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Original poster

Deletion of threads about rape

3 replies

QuentinSummers · 07/02/2018 07:49

Hi @mnhq
I had a thread in feminism chat discussing the way the Ulster rugby rape was being reported. It was triggered by headlines saying the victim "denied being attracted to celebrities". We were discussing how the defence case was essentially to make her seem unrapeable.
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-northern-ireland-42917858
The tgread has been deleted for 'speculation'.
This also happened recently with threads about Liam Allan.

The way alleged rapes are reported by the media is a big feminist issue as it clearly shows the impact of rape myths and issues round how female victims are treated. We need to be able to discuss this stuff to raise awareness and help drive change.

There are a (small) subsection of people who would love it if rape remained almost impossible to prosecute and hate these kinds of things being discussed. I'm concerned now that they have effectively found a way to stop us talking (either - post a load of speculation with the aim of getting a thread deleted, or report threads about rape to fuck and hope you delete them).

I don't believe it's illegal or prejudicial to discuss what's being reported in the media so I don't fully understand why you are deleting whole threads.

Please MNHQ - this is such an important topic for women. Could you consider deleting just the speculative posts rather than whole threads? And giving the worst "speculators" a warning?

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MNHQ

SophieLMumsnet · 07/02/2018 10:09

Hi all,

Thanks for raising this.

We really don't want to censor anyone - so we hear what you're saying and will certainly try our best not to remove whole threads. Where we think a thread is too full of speculation, we will remove it - especially if, as Rowdywoman1 says, a live case that could be influenced by online comments.

We completely see where you're coming from, though, and will take this on board. Flowers

MNHQ

SophieLMumsnet · 08/02/2018 10:44

Morning everyone,

Thanks again for your feedback - it's really useful for us to hear what we can do to make things better.

We think it would be better for that thread to remain deleted this time, BeyondBitchwithterf as we did feel the speculation wasn't great. For future threads, though - we're very happy to try and keep them up wherever possible.

If you'd like to start a new thread, please do feel free; we really don't want to censor anyone. We'd say, as medtrina suggested, that a reminder not to speculate in the OP post would be a grand plan - we do find that it helps to keep the thread on track, and therefore much less likely to be removed.

Thanks Flowers

MNHQ

SophieLMumsnet · 07/03/2018 09:43

Hi, QuentinSummers,

Following a number of reports about posts on the thread, we decided to err on the side of caution and take it down.

It's absolutely not because it's a thread about rape, to clarify - We Believe You very much still stands. We actually can't afford to have anything that could possibly prejudice a fair trial, or they'd have to abandon it and start over - which would be fairly catastrophic for those involved. There are no online news sites allowing comments about this trial.

We hope that clears things up a bit, but please do drop us a line at: [email protected] if you'd like to discuss anything further. Flowers

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