By Southampton Women Against the Far Right.
We are Southampton Women Against the Far Right. The far right are weaponising women’s safety to spread racism and division, and we are part of a national campaign uniting against these attempts to divide us.
The recent International Women’s Day reminds us that progress for women has never been handed down from above. It has always been won when people organise together, refuse division, and stand shoulder to shoulder across race, class and background. This is the tradition we carry forward, but we are facing dangerous attempts to undermine that solidarity.
Across the country, the far right are taking advantage of the very real problem of women’s safety, to harass and intimidate refugees and asylum seekers.
Violence against women and girls is an urgent crisis, and instead of confronting that crisis honestly, far-right groups are exploiting it. They are attempting to racialise sexual violence, claiming that migrants, refugees and Muslim men pose the greatest threat to women.
The reality of violence against women tells a different story.
In the UK, over one in four women experience sexual assault or attempted sexual assault during their lifetime. The perpetrator is most often a partner, family member or acquaintance: in 2025 the Office for National Statistics reported that the majority of rapes are committed by a man known to the victim.
In 2024, the centre for child sexual abuse showed that white men are disproportionately more likely to commit child sexual abuse (nine tenths of defendants where ethnicity recorded were white). Facts show that the majority of sexual assaults in the UK are committed by white British men, reflecting the wider population.
Far-right groups rarely acknowledge this because it does not fit their narrative.
They present themselves as defenders of women, whilst hijacking the suffering of survivors to promote racism and division.
Their concern for women only extends as far as it serves their political agenda and when women challenge them, we often become targets ourselves. We have seen this in the harassment of women who have stood against the hate rallies of the so-called “Southampton Patriots”, facing verbal abuse, intimidation and threats simply for standing in solidarity with refugees.
These same groups then spread lies, claiming that women opposing their politics are somehow defending perpetrators of violence. When we write about the way the far right weaponises women’s safety to attack migrants and refugees, we are not writing about something abstract, but a lived experience of their disregard for women’s safety.
All the while, we repeatedly and nationally see the hypocrisy of these groups in their own actions: police data from the anti-refugee riots across the UK in 2024 showed that over 40% of those arrested had previously been reported for domestic abuse — these are the men claiming to stand for women’s safety (as shown in police data released under an FOI request. Amongst those arrested by one police force the figure was 68%.). We also see this hypocrisy in parliament, where Reform have voted against bills aimed at preventing workplace sexual harassment, and the sharing of nonconsensual images ( Earlier this year, Reform voted against the Employment Rights Bill, aimed at preventing workplace sexual harassment. It also promised to replace the Equality Act 2010 and scrap all equality, diversity and inclusion measures – the very protections that underpin women’s rights in law. According to the deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, Reform risks “failing a generation of young women” with their pledge to scrap the Online Safety Act – a law designed to tackle revenge porn).
Let us be absolutely clear.
Women Against the Far Right believes that anyone accused of violence or sexual violence should face justice through the law, irrespective of their background.
What we reject is the far right’s attempt to turn violence against women into a racist political weapon.
The far right amplify cases involving migrants or refugees and present them as evidence of a wider threat. This doesn’t protect women, only whipping up racism and distracting us from the real causes of violence against women.
Their racialising of sexual violence damages genuine campaigning about violence against women and girls. It shifts attention away from the systemic problems that allow abuse to continue and it diverts energy away from the real solutions — properly funded services, prevention work and cultural change.
Racist narratives about protecting women have deep historical roots.
For centuries they have been used to justify discrimination and violence against racialised men. Today those same narratives are amplified through online disinformation; stories are distorted, rare crimes are presented as a widespread pattern, fear spreads faster than facts and migrants and refugees become convenient scapegoats.
Survivors are failed not by “political correctness”, but by disbelief and criminal justice systems that too often fail victims. And cultures of sexual violence are impacting all areas of our communities.
A member of our group recently described what she is witnessing in schools. She spoke about the influence of misogynistic and far-right content that young boys are being exposed to online, and how this is shaping their behaviour (Nigel Farage has called one such influencer, Andrew Tate, an “important voice for young men”. ). She described a rise in sexual harassment, including boys creating explicit AI images of girls. Some incidents have warranted police involvement and — disturbingly — the highest number of incidents have involved year 7 pupils, as young as 11.
This tells us something important – the problem is not migrants. The problem is the normalisation of misogyny and the online radicalisation of young men and boys. The far right’s baseless focus on ethnicity distracts us from the real issue of systemic misogyny.
At the same time, racialised women are often erased from these conversations, despite facing disproportionate levels of violence, alongside racism and discrimination.
Multiple women in our community report avoiding public spaces because they fear both racist abuse and gendered harassment: misogyny and racism at the same time. The far right’s attacks on migrant rights repeatedly demonstrate the emptiness of their claim to care about women. This seems only to include white women, while refugee and migrant women suffer under their racist attacks and calls for deportation. Real safety, for all women, comes from tackling misogyny and racism together.
The far right use similar tactics to target the LGBTQ+ community, particularly trans people. Just as migrants and refugees are falsely portrayed as threats to women’s safety, trans women are scapegoated and demonised. The far right use the same fear mongering approach; spreading misinformation, isolating minority communities, and attempting to divide people who should be standing together. We have seen a chilling rise in anti-trans rhetoric and legislation, alongside divisive anti-migrant sentiment.
Women Against the Far Right stands united against such attempts to divide us. We are inclusive of all women, fighting for our safety and empowerment together. Attempts to divide women from one another, whether along lines of race, migration status, or gender identity, ultimately weaken the fight for safety, equality and justice for everyone.
If we want to take violence against women seriously, we must centre survivors’ voices, act on evidence, and address systemic misogyny by investing in services, prevention and education. The far right offers none of these solutions, instead choosing fear, scapegoating and division.
This is why Women Against the Far Right was formed. Across the country, thousands of people have signed our open letter, joining over 100 women’s organisations opposing far-right weaponisation of violence against women. Too many of us have experienced abuse to allow others to lie about our suffering. We can speak for ourselves. And when we do, we say clearly: Women’s rights will not be used as a cover for racism.
Our solidarity must be active: there are several ways people can get involved:
You can join the regular counter-protests against the far right in Southampton — make it clear that groups spreading racism and division do not represent our communities. (One such protest will be taking placed this evening (20/4/26), meeting outside Waitrose in Portswood at 6pm.)
You can join the Together Alliance national demonstration in London on the 28th of March. Coaches will be coming from across the country, including Southampton – tickets are still available here.
You can also join the Southampton Women Against the Far-Right group, or Southampton Stand Up to Racism group, helping to build networks to challenge racism and misogyny in our communities.
We can challenge racism, misogyny and far-right narratives wherever we encounter them — online, in workplaces and community spaces. The far right thrives when people stay silent, but weakens when people speak out and stand together. Let us stand together.
And let us say clearly: Women’s rights. Migrant rights. One struggle. One fight.
Find us on Instagram: @southamptonwafr
Email: womenagainstthefarright@outlook.com
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