News and events
Statement on UK social media ban
We believe everyone should be able access the knowledge, connection, and fun that the online world has to offer. As the online and offline worlds continue to blend, the internet increasingly helps us keep in touch with friends and family, be part of communities, and look up information or learn new skills.
But social media apps platform misogynistic content that they target at young men and boys through algorithmic recommendations, misogynistic attitudes are rising amongst young men, and girls are experiencing online and offline violence, including boys using AI to make fake videos of their girl classmates where they are naked and performing sexual acts. Some of this violence is being perceived as normal. For example, choking being expected during sex, due to its proliferation in pornography. Aspects of the online world are harming young people, and the UK government is planning to respond by restricting young people’s access to social media – removing them from the benefits the online world brings whilst allowing such extremist misogynistic content to flourish online.
But a more impactful solution is to put responsibility for online harms where it rightfully belongs and create a safer online environment, whilst also addressing the root cause of misogyny and violence. We can do this by regulating social media platforms to require them to meaningfully build safety, wellbeing, and accessibility into their design. Such changes would include moderating harmful content, demonetising harmful content, and designing more diverse and less addictive algorithms. The government can invest in national programmes and campaigns that equip people with the skills to think critically, be respectful, and make responsible decisions, such as:
-
Compulsory inclusive Relationship, Sexual Health, and Parenthood education that covers healthy relationships, misogyny, and online harm
-
Digital literacy that increases young people’s critical thinking and supports them to recognise influencers’ financial motivations
-
Prevention programmes that create spaces for boys and young men to explore masculinity, gender, and sex
The government can require technology companies to design safer platforms, creating a healthier online environment, and invest in equipping children with the skills to engage with content critically and navigate the online world confidently.
Three women and a young girl killed in Scotland in six weeks: we must invest in prevention of violence against women and girls
Three women and a young girl killed in Scotland in six weeks: we must invest in prevention of violence against women and girls
4 August 2026
*Updated 6 August to include name of Minnie Merriman
For immediate release
Zero Tolerance, Scotland’s primary prevention experts on ending men’s violence against women, is deeply saddened by the reported killings in the past six weeks of three women by former partners, as well as that of a young girl.
- Stacey Hogg – Hawick
- Vikki Soloman – Edinburgh
- Stacy Mair – Renfrewshire
- Minnie Merriman – Arbroath
We are also aware that many other acts of men’s violence against women and girls happen across Scotland on a daily basis. This week will see the sentencing of Osarenkhoe Atutie at Glasgow High court for a knife attack on his ex-wife Victory Atutie in Edinburgh last year. Sexual violence continues to occur at endemic proportions, affecting individuals and communities on a devastating scale. And women of colour across Scotland are receiving increasing levels of misogynistic, racist abuse.
Our thoughts are with all those impacted.
Jodie McVicar, Chair of the Board of Trustees, said:
‘We need a long-term national commitment to preventing violence rather than simply responding to its consequences.
Every woman has the right to live free from fear and violence. Preventing more deaths and violence against women and girls requires collective action from government, public services, communities, employers and individuals.
The loss of three women and a girl in such a short period should be a moment for reflection and renewed commitment. We owe it to all women who have died, and to those currently living with abuse, to do more than express outrage after the fact. We must act earlier, act together, and invest in prevention’
Rachel Adamson, Co-Director of Zero Tolerance said:
‘Violence against women and girls is rooted in inequality and harmful attitudes that continue to persist across society. The recent murders of Stacey, Vikki, Stacy and Minnie, are a stark reminder of the work we all need to do to tackle that inequality and prevent all forms of violence against women and girls.
These awful acts of violence against women are often used to justify increased policing and surveillance that can place communities at further harm. Instead, there must be investment in prevention methods that tackle root causes and support long-term societal change.
At Zero Tolerance we believe that a Scotland free from men’s violence against women and girls is possible – we can create a world where we all live peacefully and respected as equal members of our community. But as the recent murders have shown, our communities continue to suffer from high levels of men’s violence against women and girls. We live in a Scotland where violence in schools is inspired by misogynistic online content, and anti-rights movements are sowing division.
We must all shift our focus to changing the environment that produces violence and abuse. We must cultivate conditions across our communities that allow equality, empathy, and respect to take root.
We can create a Scotland where everyone can thrive by:
- implementing policies that strengthen equality between people and address inequality
- enhancing community cohesion
- embedding prevention throughout education to challenge harmful stereotypes from an early age
- designing and building a gender equal online world to tackle online misogyny and technology-facilitated abuse.
We can all play a part but it requires investment. We call on the Government for a properly resourced approach that centres the voices of the most marginalised, engages men in the conversation and recognises that everyone benefits from equality’.
