry[br]about this stuff.

0:07:38.905,0:07:40.980
And we have to hold space for them there.

0:07:40.980,0:07:43.149
We have to realise it's not about us.

0:07:44.019,0:07:47.266
I'd been put up with, I don't know,[br]being shouted at from cars.

0:07:47.266,0:07:48.762
I'd had my bum grabbed in bars.

0:07:48.762,0:07:51.920
I had a stalking case for two years[br]against a guy from school

0:07:51.920,0:07:53.380
that ended in nothing.

0:07:53.380,0:07:55.847
When I was 19 and I worked[br]at a rowdy student bar,

0:07:55.847,0:07:58.260
a security guard,[br]who was employed to protect me,

0:07:58.260,0:08:01.664
felt my boobs 'to see[br]if I was wearing a stab-proof vest'.

0:08:01.664,0:08:04.906
I was angry that every woman I know[br]has dealt with sexual harassment,

0:08:04.906,0:08:08.756
and I was angry enough for the first time[br]that number two became the only option -

0:08:08.756,0:08:10.850
to do something about it,[br]literally anything.

0:08:11.082,0:08:12.997
So I started a social media campaign.

0:08:12.997,0:08:14.391
I thought, 'OK, in work,

0:08:14.391,0:08:17.833
if I can start a campaign to make people[br]care about whisky, for instance,

0:08:17.833,0:08:20.637
I can do it with something like this[br]that actually matters.'

0:08:20.637,0:08:22.791
I'd launched a petition,[br]I wrote Facebook ads,

0:08:22.791,0:08:24.162
I did editorials,

0:08:24.162,0:08:26.068
and that's when I realised this:

0:08:26.864,0:08:29.731
Social media is the single[br]most important democratising tool

0:08:29.731,0:08:32.133
we've ever had in social change.

0:08:32.133,0:08:35.784
It can be used by anyone,[br]at any time, for good.

0:08:35.784,0:08:38.411
And traditional institutions[br]really don't understand it,

0:08:38.411,0:08:39.881
so you can use that.

0:08:40.652,0:08:43.003
Almost as soon as I started[br]asking the question,

0:08:43.003,0:08:44.954
'Why is upskirting not a sexual offence?'

0:08:44.954,0:08:46.932
people started answering.

0:08:47.331,0:08:49.543
My DMs became full of stories.

0:08:49.543,0:08:53.210
Young girls telling me about pictures[br]being taken up their skirts on the Tube.

0:08:53.210,0:08:56.303
Trans women telling me that people's[br]obsession with their genitals

0:08:56.303,0:08:58.961
had lead to them being[br]victimised with upskirting.

0:08:58.961,0:09:00.295
I had messages from teachers

0:09:00.295,0:09:04.422
telling me young boys[br]were coming up with plans

0:09:04.422,0:09:06.380
to get pictures of the teachers together.

0:09:06.380,0:09:07.810
And I got messages from Japan,

0:09:07.810,0:09:10.574
where it is such a problem[br]that they have redesigned phones

0:09:10.574,0:09:12.767
so you can't turn off[br]the camera shutter sound.

0:09:12.767,0:09:15.105
So women are 'alerted'[br]it's happening to them.

0:09:15.911,0:09:18.378
Then I started getting messages from kids.

0:09:18.378,0:09:21.201
And they were all coming[br]from the same place, I recognised -

0:09:21.201,0:09:22.621
a school in South London

0:09:22.621,0:09:26.118
where the teacher had been upskirting[br]the kids for months.

0:09:26.118,0:09:28.973
They found thousands of photos,[br]but they couldn't convict him

0:09:28.973,0:09:33.231
because what he did didn't constitute[br]a criminal offence under that current law.

0:09:34.039,0:09:37.367
These kids who are messaging with me,[br]pleading with me to do something,

0:09:37.367,0:09:38.950
couldn't even vote.

0:09:38.950,0:09:40.852
They have no democratic[br]voice whatsoever.

0:09:40.852,0:09:43.260
But social media gave them[br]a direct line to me.

0:09:43.260,0:09:44.944
And thank God it did

0:09:44.944,0:09:48.321
because that was when I realised[br]this is way bigger than me and my case.

0:09:48.321,0:09:50.430
And instead of me[br]standing up and being like,

0:09:50.430,0:09:52.961
'Someone should do something'[br]and pointing fingers,

0:09:53.417,0:09:55.881
I thought, 'Alright,[br]I'll try and do something.

