An MP has revealed the shocking extent of sexist abuse she receives on a regular basis, including rape threats and being called “an ugly c***”.
The SNP’s Mhairi Black told a Westminster Hall debate on Wednesday that she is systematically targeted by online trolls and misogynists, who make absuive comments about her clothes and sexuality.
“I struggle to see any joke in being systematically called a dyke, a rug muncher, a slut, a w***e, a scruffy b*nt,” she said.
“I’ve been told you can’t put lipstick on a pig, let the dirty bitch each sh** 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.”
Black, who became the Commons’ youngest MP when she unseated Labour’s Douglas Alexander in 2015, is seemingly the first politician to use the ‘C-word’ in Parliament.
She 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.”
The debate was tabled by Great Grimsby MP Melanie Onn, who wants the government to extend its five current strands of hate crime to include misogyny, under which all incidents of harassment and intimidation could be formally logged and prosecuted.
She said: ”[This is about] securing an extension to the existing hate crime definitions and sentencing better to prevent violence against women, support early intervention against lower-level incidents and give women greater confidence in reporting the actions that, too often, have become the wallpaper of their lives.
“That is most certainly the case: 85% of women aged between 18 and 24 report that they have been on the receiving end of unwanted attention.”