Mhairi Black doesn’t sugar coat torrent of misogyny directed at her online

Mhairi Black has revealed the scale of misogynistic abuse she faces online during a parliamentary debate, including being told she is “too ugly to rape”.

The SNP MP said she felt uncomfortable reading out the four-letter slurs but said abusers felt “comfortable flinging these words around every day”.

The 23-year-old MP was praised by the First Minister for her stand, with Nicola Sturgeon tweeting that she was “incredibly proud” and adding: “If it is uncomfortable to listen to this account, imagine how much worse it is to experience it.”

MPS were debating calls for misogyny to be treated as a hate crime. Ms Black said she and her pals “have a laugh” about her being called a “wee boy” who wears her dad’s suits.

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 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 – she needs a kick in the c***, guttural c***, ugly c***, wee animal c*** – there is no softening just how sexualised and misogynistic the abuse is.”

Ms Black added: “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.”

Noting how she sees men on Facebook talking about “getting pussy”, she asked: “Should we really actually be expecting any better, given the man sitting in the Oval Office [Donald Trump] thinks it’s OK to grab a woman by the pussy and face no consequences?”