0:09:56.206,0:09:58.972
I don't know how to do it,[br]but I'll try and change the law.

0:09:58.972,0:10:02.608
I'll give it a go because maybe[br]I'll make it easier for someone who can.'

0:10:03.368,0:10:06.999
Honestly, I genuinely think I just needed[br]somewhere to put my frustration.

0:10:06.999,0:10:08.737
And that makes sense to me now.

0:10:08.737,0:10:10.583
Because here's our next lesson:

0:10:10.909,0:10:13.572
Action really is the cure for fear.

0:10:14.034,0:10:17.115
With these things, fear and frustration[br]really fester in you,

0:10:17.115,0:10:21.115
but taking an action, even if it's small,[br]can metabolise that back into power again.

0:10:21.115,0:10:22.592
That's what it did for me.

0:10:23.741,0:10:26.768
The first thing I did[br]when I thought about changing the law

0:10:26.768,0:10:31.624
was I googled, I literally wrote,[br]'How does one change the law?'

0:10:31.624,0:10:33.552
and nothing came up.

0:10:33.552,0:10:36.552
And I realised I was going to have[br]to figure this out on my own.

0:10:36.552,0:10:39.552
I also realised that social media[br]and shouting about it on there

0:10:39.552,0:10:42.498
was great for awareness,[br]but it wasn't going to change the law.

0:10:42.498,0:10:44.458
I had to get really clever and strategic.

0:10:44.458,0:10:47.248
And to do that, I had to be[br]really honest with myself.

0:10:47.248,0:10:49.613
I'm good at campaigning,[br]I can motivate people,

0:10:49.613,0:10:52.439
and I understand this issue[br]more than anyone, really,

0:10:52.439,0:10:57.035
but I don't really understand politics,[br]and I don't really understand the law.

0:10:57.035,0:10:59.338
And those are two pretty big[br]pieces of the puzzle

0:10:59.338,0:11:01.918
if you're going to go into politics[br]and change the law.

0:11:01.918,0:11:03.652
So I needed to find someone who did,

0:11:03.652,0:11:06.022
and I had to show them[br]that I was really serious.

0:11:06.597,0:11:08.459
So I went mainstream with the campaign.

0:11:08.459,0:11:10.514
I packaged up the numbers[br]from social media,

0:11:10.514,0:11:13.078
and I started talking[br]to TV producers and editors

0:11:13.078,0:11:15.959
showing them there was conversation[br]happening online.

0:11:15.959,0:11:18.770
The first piece of media I did[br]was Good Morning Britain.

0:11:18.770,0:11:21.098
Piers Morgan was sadly not in that week,

0:11:21.098,0:11:24.164
but I did get to sit opposite[br]a female police officer,

0:11:24.164,0:11:27.353
who told me that the police had[br]'more important things to deal with'

0:11:27.353,0:11:28.926
and that I should wear trousers.

0:11:29.146,0:11:31.112
At the height of those media appearances,

0:11:31.112,0:11:34.012
I used all that publicity,[br]and I started contacting law firms,

0:11:34.012,0:11:38.315
showing them my proven theory on the law[br]and all the public support I had.

0:11:38.850,0:11:42.110
And then three days after I started[br]that, I found Ryan Whelan,

0:11:42.456,0:11:44.584
who was a 29-year-old lawyer.

0:11:44.584,0:11:46.872
He was a human rights fanatic,

0:11:46.872,0:11:51.314
he was unjaded by the industry,[br]and he was a complete political nut.

0:11:51.314,0:11:52.656
And we got to work together.

0:11:52.656,0:11:55.514
We started creating a political strategy[br]and a media strategy

0:11:55.514,0:11:56.956
that complemented each other.

0:11:56.956,0:11:58.388
We looked at the Scottish Law,

0:11:58.388,0:12:01.013
and he created the new[br]legislation we needed here.

0:12:01.013,0:12:03.885
And then we went and got[br]the best legal authorities in the UK

0:12:03.885,0:12:06.149
to corroborate that and stand behind it.

0:12:06.149,0:12:09.124
We did that because it meant[br]when we went into Parliament,

0:12:09.124,0:12:11.278
we were making it[br]as easy as possible for MPs.

0:12:11.278,0:12:13.830
We were just giving them[br]a solution, not a problem.

0:12:14.743,0:12:16.770
We met with MPs from all parties.

0:12:16.770,0:12:18.435
That was really important to us.

