Our government doesn't know what misogyny is.

[Penfield]

Well - Dominic Raab definitely doesn't. Speaking to the BBC, he said "insults and misogyny is absolutely wrong whether it's a man against a woman or a woman against a man".

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58814271

Who are these people we've put in charge of our country?

And how is there any hope of things improving for women with this lot at the helm?

@sangak

What is wrong with the man?

He’s a Tory cockwomble

God knows what they see when they look in a mirror.

Didn't do Greek at school then

Perhaps not - he went to a state school. Didn't Keir Starmer say only last week that Latin was a pointless subject in state schools?

Just your standard old local comp, no chance of learning classical languages.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr_Challoner%27s_Grammar_School

Also Oxford AND Cambridge educated.

But still thick.

"Just criminalising insulting language even if it is misogynistic doesn't deal with the intimidation, the violence and the much higher level of offence and damage and harm that we really ought to be laser-like focused in on,"

So what are you bothering with 'hate crime' and 'hate speech' for at all with anything, Raab you utter muppet?

Either ALL of it can be handled in this way (and I agree, the 'hate' legislation's a total mess, does no good at all and has just been used to occupy the police and harass women) or you're saying that when this behaviour's levelled at females it doesn't matter as much and a different approach works better.

It's beyond depressing that we have a completely incompetent government, but they're at least not the rampantly insane women hating unleash hell parties of Labour and Greens and SNP et al.... and I shall have to vote for the bloody fools.

@HarrietsChariot

I can't get too worked up at this. All he meant was that it is wrong to insult a person because they are a particular sex. He meant "insults and misogyny or misandry are absolutely wrong whether it's a man against a woman or a woman against a man." Misandry might not be seen as such a problem - to the extent that our leaders have perhaps never heard of the term(!) - but the point is valid.

Misogyny is not just about insulting women though. He totally minimised what it is, just like he did when talking about people taking the knee. I suspect that he is a racist and a misogynist.

@LaBellina

Proof that he’s not really interested in the meaning behind the word otherwise he would know.

Exactly. The current Govt care so little they don't even know a fairly common word that describes a huge problem for over 50% of the citizens who it is supposed to represent and whose lives are affected by it's actions/ lack of actions. A depressing example of the underlying problem.

But Starmer!

Unbeievable that a man of this level of "education" does not know that the "gyny" part of misogyny refers to women. WTF does he think a gynaecologist is? A doctor who specialises in both male and female reprosductive organs? I depair, I really do.

And recognising misogyny as a specific entity DOES matter. It matters very much. It is not "just the same as misandry, oh, whatever, peeps should all all be nice to each other whoever they are". The presence and impact of deep-seated misogyny in society needs to be fully acknowleged before it can be combatted.

Misogyny is not just about insulting women though. He totally minimised what it is, just like he did when talking about people taking the knee. I suspect that he is a racist and a misogynist.

Possibly he is a racist and a misogynist. But more importantly the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor is so thick that he doesn't know that misogyny relates to hatred against women.

This is the same man who as Foreign Secretary didn't realise how important the 'short straits' link between UK and France were to our imports and exports. He's as thick as shit.

He used two words insult as well maybe he was also referring to that as women can insult men etc , that seems clear to me

And recognising misogyny as a specific entity DOES matter. It matters very much. It is not "just the same as misandry, oh, whatever, peeps should all all be nice to each other whoever they are". The presence and impact of deep-seated misogyny in society needs to be fully acknowleged before it can be combatted.

well said. This 'all lives matter' response every time women try to speak is just a frantic attempt to dismiss, minimise and avoid having to face the realities for women, and what must change.

Unbeievable that a man of this level of "education" does not know that the "gyny" part of misogyny refers to women. WTF does he think a gynaecologist is? A doctor who specialises in both male and female reprosductive organs? I depair, I really do.

It doesn't matter if he understands what 'gyny' means or not. Misogyny is common-use English word describing something that the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor at least should be aware of.