ENDS
Media enquiries:
Rachel Adamson, Co-Director, Zero Tolerance
Call 07484 046367 or email info@zerotolerance.org.uk
Notes to Editors :
About Zero Tolerance
Zero Tolerance is a Scottish charity working to end men’s violence against women by promoting gender equality and challenging attitudes that normalise violence and abuse. We work to end violence against women through tackling the root cause of this violence - gender inequality.
https://www.zerotolerance.org.uk/
Zero Tolerance offers a range of resources for journalists including free stock images to illustrate articles dealing with violence against women.
Our response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on adding the characteristic of Sex into hate crime legislation
We are disappointed with the proposal to add sex as a characteristic to existing hate crime legislation.
The Scottish Government committed to implementing the recommendations of the Independent Working Group on Misogyny, published in ‘Misogyny: A Human Rights Issue’, for a standalone Misogyny Bill. Adding the characteristic of Sex into hate crime legislation is an ineffective response to rising misogyny and fails to protect and ensure the rights of women and girls.
Reasons for a standalone Misogyny Bill
- A Misogyny Bill better protects women as a majority group, as opposed to hate crime legislation, which is designed to protect minorities
- A Misogyny Bill better recognises the complexity and nuance of misogyny, which is not only portrayed by acts of hate but also of prejudice and inequality
- A Misogyny Bill will better protect the rights of trans women who experience misogyny and transphobia at the same time
- A Misogyny Bill recognises that the issue of misogyny is not gender neutral - women experience misogyny because we are women. The approach outlined by the government does not recognise this.
Misogyny is on the rise in Scotland.
We call on the Scottish Government to heed the evidence which has been laid out by equalities organisations since 2018, and bring a Misogyny Bill to Parliament.
Call for a safe and equal Scotland
We all want an equal Scotland free of men’s violence against women and girls.
The next Scottish Parliament election is a chance to set Scotland’s focus for the next five years. It’s vital that ending men’s violence against women and girls must be at the heart of it.
In the run up to May’s election, political parties will use their manifestos to tell us what they care about and what actions they’ll commit to if elected.
These commitments will shape the policies, budgets, and services the new parliament will put in place - aka they will impact waiting times for hospital appointments, running of public transport, how we take care of our local community...
and what action is being taken to end men’s violence against women and girls.
If preventing men’s violence against women and girls isn’t in their manifestos, it won’t be on their agenda.
That’s why we’ve launched our manifesto - to show every party that ending men’s violence against women and girls must be a national priority.
By investing in prevention, we can build a safer, fairer Scotland for everyone.
You can help make sure this happens!
- Share our manifesto with your MSP or candidate and ask them to back prevention. The more voices they hear, the harder it is to ignore.
- Share our manifesto on socials
- Let people know you’ve emailed our manifesto to your MSP, and told them that ending men’s violence against women and girls is important to you
Together, we can make prevention a political priority.
Together, we can end men’s violence against women and girls.
New prevention tool: Evidence and ideas for communicating to encourage men to get involved in preventing men’s violence against women and girls
We want a Scotland free from men’s violence against women and girls.
This is achievable and we have solutions!
Key to success is tackling the root cause of the issue – gender inequality.
It’s an ambitious goal, but across Scotland people are dedicating time and energy to achieving this in many different ways, such as:
-
working for equal representation in our government and parliament
-
reducing the gender pay gap
-
encouraging more girls to choose science, technology, engineering, and mathematic subjects at school and enter STEM careers
But so often, when we talk about gender equality and ending men’s violence against women and girls, we’re preaching to the choir. These issues are often framed as ‘women’s issues’ and women’s responsibility.
Men tune out. Either feeling the conversation isn’t relevant to them or that it isn’t their place to join in.
Improving things requires widespread culture, attitude, and behaviour change throughout Scotland – including men and boys.
So the questions is...
How do we encourage men to get involved in preventing men’s violence against women and girls?
Our search for an answer led us to partnering with White Ribbon Scotland and working with Equally Ours.
‘Addressing men’s violence against women and girls: evidence and ideas for communicating with men’ summarises our foundational research on this topic. It gives evidence on how best to talk to Scottish men aged 16 – 45 who believe in gender equality but don’t often think about or take action on it.
We successfully developed messaging that leads these men to better understand:
-
the link between gender inequality and men’s violence against women and girls
-
that gender equality benefits everyone –and support it
-
their role in men’s ending violence against women and girls
This work will be most useful for those doing community prevention work, running campaigns that include men as an audience, and working with men on masculinity.
The aims of this project are ambitious. Achieving wide scale narrative change takes time and repetition.
We will be publishing a toolkit to support actioning these findings – sign up to our new newsletter, and be the first to receive a copy!
RSS
Zero Tolerance IWD22 Press Release