Jolyon Maugham QC comes out as a misogynist on Twitter

[AlessandraAsteriti]

After posting this tone-deaf tweet, Maugham doubles down when asked by women to consider fairness and safety of female rugby players. What can make an adult, intelligent person pretend they do not understand the difference between females and males anymore?

Are you sure Apollo? I think it’s still there. As I am blocked by the Peak Trans Sherpa (thanks FannyCann), PTS’s replies come up as unavailable but I can see the exchange if I look anonymously.

“Charm” isn’t a word that springs to mind in relation to the poor little chap, but you may have a point

He hasn't deleted it.

Just checked.

@RedToothBrush - excellent update & analysis - thank you x

Regardless of what Maugham claims to have done for women, if he denies us the basic right to define ourselves in a category of our own, separately from males, he is no friend to us.

Currently we have this right, both in language and in law. It allows us to exclude all males, no matter how they identify, from our own sovereign spaces, from our own sports, and from a number of legal set asides that exist to redress the inequalities we suffer as females.

Sports is specifically named as one of the six sex-based exemptions in the EqA. That's probably because it's one of the areas where we had to fight so long and hard to even get to participate and we still haven't reached anywhere near parity or equality of opportunity at any level of sport.

Maugham has spared no thought for women in making his comments. None. We simply do not figure. I'm saying that because a large number of people, who think all the other issues we have with self-determination of legal sex are not worth getting worked up about, do think men in women's contact sports are simply unacceptable. That he doesn't speaks volumes.

JM is good at speaking, less good at listening. Plus, he has that typical barrister bad habit of ‘listening to reply/refute’ not ‘listening to understand’.

He is working with Joanna Cherry and Jo Swinson to block the proroguing. Interesting combination.

Mr nuanced-debate, I-listen-to-women says we are all bigots.

twitter.com/JolyonMaugham/status/1167226818685890560

Oh dear, he's back at it again this morning:

twitter.com/JolyonMaugham/status/1190909461168369664

If he's right, then any single sex space for women is bigoted, because 'not all men'

What does Jolyon think the purpose of single sex spaces for women has EVER been other than risk management?

How easily men slip into MRA/NAMALT lines of thinking. Misogyny is hard-wired in to this one, I fear.

He's such an ODFOD.

He has a real blindspot about how threatening the behaviour of some males can be. This argument is not about 'groups'. This argument is about the reasons why we separate males from females in situations where both sexes might be undressing or otherwise vulnerable.

The frightening thing is that he's a QC. Maybe it's just that his misogyny outweighs his IQ?

He’s a lawyer? Oh dear.

Is he gay? Increasingly realising how little real sympathy many gay men have for women. Women are always viewed through their male, albeit homosexual, lens.

O.k! He's married to a woman - but they don't have children.

good to see adrian yalland speaking out again.

He is ridiculous on this - Bleating on about being attacked about it and doing sad face about women just not understanding the arguments and he’s not here to stir up arguments

I have to be honest though David Allen Green who is blisteringly brilliant on the constitutional aspects of Brexit and Parliament is a far greater disappointment in his support of stonewall & his refusal to engage with any objections made to self ID

Yes, DAG and Maugham are so disappointing in their lack of critical thinking on this issue. I follow them both closely on Brexit. I'm hoping that because he's not said anything either way that Ian Dunt is secretly GC!

He’s got young daughters. Whose sporting achievements he had celebrated on Twitter. FFS.

The problem is, he’s using a philosophical standpoint that NAMALT that is all well and good, but it doesn’t relate to the facts or statistics we ALL know.

Repeating NAMALT is very familiar misogyny. Ans he’s a man, so not likely to experience any consequences himself.

Good to see he's shoring up his misogynist credentials again. Just in case we'd all forgotten for a minute.

Maybe it's just that his misogyny outweighs his IQ?

yup

the fact that he can't logically back up his position really should alert him to the fact that there's something wrong

but misogyny is a hell of a drug. it clouds the thinking

For all those astonished that he's a QC and yet doesn't get it... The legal system is chock full of intelligent men who don't get it or don't want to. It was a judge who reprimanded Maria for not using female pronouns when describing her assailant.

What a fool!

Intelligence and critical thinking are different things. Intelligent people are in my opinion more vulnerable to assuming that their thinking skills don't need any polishing. They can be very skillful at defending their assumptions without ever bothering to look at the opposite side of the argument.

Add personal or professional vested interests to that and it's a toxic mix.