Why I pull no punches in tackling misogyny
IN WESTMINSTER, there are some things you just can’t say.
We are told to keep to “parliamentary language” and can’t make any suggestion of dishonesty or use profanity.
It’s maybe not surprising then that my most recent speech ruffled some feathers due to my use of the c-word – not once but several times.
Speaking in a debate on misogyny on the eve of International Women’s Day, I decided not to sugar-coat the abuse I’ve received.
The words I used were not to wind people up or be disrespectful, but to get across the level of abuse women face online.
Misogyny in society is everywhere, to the point that we often miss it because it has been so normalised by being continually unchallenged.
Street harassment is a daily experience for many women and TUC research has found that half of all women say they have been harassed at work. But new technology has brought about new ways in which women can be abused.
Online, I am regularly called a wee boy and told I wear my dad’s suits. I joke about it with my pals – that’s how I cope with it.
But what I can’t joke about is the vitriolic, sexualised abuse.
I am systematically called a “dyke”, a “rug muncher”, a “slut”, a “whore” and a “scruffy bint”. I’ve been told, “You can’t put lipstick on a pig,” and, “Let the dirty bitch eat s*** and die.”
The reality is that there is no softening when I’m targeted by these words. I’ve been called a “guttural c***”, an “ugly c***” and a “wee animal c***”.
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. There is no escaping just how sexualised the abuse is and, like many women in the public eye, I’m left reading the comments on my screen day in, day out.
I felt uncomfortable reading out those words – yet there are people who feel comfortable flinging those words around every day, and when that language goes unchallenged, it becomes normalised.
Last year, the Fawcett Society launched a sex discrimination law review.
They said “the long-term aim is to nudge people towards a culture shift and to reframe misogynist behaviour as socially undesirable”.
I regularly see guys on Facebook talking about “getting p **** ” and using other horrible words for women.
If your friends or colleagues use such language, call it out. If you receive abuse online, know that you can report it.
Perpetrators need to know there is no place for their misogyny in society. I hope that by speaking out last week, I have helped highlight how far we need to go.