Misogyny in Parliament and UK politics

[Wilf]

This stuff could go in a number of threads and we've had regular stories of sexual assaults from MPs for the last few years. For example:

The Sunday Times reported last weekend that 56 MPs had been referred to the Independent Complaints and Grievance Service over sexual complaints, including three cabinet ministers and two shadow cabinet ministers.

But here we've got Tory MPs complaining about their own, actually watching porn in the chamber*. And this on top of the Rayner story, where it looks like the Tories are managing to simultaneously say 'how awful', whilst also insinuating she was somehow 'in on it'. Scumbags.

Chief whip investigates reports Tory MP watched porn in House of Commons

Female Tory MPs complain about sexism in parliament after claims a senior colleague was watching porn on his phone

www.theguardian.com

* I don't give a fuck about the H of C chamber as some kind of sacrosanct space, but if they are watching porn there it does say something quite profound about misogyny in the institution.

 

[Wilf]

Suppose what I'm interested in is the response to this - and I suspect there will be a response of sorts. Codes, complaint systems, launches, talk of changing the culture, but not a single MP booted out unless there is something akin to chapter and verse evidence.

 

[Pickman's model]

Suppose what I'm interested in is the response to this - and I suspect there will be a response of sorts. Codes, complaint systems, launches, talk of changing the culture, but not a single MP booted out even if there is something akin to chapter and verse evidence.

Corrected for you

 

[Wilf]

Corrected for you

I won't link to the foul rag (DM) but I've already seen tory mps coming out with phrases beginning 'I won't even try to defend this...'. Must admit, I've never actually thought of the need to defend people watching porn at work. Also, another tory mp felt the need to say it was hard to get a signal in the chamber. An interesting response.

 

[platinumsage]

I expect the porn-watcher to use the Pete Townshend defence.

 

[Lord Camomile]

Aside from everything else, always slightly astonishes me when they do something this completely stupid and clearly not thought through.

I just.... surely it's just basic self-preservation to not do it in a publicly televised workspace??!

 

[Elpenor]

Given you can sexually assault a child and stay as an MP, watching porn in parliament probably means a promotion in the next cabinet reshuffle

 

[Pickman's model]

I won't link to the foul rag (DM) but I've already seen tory mps coming out with phrases beginning 'I won't even try to defend this...'. Must admit, I've never actually thought of the need to defend people watching porn at work. Also, another tory mp felt the need to say it was hard to get a signal in the chamber. An interesting response.

Yeh they won't try to defend this but I don't suppose they'll take active measures over it either

 

[MickiQ]

Sancrosanct space or not, they shouldn't be watching porn (or any other media) at work. It's a safe bey anyone else will get anywhere from a warning to the boot, Why should these fuckers have a different set of rules?

 

[Wilf]

Yeh they won't try to defend this but I don't suppose they'll take active measures over it either

'We've asked Sue Gray to have a look at this when she has a minute'.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

They are pure vermin

 

[Sue]

Aside from everything else, always slightly astonishes me when they do something this completely stupid and clearly not thought through.

I just.... surely it's just basic self-preservation to not do it in a publicly televised workspace??!

Tbh, I think a lot of people seem to have no idea about boundaries* and I'm pretty sure it's worse than it used to be because watching porn on a phone is less obvious/more 'normal' than looking at a magazine in public would be.

*I've certainly seen people watching porn on their phones on the bus for example.

 

[Wilf]

Given you can sexually assault a child and stay as an MP, watching porn in parliament probably means a promotion in the next cabinet reshuffle

Especially as 3 cabinet ministers are, apparently, under investigation at the moment. Also, johnosn himself was reported to have assaulted a journalist at, from memory, a Spectator lunch.

 

[pseudonarcissus]

Given you can sexually assault a child and stay as an MP, watching porn in parliament probably means a promotion in the next cabinet reshuffle

Probably with the Equities brief

 

[weepiper]

Why should we be surprised? Men get away with this stuff all the time. A boy in my daughter's class at school used to bully her by watching porn on his phone under the desk next to her. He got suspended for a week once and that was all that was done about it. I regularly see men watching porn on their phones on the bus. A man who I now have to deal with as a sales rep who visits my place of work was sacked from a previous employer we both worked for because he was wanking to porn at his desk. I know, he knows I know. It's not misogyny in the Tory party particularly. It's just misogyny.

 

[Wilf]

Reports have around a dozen female MPs speaking out about abuse they have suffered in this parliament from their own MPs:

Top Tory caught watching porn in Commons - sitting next to female minister

Three sources said that around a dozen women MPs at the meeting shared accounts of alleged sexism and harassment by their colleagues.

www.mirror.co.uk

There are 87 female tory mps. What we know about abuse, particularly in settings like politics, suggests significantly more than 12 will have been abused. Ditto researchers, staffers and others.

