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A group of male celebrities including Michael Sheen, Jason Manford and Gary Neville are calling for misogyny to be made a hate crime.
Stella Creasy, Labour and Co-operative Party MP for Walthamstow, is campaigning to 'include misogyny in our hate crime legislation', meaning offences motivated by a hatred of women would be treated similarly as those motivated by racism or religious intolerance.
In an open letter to House of Lords members, bearing the names of several famous men, she calls for the Government to accept the 'Newlove amendment' to the Policing Bill when it is debated on January 17.
Comedian David Baddiel, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, and former Chief Prosecutor Nazir Afzal OBE all have their names featured on the open letter, which calls for the Government to 'modernise our hate crime laws'.
Mr Afzal today tweeted a link to the letter, tagging fellow men who signed it and writing: 'MEN must take responsibility for MALE violence... sign the letter please.'
The Law Commission, which recommends legal changes, had in December last year argued that the move to make misogyny a hate crime would create 'hierarchies of victims' - and make prosecuting rape and domestic abuse more difficult.
Race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity are the five protected characteristics under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and section 66 of the Sentencing Act 2020, but campaigners want sex and gender added to this.
A group of male celebrities including Michael Sheen, Jason Manford and Gary Neville are calling for misogyny to be made a hate crime
The names of Michael Sheen (left) and former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams (right) also appear on the open letter
Current sentencing guidelines specifically name 'racial or religious' aspects of higher culpability offences as aggravating factors - meaning if these played a role in the crime the punishment will likely be more severe.
The 'Newlove amendment', put forward by Tory life peer and former victims' commissioner Baroness Newlove, calls for a new clause to be inserted into the bill specifically outlining 'aggravation of offences on grounds of hostility related to sex or gender'.
Ms Creasy's open letter states: 'It is right that we already give judges and prosecutors discretion to treat hatred of other protected characteristics as an aggravating factor, but the continuing exclusion of misogyny and misandry from this list risks giving the impression that crimes motivated by hatred of women are somehow less serious than homophobic or racist violence.'
It adds: 'Making this simple change would send a powerful symbol about how seriously we as a society take violence against women and girls. It is time to give all women equal protection from being targeted for harm because they are women.
'Please vote for the Newlove amendment.'
In October last year Boris Johnson brushed off calls to formally recognise misogyny as a hate crime, instead arguing the 'abundance' of existing laws
