Catherine and Joyce Reveal Sexist Policing Past
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Catherine and Joyce recount their experiences as early female police officers, highlighting the sexism they faced, including being given handbags instead of truncheons and enduring inappropriate behavior from male colleagues. Ann is horrified by the stories shared, contrasting with the humorous tone of Catherine and Joyce.
Catherine tells the story of how she punched Inspector Leonard Stott for groping her, showcasing her defiant nature and refusal to tolerate sexism. Joyce confirms that others left due to similar mistreatment.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Horrified and bewildered, but her laughter suggests a need to release the tension of the stories. She’s clearly affected by the weight of their experiences, even as she tries to engage with humor.
Ann listens with a mix of horror and bewilderment, her expressions shifting from confusion to laughter as the stories grow darker. She interjects with a straightforward question—‘So you were a police officer?’—her tone suggesting she’s trying to process the absurdity of what she’s hearing. Her laughter at the end is a release of tension, a fleeting moment of levity in an otherwise heavy conversation. She is the primary audience for Catherine and Joyce’s revelations, her reactions grounding the stories in the present.
- • To understand the realities of Catherine and Joyce’s past, even as the details shock her.
- • To connect with them on a personal level, using laughter as a way to process the darkness of their stories.
- • That the sexism they describe is almost unbelievable, yet undeniably true.
- • That their stories are a warning about the dangers of unchecked institutional power.
Dryly amused on the surface, but her humor is a coping mechanism for the deep-seated frustration and resignation she feels about the sexism they endured. There’s a quiet solidarity in her support of Catherine’s story.
Joyce engages in the conversation with dry, understated humor, demonstrating the length of the 'doodah things' (truncheons) with her hands and winking at the mention of bricks in handbags. She adopts a daft voice to mimic the gauntlet of harassment in the CID office, her tone shifting to somber when Catherine describes Stott’s groping. Her responses are concise, often one-liners, but carry the weight of shared experience. She leans into the group’s dynamic, ensuring Ann is included in the conversation.
- • To reinforce Catherine’s account with her own experiences, using humor to make the horror more digestible for Ann.
- • To maintain the group’s camaraderie while acknowledging the gravity of their shared past.
- • That humor is a necessary tool for surviving and recounting traumatic experiences.
- • That the institutional sexism of their era was so normalized that resistance was nearly impossible, as evidenced by her admission that ‘you had to’ take it.
Neutral and composed, but attuned to the need to lighten the mood. He’s not dismissive of the stories, but he recognizes when the group needs a shift.
Shaf is peripheral to the core conversation but plays a crucial role in shifting the group’s dynamic. He turns to Ann and nudges her, offering tequilas as a way to transition from the heavy storytelling to socializing. His interruption is gentle but firm, signaling that the moment of reckoning is over, and it’s time to return to the levity of the night out. His presence is steady and approachable, a counterbalance to the intensity of Catherine and Joyce’s stories.
- • To ease the group out of the heavy conversation and back into socializing, using tequilas as a bridge.
- • To ensure Ann feels included and comfortable, nudging her to join the group activity.
- • That moments of levity are necessary to balance the weight of their work and personal histories.
- • That his role as a team member includes managing the emotional tone of group gatherings.
Not applicable (recalled figure), but his actions are portrayed as leering, entitled, and ultimately cowardly. The group’s reaction to his memory is one of dark humor and satisfaction at his comeuppance.
Stott is not physically present but is vividly recalled through Catherine’s reenactment of his groping and her punch. His actions are described with visceral detail—Catherine’s leering imitation of his advances and the thud of her fist—painting him as a predatory figure whose harassment was met with permanent silence. His absence after the punch is noted as a quiet victory, his avoidance of Catherine a testament to the power of her defiance.
- • N/A (recalled figure), but his actions in the past were to assert dominance and harass female officers.
- • N/A, but his avoidance of Catherine after the punch symbolizes the temporary triumph of resistance over abuse.
- • N/A, but his behavior reflects the belief that female officers were fair game for harassment.