 

[Wilf]

Why should we be surprised? Men get away with this stuff all the time. A boy in my daughter's class at school used to bully her by watching porn on his phone under the desk next to her. He got suspended for a week once and that was all that was done about it. I regularly see men watching porn on their phones on the bus. A man who I now have to deal with as a sales rep who visits my place of work was sacked from a previous employer we both worked for because he was wanking to porn at his desk. I know, he knows I know. It's not misogyny in the Tory party particularly. It's just misogyny.

Yeah, I hesitated about posting a fresh thread, as you say this could/should have gone into existing threads on misogyny. Suppose I just saw the coming together of the Rayner story and this apparent delegation of female tory mps and thought it will be an interesting if depressing story that's already edging towards inaction. But yeah, it's not even a new story in terms of mps, assaults and watching porn.

 

[killer b]

A boy in my daughter's class at school used to bully her by watching porn on his phone under the desk next to her.

this is what all guys watching porn in public are doing - it's bullying, power trips. Not sure how this translates to MPs wanking in parliament though - expect it comes from a similar place.

 

[Wilf]

Part of me sees this as misogynists doing misogyny in a place that tolerates misogyny, at least in its deep culture if not its public pronouncements. But there's still the double take, the craven stupidity, doing something in a place that (nominally) makes the rules on not wanking at work. It's partygate level stupidity for misogynists.

 

[Wilf]

Anyway, we'll get a name in the next 24 hours, then it will be either:

A) Deny, bluster, head off to some faragist outfit, GBNews etc.

B) Suffering from stress... blah

 

[killer b]

The front bench isn't that big, we could probably have a guess and have a reasonable chance of getting it right. I reckon it's Gove.

 

[Wilf]

The front bench isn't that big, we could probably have a guess and have a reasonable chance of getting it right. I reckon it's Gove.

It's certainly possible to shorten the list if your strip out women mps and House of Lord-ists from this list:

British Government frontbench - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I think there was also some reference to this person watching porn in a 'committee'. Can't be bothered to track down the rules, but some committees are back bench only, which might shorten the list even further (though I suppose the porn watcher could have been appearing before the committee, rather than on it).

 

[danny la rouge]

Can you imagine what would happen to any of us? I work in FE. If I watched porn on my mobile while invigilating an exam, say? I’d never work in education again and probably be put on a register. And rightly so. What makes this any different?

 

[Wilf]

Can you imagine what would happen to any of us? I work in FE. If I watched porn on my mobile while invigilating an exam, say? I’d never work in education again and probably be put on a register. And rightly so. What makes this any different?

Yep and we are poised at that moment of press complicity vs desire to get the story. They will all know the name and will be playing their contacts in the tory party to work out the how and when it gets released.

 

[Wilf]

Can you imagine what would happen to any of us? I work in FE. If I watched porn on my mobile while invigilating an exam, say? I’d never work in education again and probably be put on a register. And rightly so. What makes this any different?

Also, if you robbed money from the place, you'd have the police knocking on your door in minutes*. MPs set up their own process to decide who should pay anything back over the expenses thefts.

* Of course that wouldn't necessarily be the case if the college principal robbed tens of thousands.

 

[dessiato]

this is what all guys watching porn in public are doing - it's bullying, power trips. Not sure how this translates to MPs wanking in parliament though - expect it comes from a similar place.

I’m not sure it’s bullying in the more traditional sense of physical/psychological aggression. I think it’s that so many people these days assume they have the right to do what they want, where and when they want. And that they have no need to concern themselves with the consequences of their actions. I think this is where it all goes wrong. People need teaching about their responsibilities before their rights.

 

[dessiato]

Can you imagine what would happen to any of us? I work in FE. If I watched porn on my mobile while invigilating an exam, say? I’d never work in education again and probably be put on a register. And rightly so. What makes this any different?

A former colleague of mine fell asleep while invigilating, he also got banned from most bars in the town centre, then he was in trouble for assaulting his girlfriend in the street. He got promoted.

 

[danny la rouge]

 

[bluescreen]

Admittedly Damian Green didn't, afaik, watch in the Chamber itself, but he was sacked for storing porn on his work computer.

Damian Green sacked as first secretary of state after porn allegations

Green admits he made misleading statements after pornography was found on Commons computer in 2008

www.theguardian.com

 

[Sue]

I’m not sure it’s bullying in the more traditional sense of physical/psychological aggression. I think it’s that so many people these days assume they have the right to do what they want, where and when they want. And that they have no need to concern themselves with the consequences of their actions. I think this is where it all goes wrong. People need teaching about their responsibilities before their rights.

I think it can be both. I once asked a man (20s maybe) who was sitting next to me on the bus to turn off the porn on his tablet. He seemed very taken aback that I asked/thought it was problematic. (He did but was clearly bemused about the whole thing. )