Nick Cohen suspended over trans rights row

I genuinely don't mind a witch hunt if it results in getting justice for serial sexual predators. The definiton of a witch hunt though is that witches don't actually exist and if they did they don't automatically go round sexually assaulting vulnerable people. So calling it that infers innocence onto the accused.

Is that the thread where you said you enjoyed playing on threads in order to get them deleted?

All this story currently confirms is that Guardian and Observer have terrible work environment for women and an inadequate complaints procedure.

Which would explain their continuing employment of some of their star columnist s, I guess.

@Cornflowerandchicory I’m sorry that happened to you. He needs to go

N/c for this, for obvious reasons.

Cohen was involved in a sexual assault on me when I was a young journalist. I've never reported it. Am very glad his behaviour is finally being outed.

knowing what working life was like for young women in 2001, I doubt he was the only one doing it

This. The whole thing feels like a bit of a witch hunt from the kimono wearer.

That's not true, we're saying that we support an investigation that will uncover the truth.

What a surprise someone lying about what the majority of FWR feminists are saying

Anyway, now people are seemingly protecting someone who is known as a sex pest and also discriminates against trans people and are now blaming trans people for it and saying that women have been lying about being harassed because they’re secret trans activists and want to bring Nick Cohen down.

No they aren't.

99% of people have said there should be an investigation and that Cohen should face the consequences if the accusations are true.

A high % have cast doubt on Maugham's motivations for this apparently noble act.

One or two people have suggested that the accusers may have been lying. Which an investigation should uncover.

I don't see a big groundswell of posters on this thread 'protecting someone who is known as a sex pest'.

No one has said this. Why do you lie?

Nobody is protecting Nick Cohen though are they?

Everyone as far as I can see is saying that yes this needs to be investigated and it is a travesty that it wasn't done years ago.

Anyway, now people are seemingly protecting someone who is known as a sex pest

Not one person has done this.

The problem is males. It is always males.

Because that is clearly ridiculous. I'm happy for all men who sexually assault women to be dealth with no matter whether they admit sex exists or not. I mean clearly every man that assaults women knows sex as a concept exists otherwise they wouldn't be assaulting women but there we are.

Same here, as I've said several times. It seems like people are trying to see things which aren't here.

Is the implication that people who frequent FWR would be opposed to a man being investigated because he knows sex exists and would support him being able to get away with sexual advances towards women?

Because that is clearly ridiculous. I'm happy for all men who sexually assault women to be dealth with no matter whether they admit sex exists or not. I mean clearly every man that assaults women knows sex as a concept exists otherwise they wouldn't be assaulting women but there we are.

transphobia much

Please point out the transphobia in any of my comments on this thread?

This is the problem in the end though - who trusts the people at the Guardian to let that happen? It's even easy to imagine they precipitated the complaints. Not just because of trans issues either, I don't trust them ever since they asked for reader input about their feminist writers and then completely treated them like trash, creating their own persecution narrative to justify it.

It’s not excusable behaviour, even if historic. Maugham has personal beefs with people so has jumped on a wagon rolled out by Lucy Siegle. I’m sure he neither knows or cares who she is.
And agree that being young and in an office environment pre #MeToo era was shit everywhere. But it was conversation in corners, casually backing up women emotionally and physically ie blagging the taxi ride that a gropey boss had offered to only one woman as she’d shot you a look, reading about how to fend off ‘sex pests’ in that Tube freebie mag that had the office job ads.
Only when older and secure in your job, do most of us dare speak up as LS has done and obviously Twitter broadcasts it to the world. Maugham really wants to slap the Observer because of Sonia Sodha, I imagine

shall we go back to the other thread. Oh wait, that’s now been deleted for discrimination and transphobia

No. It was deleted because it focused on one named individual. There's nothing about discrimination and transphobia in the deletion message:

We understand that a discussion on what diversity training involves is an important one - but as this thread is focusing on a named individual, we don't think it's fair to let it run as is.