0:12:18.435,0:12:22.426
And that's because this wasn't[br]a Labour issue or a Conservative issue.

0:12:22.426,0:12:24.057
It was a human issue.

0:12:24.607,0:12:26.561
And that 's when I learnt this:

0:12:27.356,0:12:29.915
Human rights aren't about party politics.

0:12:29.915,0:12:32.484
Party politics is a game, I've seen it.

0:12:32.484,0:12:34.482
Human rights are about values and morals.

0:12:34.482,0:12:36.588
So instead of everything[br]being left or right,

0:12:36.588,0:12:38.712
upskirting being a 'lefty issue',

0:12:38.712,0:12:41.304
let's start looking up and down more.

0:12:41.304,0:12:44.394
Who is society harder on?[br]Who is society easier for?

0:12:44.394,0:12:46.990
If we start doing that,[br]we'll start getting work done.

0:12:47.954,0:12:49.726
After months of meetings,

0:12:49.726,0:12:53.854
we'd kind of built an army of MPs[br]in those four walls,

0:12:53.854,0:12:57.277
and we tabled a private member's[br]bill to change the law.

0:12:57.277,0:12:59.808
A year of politics ensued.

0:13:00.179,0:13:04.836
That bill was killed and objected to[br]by an MP called Christopher Chope,

0:13:04.836,0:13:08.928
who, when I asked him why,[br]told me, and I quote, 'He hadn't read it.'

0:13:10.434,0:13:13.332
He said he objected on principle,[br]but that was disproved.

0:13:13.332,0:13:16.164
If you ask me, he saw this as trivial -

0:13:16.164,0:13:17.666
a lot of people do.

0:13:17.666,0:13:21.243
And he also didn't like the young girl[br]coming in and getting a bill through,

0:13:21.243,0:13:22.716
when he's tabled 47 of his own.

0:13:22.716,0:13:24.196
That's politics.

0:13:24.766,0:13:26.632
There are good people in there, though.

0:13:26.632,0:13:29.892
The next day, me and Ryan met[br]with the Justice Minister, Lucy Frazer,

0:13:29.892,0:13:33.642
and we tabled a government bill[br]that couldn't be objected to by MPs.

0:13:33.909,0:13:36.205
We saw that bill through for a year -

0:13:36.205,0:13:38.640
a year that I was fraught with nerves

0:13:38.640,0:13:41.611
that this thing we'd almost done[br]might fall at the last hurdle.

0:13:41.611,0:13:44.244
But thankfully, January 2019 came,

0:13:44.244,0:13:46.230
and me, and my family, and Ryan

0:13:46.230,0:13:48.544
squeezed in to the gallery[br]at the House of Lords,

0:13:48.544,0:13:51.518
and we watched them[br]pass our law unamended,

0:13:51.518,0:13:53.275
practically as we created it.

0:13:53.275,0:13:54.902
And that's the kind of law you get

0:13:54.902,0:13:57.829
when it's driven by someone[br]who has lived the problem.

0:13:57.829,0:13:59.116
(Cheers)

0:13:59.116,0:14:00.139
Thanks.

0:14:00.139,0:14:02.679
(Applause)

0:14:09.114,0:14:12.779
Then I went to the pub,[br]and I drank my weight in red wine,

0:14:12.779,0:14:13.866
and I cried a lot.

0:14:13.866,0:14:16.607
And then I danced to '90s pop,[br]and I ate pizza with my mum

0:14:16.607,0:14:18.572
because that's survivors deserve.

0:14:19.312,0:14:21.710
(Applause)

0:14:23.183,0:14:25.483
In the eight months[br]after we outlawed upskirting,

0:14:25.483,0:14:28.882
there had been one report to police[br]almost every single day.

0:14:29.356,0:14:32.056
We prosecuted 10 men by Christmas.

0:14:32.056,0:14:37.094
One was a convicted paedophile[br]who got two years in prison.

0:14:37.094,0:14:40.428
Another was a man who was seen filming[br]under a 16-year-old girl's skirt

0:14:40.428,0:14:41.441
at a supermarket,

0:14:41.441,0:14:46.183
and when police arrested him, they found[br]250,000 indecent images of children.

0:14:46.183,0:14:47.869
This law isn't catching upskirters.

0:14:47.869,0:14:52.429
It's catching sexual offenders,[br]predators, paedophiles.

0:14:52.429,0:14:54.639
And that's because of this next lesson:

0:14:56.109,0:14:58.724
All misogyny and sexual[br]violence is connected.

