Scottow verdict: Guilty

I'm not implying that she didn't. I'm pointing out that the "e.g." is misplaced in MissChardonnay's comment. "E.g." implies a lot of other insulting phrases or words were directed at Hayden, but out of a total of eight tweets deemed offensive, most were judged to be so because Kate used a male pronoun to refer to Hayden.

Male feelings are much more important than female feelings, Bewilderness, didn't you know? And female rudeness much more problematic than male rudeness.

I look forward to your attempts to enforce niceness towards everyone and not just trans people! I mean, I won't hold my breath, but.

Why not the internet is full of people being rude
Oh phew, that's OK then

But 3 lefts do 😀

Pig in a wig is my new favourite insult for everyone. Used it for my male dog ten minutes ago. He’s neither a pig, nor wearing a wig, nor a woman, nor transgender.

The simple rhyme is pleasurable to say and it makes me laugh. I won’t be tweeting it though, because I don’t really use twitter.

DuLANGMondeFOREVER

But 3 lefts do.

Why not? The internet is full of people being rude and/or unkind to each other, often a whole lot more aggressively than that.

Because the trans person in question is biologically male? And so doesn't realise that such comments and worse are a pretty standard part of most womens lives?

IME, men are much harsher to each other. Laddish blokes wouldn't blink an eye about calling their mate a 'fat bastard' for instance, but I feel most overweight women would be pretty offended by a friend saying this to them.

Either way, a lot of the comments on here seem effectively the female equivalent of 'what about the men'. I often eyeroll at lots of the stuff the TRA's come out with, but I don't really buy the concept that calling a TW a man is 'just speaking the truth'. My manager is unquestionably fat but I'm sure she'd take issue with me saying 'yes, you need to go and speak with Wendy....she's the fat woman who sits by the printer.'

Pig in a wig is not a trans specific insult
Even if you see it as being an insult up for anyone, why, why would you tweet that? To or about anyone?
If it's aimed at a person or about a person with misgendering to boot like I've read it was... just... not surprising it comes across like that.
Hence the found guilty verdict.

So did she tweet pig in a wig then? As you're implying she didn't and that's not what I read?

The thing about free speech is that it's not free at all if it only applies to people you agree with. If people aren't free to say disagreeable things, well, there's always someone who finds just about anything that could be said disagreeable, so unless you want public discourse that's composed of nothing except "nice weather we're having" and "puppies are cute" you're going to have to learn to live with some people saying things you vehemently disagree with.

MissChardonnay

Scottow seems to have created multiple accounts with the sole intention of abusing a TW online, and was specifically targeting her trans status - e.g. 'pig in a wig'.

Kate did not do that.

She tweeted 12 tweets directed at Hayden over a period of six months from her original account which had tweeted many thousands of other tweets. By no stretch of the imagination does this qualify as "created with the sole intention of abusing a TW online".

After Kate was arrested, she never tweeted anything at Hayden again. She created two new accounts in order to continue to join in Twitter; neither of these two accounts communicated with Hayden in any way.

As the ruling by the judge makes clear, a total of five tweets among a great many others from those two accounts were understood to be talking about or referring to Hayden, however obliquely. Again, this does not qualify as "created with the sole intention of abusing a TW online".

If that had been the case, Kate would have tweeted directly at Hayden and focused almost entirely on that. Five tweets for a prolific tweeter, even if sent in the course of just one week, do not qualify. As a pp pointed out, instead of doing as you think, Kate blocked Hayden to ensure no more interaction between them.

As for "e.g. pig in a wig" there is not much of an e.g. about it. A total of three tweets directed at Hayden were found to be offensive and that mostly because Kate accurately sexed Hayden (despite claims to the contrary, misgendering is not a crime).

"Pig in a wig" is also not a trans-specific insult. It is a very well known phrase which typically refers to an overweight female, or more generally an unattractive female. Although the female in question attempts to make herself look more appealing by what she wears, the effect is that of drawing attention only to her obesity or unattractiveness. Which is crudely expressed as "pig in a wig". Kate applied to Hayden an insult usually levelled at women, not men.

"Mutton dressed as lamb" is a similarly sexist phrase almost exclusively used to refer to women.

Can't say I feel particularly sorry for her...

You don't have to. There have been several free speech cases in recent years where I felt no sympathy at all for the defendant, but still considered their prosecution unwarranted, an overreach by the state and a worrying development.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Neither do three wrongs.

I find Hayden and Hayden's mate Harrop immensely annoying, and yet...

the point being I have to GO AND LOOK FOR THEM, simple as that. I don't think judges grasp that, and the law Kate was prosecuted under is not fit for the internet age.

Completely agree. And it will come out.

They were Datun.

I am clearly on some sort of terfblocker list, so on occasion I am discussing something and someone says 'did you see what x said on Twitter?' and I can't see it as I am blocked.

I then have to log out of my account in order to see some Tweets, or people have to screenshot them to show me; the point being I have to GO AND LOOK FOR THEM, simple as that. I don't think judges grasp that, and the law Kate was prosecuted under is not fit for the internet age.

Yes, agreed - Kate you're a modern day suffragette.

As sorry as I am, Kate, that you've had to go through this (and all fingers crossed for a successful appeal) but it has highlighted this ludicrous application of the law.

I'm not sure it's much consolation, Kate, but this is absolutely bang on. You're a pioneer.

MrsSnippyPants

I think the vast majority of judges haven't got the first bloody clue about how Twitter works.

I'm sure you're right. At the very least, they should have an expert on Twitter standing right next to them. Wasn't the last judge confusing emails with tweets?

I think the vast majority of judges haven't got the first bloody clue about how Twitter works.

Why is it so much worse when it's directed to a trans person, rather than a woman? because the trans person in question is biologically male? And so doesnt realise thst such comments and worse are a pretty standard part of most womens lives?

Also, personally I think Kate was found guilty of being annoying only because she is biologically female. It stinks.

I wonder if Caroline could take the cps / police to court for discrimination based on the protected characteristic of sex because it mystifies me how the cps could prosecute Kate yet do nothing about the far more extensive online abuse, intimidation and stalking of Caroline.