To be absolutely disgusted at the parliamentary debate on sexual violence against women.

[Marilynsbigsister]

There was a debate in parliament today. It was about ending sexual violence against women. A grand 'idea' perhaps and maybe the remit needed to be a little more directed but really ! How many MPs are there ? 635 or something.. how many thought it important enough to turn up .. whilst Michelle Thomas MP made the most remarkable speech detailing how she was raped at 14.
The answer.. approx 25 including the speaker. That's how important our law makers believe this issue to be.
AIBU to believe that if men suffered the level of sexual violence that women suffer, this debate would have been attended by most MPs. In fact if Michelle Thomas had said nothing. None of us would have known it was happening.

I agree with you OP.

This is awful, unacceptable and disappointing.

Unless they get votes out of it they do not give a shit.

I hope that the Women's Equality Party show them how badly they have neglected 52% of their potential voters.

Yanbu

Is there any way to view a list of who was/wasn't there? I'd bet money on my MP not being there.

Any important debates recently, the one against welfare sanctions, WASPI, violence against women seems only the SNP actually give a shit.

I heard her speech on the radio. Didn't realise so few people were there to hear it

I agree with all of you.

I also heard her speech on the radio... I just saw it on the news and was stunned to see how few people were actually there. Appalling.

How can this be acceptable ffs.

Well in fairness, women only make up 0.7% of the population.

Oh no wait. That's self-registered Jedi.

To be fair parliament is nearly always like that. There is a lot of sub committee etc on at the same time. They aren't all sat in the pub drinking but doing other important work.

I think that maybe a little generous of you notinghamgal whilst I am sure a few could have been elsewhere on committee work, I bet my last penny that had the debate been about something like ' tougher bank regulations ' (with lots of vested interest involved) then watch those green benches fill up.. money is always a much more important issue than violence against women!

Michelle Thomson is my MP. Very courageous of her to stand up and do that.

The amount who don't turn up to debates scares me.

Wow that's shocking.

Absolutely take my hat off to Michelle Thomas for making her speech.

Its always worth emailing your MP (with your address, so they know that you're their constituent) reminding how important it is as an issue to half the constituency and asking them to write to you about their work to tackle VAWG and if they would like to follow it up by bringing a debate on X,y,z.

Equally if you know your MP is active on this (or they are Michelle Thomas) then you could email (whether or not they are your local MP) and thank them for their work and say how important it is to you. I've written to MT to thank her.

MPs need a bit of support and encouragement from voters when they get things right. pragmatically they need to factor in working on vote winning issues to stay elected so important to let them know what issues you support if you aren't already doing so.

I watched her speech and was moved. She was very brave and strong to speak out and it is awful so few MP's were there to hear it first hand.

So for the parliamentary ignoramus' amongst us, is it actually possible to see a list of who attended? I'd certainly like to have a word with my MP if she wasn't.

I thought that watching the news yesterday

Not high on the risk of priorities, is it?

It's exactly the same when issues around disability are covered.

MPs don't seem terribly representative.

Imagine if 2 british men were being murdered a week by women, there'd be a curfew, unfair women's work conditions, limited childcare, limited benefits for women with children, closing refuges, misogynistic media........oh wait a minute.......

YANB at all .

Is there a list showing who was there? If my woman MP wasn't, I want to know why.

2 women are killed every week in England and Wales by a current or former partner (Office of National Statistics, 2015) – 1 woman killed every 3 days
Conflating rape and murder, I know, but they're part of the same problem.

Wonderful speech by Michelle Thomas, btw, inspiring and strong.

I also noticed while watching her speech on the news that two male MPs left part way through and one of the female ones was fiddling with her phone, totally disrespectful.
I'd also be interested in knowing who was there.