Changing Minds – a new comic strip to fight misogyny hate crime

A new cartoon-style educational tool to help tackle the harassment of women and girls has been unveiled by experts from Nottingham’s two universities as part of a unique zero-tolerance strategy being pioneered throughout Nottinghamshire.

The graphic novel-style comic strip, called Changing Minds, has been created by language and criminology experts from the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University, with Nottingham-based graphic art company Dawn of the Unread, run by James Walker, and artist Kim Thompson. It is available online and as a free download.

The Changing Minds comic, funded by Research England via the University of Nottingham’s Institute for Policy and Engagement in collaboration with Nottingham Citizens, is the latest part of a package of educational resources commissioned as part of the Misogyny Hate Crime Report published in 2018. This research showed that 87% of people questioned believed it was a good idea to make misogyny a hate crime in Nottinghamshire.

Louise Mullany, linguistics expert Professor from University of Nottingham’s School of English said: ‘The comic’s medium is a highly effective way of communicating these vital messages about the real-life impact of street harassment on women and girls, particularly to the minority of those men who feel peer pressure to behave like this in public spaces, including public transport.

‘We are appealing to teachers, educators and community leaders to use this resource to initiate discussion and debate to change these persistent and damaging cultural practices.’

Changing Minds is available online and as a free download.