I Find This Disturbing

[emmie]

no graphic pictures, i was listening to this on the news and couldn't believe what i was hearing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23479813

[jno]

women get paid about 85p for every £1 men get.

[LazyGun]

@RobKep

I respond as I find.

Gender inequality is a documented,verifiable issue. As is race inequality. Why would you seek to dismiss it? It is all part of the same issue...

Anyway - back to the point of the OP - what could you reasonably object to in having a famous british female on the back of one of our banknotes?

[naomi24]

The abuse this woman has encountered is appalling, serving to confirm my long held suspicion that there are more out than in - but having said that I think the whole 'men' or 'women' on a bank note thing is a load of twaddle.

[LazyGun]

@RobKep Well you certainly are mounting your hobby horse now. I doubt those that really are pro-EU on this board would call me pro-EU, but thats irrelevant anyway.

The point of the OP was that a whole bunch of mysogynists decided that it was perfectly acceptable to offer a torrent of abuse, even to the extent of threatened rape, over the campaign of one woman to persuade the BofE that their original proposals for change to the banknotes would mean that no famous women britons were portrayed on the back of our bank notes, and she thought it only fair that at least one famous female briton was represented.I see no problem with that whatsoever - Do you?

Although I admit I will miss Darwin when he goes...

Back to your post;
whats a "so-called ethnic minority"?

For equality to happen, the playing field needs to tilt, at least a bit...

[LazyGun]

@ RobKep Well, in fairness, it was you that introduced race into the question when you posted this

"I wanted to say that during my career I never encountered sexism or any other discrimination. I honestly believe as an enlightened civilised society (dare I say it) some types are not content with equality."

You know, that bit about "any other discrimination". I was not sure quite which "type" you felt were not content with equality, so I let that point go.

I then made what I though was the fairly non-controversial point that
"@Robkep - There is plenty of evidence to show that things are improving, sure, but there is also plenty of evidence to suggest that we still have a long way to go, both in recognising true equality for women and for those from an ethnic minority background, come to that...."

And thats when you kind of went off at the deep end, accusing me of "playing the race card" and offering a "particular brand of liberalism"

So remind me again - who was it who was introducing extraneous issues into the thread?

[Gromit]

Steve.5

I do wonder if they terrible tweets this woman received were related to how the story has been represented in the right wing press. The suffragette got all her hate mail after she had been bad mouthed by the Times and Mail.
Apoarently a young 'man' has been arrested for sending some of the tweets. I would be surprised if he was a Guardian reader.

[jno]

he could be one of the mutts who post on Guardian blogs, though. They wouldn't buy the newspaper, but as long as the online version is free they pile in to hurl insults at it.

[LazyGun]

@RobKep What, threats now? The evidence is there- I reposted the order of the comments and you can see for yourself...

[mikey4444]

They appear to have arrested somebody :::

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23485610

[emmie]

i have just got back to this, it seems someone was arrested.
as to how it was presented in the right wing press, what idiocy, she was on the news and said the same thing, not to mention the radio, which is where i heard this first off. Some comments here and in the media make me think that sexism in all its inglory is alive on kicking.

[emmie]

so now the person can't be a Guardian reader, that is so strange a point i don't know what to say. That no one who reads that paper couldn't possibly be sexist, misogynistic, heavens help us. Some seem to get the point, that no matter it was one tweet, or facebook comment, it was vile, and i hope that if someone is caught they will realise how serious this is.

[Peter Pedant]

I had difficulty of connecting Miss Austen's campaign (obviously not led by Miss Austen herself from her grave)

with abusive rape threats and wondered if I was having a micro-sleep during it.

( Delhi and Cairo are the place not to go for ladies this month)

But surely - like Sally Bercow and er Lord Thingey (I dont wish to say that SB has been tweeeting anyting other than the purest thoughts) surely they can be traced ? or am I just not 21st century ?

[LazyGun]

@ PP I believe they are being, hence the news of the arrest of at least one individual.

From the Independent;
"Police investigating rape threats against an anti-sexism campaigner are reviewing “hundreds” of tweets for possible offences under the Malicious Communications Act, in what could become the first major test of new social-media guidelines for prosecutors.

On Sunday night a 21-year-old man was arrested in Manchester in connection with the barrage of hostile tweets."