By Lucy Ashton
Female politicians, including Dumbarton constituency MSP Jackie Baillie, have revealed the shocking violent and misogynistic abuse they have received from trolls on social media.
The torrent of vile comments include rape threats and death threats, with a survey of 22 female MSPs by Holyrood magazine revealing that “almost all” of them have experienced online abuse.
Labour’s Pam Duncan-Glancy, the first permanent wheelchair-user among Holyrood politicians, told the magazine: “Someone on Twitter said I was a ‘paedophile’s wet dream’ because I’m small and skinny.”
She receives insults such as “poisoned dwarf”, “lying c***” and “witch” on a “daily basis” but has learned not to engage, saying: “But you can’t argue with people in 240 characters in any sensible [or] meaningful way at all. And I learned that the hard way. But even if you could, the scale of it is too much. I’d spend all day online.”
The Scottish Labour deputy leader, Dame Jackie Baillie, says the problem has become “100% worse” in the era of social media than it was when she first became an MSP in 1999. “It’s a sewer and it’s worse for female politicians,” she said.
And Alba MSP Ash Regan added: “With the rise of social media and technology, as well as an increase in hateful views towards women, there is a narrative that online abuse of female politicians is more prominent, and often left ignored, in comparison with male politicians. There seems to be a narrative that women are easier targets of abuse, or somehow less knowledgeable, therefore such abuse is more socially acceptable.”
SNP MSP Jackie Dunbar told the magazine she now thinks of her political persona as a “brand” to help cope with the comments. And her party colleague, the former drugs minister Elena Whitham, said: “I am stepping down at the next election and harassment definitely plays a big part in my decision-making.”
Laura Murtagh, pictured right, who sits as an independent councillor in Falkirk after quitting the SNP in 2023, proposed the inflation-busting council tax increase that was backed by Labour group. The ruling SNP group wanted a 13.7% increase.
She told the BBC’s Scotcast: “There were cuts to services [under a 13.7% rise] – really important services like early learning and child care, provisions of teachers in classes of units for autistic children – things that members of the public tell us they are really passionate about.”
But the response has left her “physically sick” and “crying my eyes out”, as she said: “I couldn’t look at my emails. It was clear once the story was out that I wasn’t going to be able to look at social media.
“When people start saying things like you could do ‘with a good kicking’ or you could do with more than that – in the past there’s been people saying ‘we know where you live’. Councillors are embedded in their communities and no matter how you are protected, people can access you. It’s overwhelming – it’s very harmful.”
Top of page picture: Ash Regan MSP of the Alba Party.