The Police are Not the Friends of Women, or Anyone Else

Building an anti-carceral feminism

6 min read

Just now

A topic that is not exactly a stranger when it comes to discussions surrounding feminism is the topic of policing. Much has been said by feminist writers and thinkers over the last several decades or even longer when it comes to how we should approach this topic. Naturally, when you think about how big or vague this discussion can get depending on who you talk to, it is obvious that many people have lots of different perspectives on this.

Some people might view the problems of policing as something that can be reformed or changed by giving women more of a role in the police force. I, however, take a much more radical approach to this question and argue that the police are not friends of women, feminism, or anyone else but the ruling class.

What we have to understand when discussing the police is that they are first and foremost, an arm of the state and one that actively works to uphold the laws and interests of the state. The first police force was created in England in the early 19th century, and it was created in order to put down the early working-class organisations that had been plaguing England during the early days of the industrial revolution. The reason why this is an explicitly feminist concern is because feminists have constantly…