0:14:58.724,0:15:01.902
Therefore, all of it is the problem,[br]none of it is trivial.

0:15:01.902,0:15:03.615
We have to remember that.

0:15:04.924,0:15:07.417
The coverage that followed[br]the law change was lovely.

0:15:07.417,0:15:09.139
It was really powerful and positive.

0:15:09.139,0:15:11.138
And I needed that,[br]we needed that, I think.

0:15:11.138,0:15:13.908
It felt good to have someone[br]who took on the establishment,

0:15:13.908,0:15:15.263
who was normal and won.

0:15:15.263,0:15:17.082
But I started to feel weird

0:15:17.762,0:15:20.572
because the two years campaigning[br]wasn't actually like that.

0:15:20.572,0:15:22.751
This was what campaigning was like.

0:15:23.800,0:15:25.114
And I will cry, but it's OK

0:15:25.114,0:15:27.514
because not crying[br]isn't about power anymore.

0:15:27.514,0:15:29.367
You can still be powerful and cry.

0:15:31.186,0:15:34.247
And I got online abuse, rape threats,[br]slut-shaming for two years.

0:15:34.247,0:15:35.658
I still get them now.

0:15:36.497,0:15:37.833
And I want you to read these

0:15:37.833,0:15:40.133
as if you're reading them[br]about someone you love.

0:15:40.133,0:15:41.263
Because -

0:15:42.567,0:15:43.861
(Sniffs)

0:15:47.125,0:15:49.744
We have to stop calling them trolls[br]because they're not.

0:15:49.744,0:15:52.833
They're the people who work[br]in coffee shops that serve you coffee.

0:15:52.833,0:15:54.985
They work in your offices,[br]they're everywhere.

0:15:54.985,0:15:58.533
They're people who are so angry[br]about a woman standing up for herself

0:15:58.533,0:16:00.344
that they will threaten her with rape.

0:16:00.344,0:16:01.764
And there's a lot of them.

0:16:01.764,0:16:04.538
And I know you don't want to hear this[br]because we never do,

0:16:04.538,0:16:05.590
but they're all guys.

0:16:05.590,0:16:07.473
(Cries)

0:16:09.115,0:16:12.302
No doubt when this video goes up[br]on YouTube, I'll get more of them.

0:16:13.244,0:16:17.642
And among the nice comments,[br]the supportive ones - because there are -

0:16:17.642,0:16:19.311
and the hard ones,

0:16:19.311,0:16:21.896
there will be one phrase[br]that comes up again and again.

0:16:21.896,0:16:23.714
It's not the scariest I've dealt with,

0:16:23.714,0:16:27.010
but it is the most effective[br]at derailing this important conversation.

0:16:27.010,0:16:29.280
It will say, 'Not all men.'

0:16:30.058,0:16:31.975
And to that I'll say this,

0:16:32.385,0:16:35.718
'No, not all men, but too many.'

0:16:36.801,0:16:38.485
Too many men, for some reason,

0:16:38.485,0:16:41.115
feel entitled to women[br]and marginalized genders' bodies.

0:16:41.115,0:16:44.482
Too many men, whether[br]through action or inaction,

0:16:44.482,0:16:46.900
are perpetuating a culture of sexism

0:16:46.900,0:16:49.791
that breeds inequality[br]and that leads to violence.

0:16:49.791,0:16:52.091
And if you want to use[br]the phrase 'Not all men',

0:16:52.091,0:16:53.617
how about we use it like this?

0:16:54.033,0:16:56.038
'Not all men are calling out their friends

0:16:56.038,0:16:59.072
when he says something to a woman[br]he would never say to a guy.

0:16:59.571,0:17:01.551
Not all men are looking up these phrases,

0:17:01.551,0:17:04.958
learning what rape culture really is,[br]how misogyny really operates.

0:17:04.958,0:17:07.956
And no, not all men are perpetrators,[br]of course they're not.

0:17:07.956,0:17:11.143
But all the ones who aren't[br]should be solving this with us.

0:17:12.286,0:17:14.870
Because maybe if they were,[br]we'd be living in a society

0:17:14.870,0:17:18.368
where when I talk to guys[br]or male politicians about sexual violence,

0:17:18.368,0:17:19.751
they want to solve it with me

0:17:19.751,0:17:22.809
more than they want to prove[br]that they're not the problem.

