MISOGYNISTIC attacks on female politicians, such as Rupert Everett calling former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon a “witch”, embolden men to make real-world threats, the Deputy First Minister has said.
Speaking at the Scotland 2050 conference in Edinburgh on Tuesday, Kate Forbes addressed what she called “abhorrent” comments from Everett, who is known for roles in hit movies such as Shrek 2 and Napoleon.
In an interview with The Herald, the actor – who moved to Scotland when he was 18 to work at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow – called the former first minister “a witch” when discussing the record of the SNP with the arts.
“As soon as the witch Sturgeon came into power, everything changed in Scottish arts and everything had to be about being Scottish,” he said.
The former first minister branded Everett’s comments “deeply misogynistic”, and Forbes was asked about them on Tuesday while speaking on a panel about women in public life.
“The problem is that these accusations, these criticisms, are so often tinged with misogynistic language.
“Whether it's women making or men making it, it is reflective of the deep-seated nature of misogynistic language and the fact that politics has gone from an exchange of views to just personal attacks, devoid of policy scrutiny.
“It's abhorrent. It's despicable.
“What's remarkable is that we've now been talking about this for at least six or seven years and it's only got worse in that time.”
Forbes said that any post she made on Twitter or Facebook would see replies full of “reels of the stuff”.
“It's only when somebody who should know better makes comments like that, that suddenly we all say, ‘well, that's not acceptable’. But this is going on constantly. It is exhausting.
“It is totally misogynistic and whether it's men making it or women making it, the point stands that it is saturated with misogynistic language, and I think that the destructive nature of social media cannot be understated. I think it is going to transform our politics for a generation.
“It's going to transform, totally change, the type of people that are in politics for a generation, and it's particularly affecting young women.”
The Deputy First Minister later said that she “almost never” speaks publicly about the abuse she faces on social media – or the threats in real life – because she fears it will put other women off entering politics.
She told the Scotland 2050 conference that the misogynistic attacks on social media were not isolated, online incidents.
“It's not just what happens online, sticks and stones and all that,” she said. “The problem is that this spills over into the real world.
“I know myself, I’m fairly short and small, and if I have people that were once accusing me of all sorts of things on social media, then turning up to surgeries – as they have done. There's certainly been enough press coverage of threats that have been made around actual means of hurting me, it spills over into that.
“We all say, well, ‘isn't it dreadful, we need to do something about social media’.
“It's just going to be a cycle until there is an intervention, that something disrupts the cycle, and we as a country – and as I suppose those of us who participate in the public square – decide to take a different approach.”
