Is this hate speech against women?

[Cleebope2]

I was queueing to get into Boots in a city centre today and a man with a megaphone was standing shouting at the women in the queue that we are sinful and will burn in hell for buying beauty products. Make up is from the devil and real beauty in women does not need make up. Beauty products pit women against each other. He was aggressive and intimidating. As we entered the door he shouted at each women that she was entering the threshold of Hell. There were many young women in the queue who were silent and put their heads down. No one confronted him. I was angry and asked the women who was monitoring the entrance if I could report this hate speech to the manager. She said he is there all the time and they can’t do anything about it. He moved on when he saw I was trying to report him but he just started all over again at Primark down the street. What can be done to stop this misogyny in a public place? I filled in an online form when I got home but I’m sure it won’t be taken seriously.

This man is not unwell I am sure of that.

So this nasty man's haranguing of women - public shaming and harassment - is actually not against the law

I can't speak for the criminal law of N.Ireland but this would be an offence under Scots law.

I don't believe for one minute theres nothing they can do. A Christian pastor was arrested a while ago for reading passages from the bible. If somebody complains to police of being alarmed and distressed that is normally enough for a photographer to be hassled and moved on by them.

@AwaAnBileYerHeid

He sounds unwell. He'll probably move his furore onto different topics from week to week, in a cycle. Yes, the police maybe should have been notified, perhaps more for his wellbeing than anyone else's, but hate speech? No. Just an unwell man.

Belfast is awash with these men. Surely they're not all unwell? Seems more plausible to me that they're plain old misogynists.

Wonder is this the same one that was ranting at Cornmarket one day about the evils of going to the gym?

'Hate speech' might not be the most useful thing here anyway (I think the current laws and proposed laws on hate speech are more harmful than helpful and anyway, it's not a crime to hate speak against females). Maybe 'causing a public nuisance' is more to the point. It's irrelevant whether he's mentally ill or just an abusive dickhead. Maybe he's both. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Either way, he is causing a problem for women and the police should do their job.

It doesn't have to be 'hate speech against women' for it to be a crime; all it needs is to be a public order offence, such as a course of conduct causing harassment, alarm and distress - same as in England and Wales. NI also has an offence of putting a person in fear of violence by a course of conduct.

You should not hesitate to report it to the police and ask them to put a stop to the harassment. Why not suggest to Boots that they ring the police and get something done about it? That's the least the manager could do, the lazy and useless so and so. You could ring the Belfast Telegraph or the local radio station if you don't get any satisfaction.

There’s a consultation in England and Wales on this issue of whether the protected characteristic of sex should come under hate crime laws at the moment: www.lawcom.gov.uk/reforms-to-hate-crime-laws-to-make-them-fairer-and-to-protect-women-for-the-first-time/
That made me Google the law commission in NI to see what is happening there and I am sorry to see they are not in service for the last 5 years. www.nilawcommission.gov.uk/

I’m really sorry you had to put up with this OP. It’s intimidating and misogynistic and creepy as fuck. I’d call it hate speech.

Isn't it amazing that ONE man was able to intimidate so many women. I just had visions of every woman in line/in the street just shouting him down with a catchy phrase I can't think of at the moment.
Where are all the men? This is why we say 'yes all men' - no man has thus far made him fuck off and stay fucked off. All males benefit from the women being reminded that their presence in public is dependant on the good will of men.

My guess is he isn't "unwell" but just an extremist religious nutter who wants to preach. Every city has them.

AFAIK because of free speech laws there isn't much you can do unless he makes specific threats.

@MargaritaPie

My guess is he isn't "unwell" but just an extremist religious nutter who wants to preach. Every city has them.

AFAIK because of free speech laws there isn't much you can do unless he makes specific threats.

There is no such thing as "free speech laws" in any of the UK jurisdictions.

There are now, given that blasphemy is no longer a crime, and we never had laws saying you are prohibited from criticising the government or politicians, no laws saying you are prohibited from saying what you want, subject to restrictions on overtly racist, homophobic etc, speech.

All the UK jurisdictions have laws on breach of the peace, public disorder, threatening and abusive behaviour. The behaviour as described would be caught.

How horrible. Am more than slightly that such behaviour is part of a 'thing' in Belfast. So shouting abuse at people in the name of religion is ok? Is it just aimed at women (maybe why they get away with it...)?

