CU NASTY TROLLS
Firebrand MP Mhairi uses C-word in powerful speech to Parliament as she reads out misogynistic insults sent to her every day
MHAIRI Black used the C-word in Parliament yesterday as she spoke about being targeted by online trolls.
The Paisley MP read out a barrage of vile insults that are hurled at her on a daily basis. One moron told her she should “eat s*** and die”.
MHAIRI Black shocked MPs yesterday when she reeled off some of the disgusting online abuse she is regularly subjected to.
Speaking in the House of Commons, she said: “I could soften some of this by talking about the C-word.
“But the reality is, there is no softening when you’re targeted with these words and you’re left reading them on my screen every day, day in, day out.
Quoting the trolls, she said: “She needs a kick in the c***, guttural c***, ugly c***, wee animal c***.”
Black, 23, added: “There is no softening just how sexualised and misogynistic the abuse is.”
The Paisley and Renfrewshire South MP said she felt uncomfortable reading out the insults but warned some people felt “comfortable flinging these words around every day”.
And she added that when such language is left unchallenged and is normalised, it “creates an environment that allows women to be abused”.
Speaking on the eve of International Women’s Day, Black told MPs she is regularly called a “wee boy” who wears her dad’s suits. She said she and her friends “have a laugh” about that.
But she added: “I struggle to see any joke in being systematically called a dyke, a rug muncher, a slut, a whore, a scruffy bint. I’ve been told you can’t put lipstick on a pig, let the dirty bitch each s*** and die.
“I’ve been assured multiple times that I don’t have to worry because I am so ugly that no one would want to rape me.
“All of these insults have been tailored to me because I am a woman.”
Black was speaking at a debate on whether misogyny should be treated as a hate crime.
She said the “full extent of abuse and danger” women face on a daily basis was only beginning to be realised.
Black added: “Only a few weeks ago, I was physically pressed up against a member (of Parliament) in the voting lobby who is accused of sexual misconduct because there’s so little room.
“I don’t think that’s normal and I think it’s fair to say that’s something maybe that we should be looking at – something we should be talking about – because I’m blessed in that I have the same right and influence as any other elected man in this place. But what about all the female staff in here who don’t?”
Later, Black took a swipe at Scottish Labour MPs Ian Murray and Paul Sweeney, who criticised her for not turning up for votes in the Commons, even though she was ill at the time.
She accused the pair of continuing to “knowingly misrepresent and cause abuse”.
Black added: “Judging by the House of Commons code of conduct, it qualifies as bullying, as it would in any other workplace.”
Later, Nicola Sturgeon said Black was “right not to sugar-coat the daily experiences of too many women”.
Talking about the speech in Westminster, the First Minster added: “If it is uncomfortable to listen to this account, imagine how much worse it is to experience it.”
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “Ms Black’s attempt to portray criticism of her actions as an MP as criticism of her as a woman demeans the cause of women’s equality, the serious subject of misogynistic hate crime and her position as an MP.”