Woman MP moved to safe house after death threats

100% agree Arabella. It’s like they’ve all fallen under some weird spell. Hopefully they’ll come to their senses now some beams of sunlight are shining in.

[quote ArabellaScott]This happens far too often.

A man has been sentenced for a campaign of threats against Carol Monaghan, MP. It sounds utterly terrifying.

Social media is blamed for exacerbating the problem - some of the threats made against Ms Monahan came from Twitter.

How do we even begin to address this? It feels like women are being chased out of public life at the moment.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-57614736[/quote]
Similarly the man threatening Joanna Cherry.

Interestingly Sturgeon / SNP has not condemned this is any way.

Interestingly both of these women believed that changing the GRA required caution.

Interestingly when a couple of transactivists left the party Sturgeon did a whole "unscripted video" pleading with them to stay.

I'm guessing they gained Stonewall points for both the action and inaction.

It's so grim and it makes me so angry that not only do the people voicing this racist and sexist shit think it's ok, everyone else is supposed to agree that it's part and parcel of having a public voice or face or just existing. It's absolutely not.

Given that Leadbetter's loudest abuser is supposed to have travelled in from Birmingham to attack her for supporting LGBT people, can we expect the trans-activists to turn out to defend and support her, online or in person? Has anyone seen any evidence of this?

god that's astonishing

how often do male MPs receive death threats so credible that they are moved to a safe house?

why does the sight of women in power make some men so angry that the only response they can muster is to threaten to kill them?

That 'free speech' on social media leads to vulnerable groups - people, in fact - finding that participation in public life (& politics) becomes threatening to their safety and well-being.

Social media is organised by private companies but it is now such a huge part of public life ... it's impossible not to feel that there has to be some sort of control.

I mean, this situation just seems unsustainable.

Agree totally Arabella.

This is shocking to read Arabella. I am glad she is standing up and saying that the degree of abuse and threat has gone way too far. And that parties are telling their MPs that it is a just fact of life.

There are groups stating that disagreement is abuse and literal violence, while people are having to put up with actual abuse and being told it is a fact of life.

These vile men are our very own home-grown Taliban. Who and what nurtures them?

It's largely irrelevant what she is and isn't being harassed for. It's unacceptable behaviour and should be treated with the utmost seriousness.

It looks like people are harassing her due to her support for LGBT people, her refusal to submit to the politics of division and her lack of intolerance towards teaching children about natural human variety. It's really awful stuff and disgusting that she has to seek refuge. That she seems unwilling to bow the usual intolerant pile on is a real cause for optimism. Hope over hate and intolerancee is always the better option, hopefully the local voters will think the same.

Twitter has knowingly created a space for the abuse of women. They should be ashamed.
I personally think organizations with any credibility should remove themselves from Twitter as long as this carries on. It is all wrong that it is made intolerable for women but is seen as somewhere that people in public life have to be.

Completely agree. It's totally unacceptable that people are allowed to bully, intimidate and harass women in this way and remain on the platform, and remain members of their political parties.

Twitter has knowingly created a space for the abuse of women. They should be ashamed.
I personally think organizations with any credibility should remove themselves from Twitter as long as this carries on. It is all wrong that it is made intolerable for women but is seen as somewhere that people in public life have to be.

Twitter needs to go.

I entirely agree that women are being pushed out of public life by abuse on social media.

That's dreadful. There really needs to be much more done to tackle the male harassment, abuse and threats towards female politicians. It really is unacceptable and pushes women out of public life while discouraging others from getting involved in politics in the first place.

These statements from Twitter are an absolute load of crap:

Twitter said it takes action against accounts which violate rules on abuse and harassment.

No, they don't. They allow free rein to men, TW and TW allies to post all manner of threats, abuse and harassment, they do, however, suspend and ban women at the drop of a hat if they dare to say TW are not women or reference the biological, immutable fact of sex.

In response, Twitter said: Abuse and harassment have no place on our service. We have clear rules in place that apply to everyone, everywhere, that address threats of violence, abuse and harassment and hateful conduct, and we take action when we identify accounts that violate these rules.

You are having a laugh Twitter, you have done nothing about the abuse JKR and Rosie Duffield received and continue to receive, if a woman is on the receiving end of the abuse you practically cheer it on.

It's disgusting that women in public life have to put up with this and be told to just grow a thicker skin, it's abhorrent and it shows clearly just how far down the food chain women are perceived to be.