0:17:22.809,0:17:25.639
Maybe if we were living in that world,

0:17:25.639,0:17:28.498
when someone upskirts me[br]and takes photos without my consent,

0:17:28.498,0:17:30.018
I don't have to almost lose it,

0:17:30.018,0:17:33.449
creating a law that should[br]have already been there for me.'

0:17:35.721,0:17:37.430
Because here's the thing.

0:17:37.888,0:17:40.566
When good men do engage with this work,

0:17:40.566,0:17:44.993
when they really want to solve this,[br]and they meaningfully engage, it works.

0:17:45.495,0:17:47.706
Without Ryan as my ally,

0:17:47.706,0:17:51.339
demanding a seat for me in Parliament,[br]amplifying my voice, listening to me -

0:17:51.339,0:17:52.846
the law wouldn't have changed.

0:17:53.252,0:17:55.444
And there are good men[br]that I know and love

0:17:55.444,0:17:58.439
reading the books on gender,[br]feminism, racism.

0:17:58.439,0:18:01.546
They're doing the work,[br]they're going to the events and listening.

0:18:01.546,0:18:04.449
They're not waiting for a woman[br]to explain this stuff to them.

0:18:04.449,0:18:06.423
But from where I stand, there's too few.

0:18:06.954,0:18:08.904
And we need more of you.

0:18:10.015,0:18:14.913
And that brings us onto our final[br]and most important lesson:

0:18:16.789,0:18:19.715
Communities that are oppressed[br]should not be left to dismantle

0:18:19.715,0:18:21.936
the thing that's been built against them.

0:18:22.449,0:18:25.462
You have to listen to your privilege,[br]learn about it and use it

0:18:25.462,0:18:27.876
and assist them in that fight.

0:18:31.099,0:18:34.253
Look, I know listening to this is heavy,[br]I get it, I'm tired too.

0:18:34.253,0:18:38.687
But I'm also positive,[br]and I'm strong like you are.

0:18:38.687,0:18:41.035
And I genuinely believe we can solve this.

0:18:41.035,0:18:43.377
Every day in this work[br]I get to see amazing people

0:18:43.377,0:18:45.671
who are pushing to make[br]the world a better place.

0:18:45.671,0:18:46.731
I see it all the time.

0:18:46.731,0:18:48.979
Hate and intolerance[br]are very loud, they scream.

0:18:48.979,0:18:51.806
But good people, compassionate people,[br]are quiet and humble.

0:18:51.806,0:18:53.375
They're getting on with the work.

0:18:53.375,0:18:55.395
You might not hear them,[br]but they're there.

0:18:55.395,0:18:57.774
And yes, there may always be[br]a level of inequality,

0:18:57.774,0:19:00.463
but we can shorten those[br]peaks and troughs if we want to.

0:19:00.463,0:19:02.848
That's on me, that's on all of you.

0:19:03.476,0:19:05.310
So when you leave this room tonight,

0:19:05.310,0:19:07.419
have a think about[br]where you hold privilege -

0:19:07.419,0:19:08.561
it might be in your job,

0:19:08.561,0:19:11.981
as a parent, as a teacher,[br]or just in the colour of your skin -

0:19:11.981,0:19:14.290
and start this work now.

0:19:14.290,0:19:17.304
Stop laughing at the jokes,[br]buy the book, go to the event,

0:19:17.304,0:19:21.027
diversify your social feeds,[br]ask the questions.

0:19:21.027,0:19:23.420
Sympathy is soothing,[br]but it doesn't go far enough.

0:19:23.420,0:19:24.891
Action does.

0:19:25.422,0:19:27.150
And listen, you'll get things wrong.

0:19:27.150,0:19:29.788
We all do, I've had some clangers.

0:19:29.788,0:19:32.171
But it's not about perfection,[br]it's about progress,

0:19:32.171,0:19:34.905
it's about doing it[br]because it's the right thing to do.

0:19:35.660,0:19:38.936
We are so done with waiting for society[br]to 'change things' for us.

0:19:38.936,0:19:40.821
We literally are society.

0:19:41.734,0:19:42.760
And let's be honest,

0:19:42.760,0:19:45.381
if someone who's lost[br]23 debit cards can change a law,

0:19:45.381,0:19:47.391
then I feel like you can do something too.

0:19:47.391,0:19:48.408
(Laughter)

0:19:48.408,0:19:50.420
Thank you very much,[br]I've been Gina Martin.

0:19:50.420,0:19:53.250
(Applause) (Cheers)