(extract)
"Twitter matters in the debate about sex and gender because, at a time when some media outlets and some political representatives are a bit reluctant to engage in a full, rounded debate, Twitter is for some people the only place to talk. So it really matters when Twitter allows the nasty intimidation of women who express views that some people don’t like. And it really matters when Twitter bans from its platform women who express such views – or just state facts that some people find inconvenient.
Both of those things are happening, and happening routinely. Nasty abuse of women who question the mantra that ‘trans women are women’ – or simply ask questions about the implications for law and policy of that stance – is commonplace, with grim consequences. (continues)
And because Twitter, sadly, matters, this stuff needs to be debated and scrutinised. Which is why this article isn’t really about Twitter and its awfulness, but about a politician who has done something rather wonderful.
That politician is Joanna Cherry QC, an SNP MP and member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights. It was at that committee that Cherry recently said ‘f*k’ and ‘c*t’ a lot, and in so doing did her job as a parliamentarian in an arena where many others have failed.
The context was a hearing where a Twitter representative was giving evidence about the site’s role in the intimidation of politicians.
You can watch the whole thing here , and I recommend that you do.
You’ll see an experienced lawyer calmly marshalling evidence of Twitter’s lopsided, sexist approach to the gender debate, and an executive floundering in the face of that evidence. (The swearing, to be clear, was Cherry quoting the sort of stuff she gets sent routinely online.) Among the significant moments of the session was Cherry extracting the concession that ‘Terf’ (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) is, of course, a term of sexist abuse. It also appears that Twitter, like too many other organisations, doesn’t understand that ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are two different things in UK law, and that the distinction matters, especially for women." (continues)
blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/05/at-last-an-mp-brave-enough-to-say-twitter-hates-women/
see thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/a3574580-Parliamentary-committee-Joanna-Cherry-SNP-MP-QC-challenge-to-Twitter-representative-about-abuse-of-women-terf-why-sex-is-not-protected-characteristic
Do watch Joanna Cherry at yesterday's Parliamentary Human Rights Committee & James Kirkup's full article is really worth reading
Twitter
Joanna Cherry mobile.twitter.com/joannaccherry
James Kirkup mobile.twitter.com/jameskirkup
Helen Lewis twitter.com/helenlewis