Mentioning arses and elbows seems appropriate.

He used two words insult as well maybe he was also referring to that as women can insult men etc , that seems clear to me

Indeed - seems clear to me as well.

@Clavinova

He used two words insult as well maybe he was also referring to that as women can insult men etc , that seems clear to me

Indeed - seems clear to me as well.

Well it would I suppose. You can't possibly support that with one of your cut'n'paste jobs or an actual rational argument but I suppose that a seven word supporting statement at least demonstrates (to someone?) that you're trying to do your job under these difficult circumstances.

A tory mp could be caught on film commiting murder and clavinova of would go out of their way to defend them.

@ElectricDeChocobo

A tory mp could be caught on film commiting murder and clavinova of would go out of their way to defend them.

Presumably with the help of a series of impossibly quickly collected quotes from various european newspapers demonstrating that completely dissimilar murders have also been committed by other people under completely different circumstances.

It's almost as if there were a team of people paid to post this stuff...

FatFredsFriedEgg
He totally minimised what it is, just like he did when talking about people taking the knee.

I think he was asked whether he would take the knee himself. Personally I don't think politicians or public figures should have been put on the spot like that - and I don't agree that people who decline to take the knee should be labelled as racists.

Just your standard old local comp

The school doesn't seem to teach either Latin or Greek up to GCSE level now.

I think he was asked whether he would take the knee himself.

I think he was, and from memory I think his response was that he thought taking the knee came from Game of Thrones and that to him it indicated submission and the only person he’d take the knee to was his wife when he asked her to marry him.

About something he knew was a symbolic gesture against systemic racism. It was an ignorant and disrespectful thing to say.

@Clavinova

FatFredsFriedEgg He totally minimised what it is, just like he did when talking about people taking the knee.

I think he was asked whether he would take the knee himself. Personally I don't think politicians or public figures should have been put on the spot like that - and I don't agree that people who decline to take the knee should be labelled as racists.

Just your standard old local comp

The school doesn't seem to teach either Latin or Greek up to GCSE level now.

Where have I made any reference to him having any opinion on 'taking the knee'?

The school doesn't seem to teach either Latin or Greek up to GCSE level now.

So you mean that because it 'doesn't seem' to teach them now it obviously didn't in the 80s? You suggest that it's just a standard 'state school' and he was one of the lucky 1% (or whatever) of exceptionally bright state school students who end up at Oxbridge?

My point was that you don't need to have been taught Greek (and certainly not Latin) to know what 'misogyny' means. Anybody who doesn't understand that word hasn't reached the educational standard required to be Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor.

He is thick.

According to some on MN the Tories are the only ones to vote for if you believe in womens rights

@MissChanandlerBong81

I think he was asked whether he would take the knee himself.

I think he was, and from memory I think his response was that he thought taking the knee came from Game of Thrones and that to him it indicated submission and the only person he’d take the knee to was his wife when he asked her to marry him.

About something he knew was a symbolic gesture against systemic racism. It was an ignorant and disrespectful thing to say.

That's just Cut'n'pasteova trying to divert the issue. This thread isn't about his complete stupidity over understanding the symbolism of 'taking the knee'. It's about his new demonstration of his complete stupidity.

This man who is Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, appointed by our illustrious leader Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson - in his great wisdom.

the only person he’d take the knee to was his wife when he asked her to marry him

He mentioned the Queen as well.

@Clavinova

the only person he’d take the knee to was his wife when he asked her to marry him

He mentioned the Queen as well.

That's fine then. A bit of patriotism is all you need to try and divert the thread away from what it's actually about.

You suggest that it's just a standard 'state school'

No, but I think you assumed he went to Eton. They teach Latin and Greek A-Level at Keir Starmer's old school. Oh, and Dominic Raab was only 12 when his father died of cancer - Starmer doesn't have a monopoly when it comes to ill parents either.