- • N/A, but his avoidance suggests a belief that power comes from unchecked entitlement—until it’s challenged.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The 1980s female officers’ issue handbags are central to the conversation, symbolizing the absurd and dangerous policies that forced women to carry oversized bags—large enough to hide a brick—as their primary ‘weapon.’ Catherine and Joyce use the handbags as a metaphor for the institutional sexism they faced, with Joyce winking as she notes their impracticality. The handbags are never physically present but are vividly evoked through dialogue and gesture, serving as a tangible reminder of the dehumanizing policies that treated female officers as second-class citizens.
The ‘doodah things’—the tiny truncheons issued to female officers—are brought to life through Joyce’s physical demonstration, her hands spreading to mimic their inadequate six or seven inches. Catherine’s comparison to a ‘vibrator’ adds a layer of dark humor, highlighting the absurdity of equipping women with weapons that were effectively useless. The truncheons are never physically present but are vividly described, serving as a counterpoint to the handbags and reinforcing the narrative of institutional neglect. Their mention underscores the force’s refusal to treat female officers as equals, forcing them to rely on improvised defenses like bricks in handbags.
Shaf’s tequilas serve as a transitional object, marking the shift from the heavy storytelling about sexism to the group’s return to socializing. The clear shots or glasses sit ready on the table, their sharp scent cutting through the darker mood of the conversation. Shaf’s offer to Ann—‘We’re doing tequilas us lot, are you joining us?’—signals a pivot in the group’s dynamic, using the tequilas as a bridge to levity. The object itself is functional but also symbolic, representing the group’s need to balance the weight of their pasts with moments of joy and connection.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Grappollo’s Restaurant serves as a neutral yet charged ground for this conversation, its lively atmosphere—ABBA playing Money Money Money, wine and beer flowing, the hum of conversation—contrasting with the dark stories being told. The restaurant’s bustling energy provides a backdrop that makes the sexism stories feel even more jarring, as if the group is carving out a private moment of reckoning amid the public chaos. The tables are crowded, forcing Catherine and Joyce to compete volume-wise to be heard, which adds to the urgency and rawness of their recollections. The location is neither a sanctuary nor a battleground but a liminal space where past and present collide.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The Police Force (1980s) is the invisible antagonist in this conversation, its policies and culture embodied in the handbags, skirts, and tiny truncheons that Catherine and Joyce describe. The force’s sexist practices are recalled with dark humor and visceral outrage, from the gauntlet of harassment in the CID office to Inspector Stott’s groping. The organization’s legacy looms over the group, a reminder of the systemic sexism that shaped their careers and continues to affect them. Catherine’s punch is a defiant act against this institutional power, one that temporarily silences its predatory manifestations but does not erase the deeper structural problems.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
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Key Dialogue
"CATHERINE: No, the best thing when I joined up—this is like three hundred years ago in the nineteen eighties—you didn’t get a truncheon. If you were a woman. You got a handbag. Thanks."
"JOYCE: They were big enough to keep a brick in, them handbags. ((a wink)) Just."
"CATHERINE: And skirts. There were no trousers. You don’t know you’re born, you lot. We used to freeze our knackers off on a night shift."
"JOYCE: Stockings or tights? You’d run the gauntlet every time you walked through t’CID office. They’d have their hands up your skirt twanging your suspenders to see if you were sharp or flat."
"CATHERINE: ((appalled at the memory of their own naivety)) And you just took it!"
"JOYCE: You did! You had to."
"CATHERINE: ((a groping-at-boobs gesture, both hands, leery Les Dawson face)) He used to come up to me—every time he saw me—he used to come up to me like this— ((she smacks her fist into the palm of her other hand: thud)) Oooh, Cathy, he used to call me Cathy—it’s Catherine, you twat—Oooh, Cathy—and I was like whatever for long enough and then one day I just thought bollocks to this, and the next time he did it— ((Right in his face. I floored him, I decked him, and I’d only been out of training school four weeks. He never did it again. In fact... ((like she’s only now realising)) he used to avoid me after that."