How fabulous to be so tolerant, caring and understanding to others. Gives religion such a good name.

Please do not use mental health as an excuse or justification. There is no excuse for such behaviour.

Please report it.

This guy may not have been mentally unwell, given that the OP says not, but I don't think it's unreasonable to suspect it. I would think exactly the same thing about a woman doing something similar.

Either way I am surprised the shop didn't call the police which I think would have been appropriate - they can decide how to best manage whatever the guy's problem is.

I'm not really huge on hate speech regulations, I think they are rather dangerous. I would say he was being a public nuisance and harassing people which is a problem in its own right.

Tell the police that you identify as a transwoman and this man is harassing you.

They might arrest him then.

@thosetalesofunexpected

Sorry Op I think is a fictional story straight out of your imagination.😕

Stick with day job/side line job whatever it is !

Dont become a fiction writer.

.(I think you are missing Jeremy Mkayrl Tv show a bit too much/being in Audience or something..

think of better story next time !😀

Out of interest, have you ever been shopping in Belfast on a busy Saturday afternoon? If you have, surely you've noticed the men like this? And if you haven't, why are you dismissing it as a lie when you're not familiar with the place but other posters have said that they are, and have experienced similar?

My guess is he isn't "unwell" but just an extremist religious nutter who wants to preach. Every city has them.

There used to be one in the city centre I used to work in, had a little stand and everything. Telling all and sundry that they would burn in hell.
From what I recall he was known with the police but he was alwas there so I guess there's not a lot they can do about it other than move them on.
I do agree its hateful behaviour, and it would be good to be able to do something about it.
I'm also quite envious of thosetalesofunexpected sheltered life.

I'd strike up the community singing with "That man hath perfect blessedness" and hand him one of the nice Bible tracts I keep handy. I f I were feeling strong,I'd take him aside and have a chat before praying over him for his soul. You're in Belfast! Surely there's someone in any queue up to dealing with him. If not, explain to your male minister that the man is traumatising those poor women queuing to get prescriptions and have him sort it out. You can either get aggravated On Principle or you can stop him shouting and scaring people. Choose.

You'd think beating them at their own game would work. But it doesn't. The man who accosted my then 4 year old in the supermarket one day wouldn't be swayed by the fact that she already went to Sunday school and GB thanks. No, he was quick to tell us that many people bear false witness, and she was merrily on the road to hell even though she didn't know it. And the man who came to my elderly parents door to try to save their souls wouldn't be swayed by the fact that they rarely missed a Sunday at their Baptist church and one had been 'born again' in the 1950s and the other in the 1960s. No, that wasn't enough. They too only thought they were Christians but were mistaken.

Sounds like a public order offence to me or at the very least it counts as anti-social behaviour because it falls under the umbrella of causing “harassment, alarm or offence”. I’d report it to 101.

I have reported it and I will be very interested to see how the local police respond, if at all. I will also contact the Boots manager. The town is full of religious people shouting about gay people burning in hell too but the Rainbow Flag brigade now stand in front of them every weekend passively following them around with their flags which is brilliant. I was totally ready to ask this man for his name and church etc but he scarpered. Only down to Primark though.

@Cleebope2 i thought you were going to say you were in Newcastle because theres a guy who stands outside Primark with a megaphone who says almost the same thing word for word. Theres always been a God squad presence here, but its been a very general kind of " Have faith, God loves you etc" Now it seems very much a "all women are tge work of Satan" and its not just him- ive heard other Bible thumpers in the city centre say it too. It seems like its some kind of movement. I rwad a thing a while ago that said during times of Pandemics religous groups look for scapegoats- and its usually women. Thats why the witchunts and subsequent deaths occured, as a reaction to the plague.

Redannie118 that sounds exactly the same. Is it some kind of religious movement going on across the UK? I haven’t heard anyone targeting women in this way before in public. We need to shut these creeps down.

Surely a public order offence to be haranguing people (women) in a queue? Tell the PSNI you felt threatened - I would certainly feel threatened in that situation.

This person is legally entitled to express his pseudo-religious misogynistic opinions, for the reasons previously discussed. But he's not entitled to harass or intimidate while he does it.

Explain that you are not there for lippy and rouge, but the abortion pill.