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| How do you change a macho parliament? Talk about the reality of rape How do you change a macho parliament? Talk about the reality of rape | |
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| Michelle Thomson’s measured, moving account of being raped when she 14, given at a House of Commons debate yesterday, was testament not only to her great bravery but also to the importance of the personal in parliamentary politics. In her speech, on the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Thomson, a Scottish MP, calmly shattered rape myths: she was wearing jeans, not a mini-skirt; she didn’t fight or flee because – as is common in threatening situations – she froze; she didn’t report the attack because she was ashamed; and – as in 90% of cases – the rapist was not a stranger in a dark alley, but someone she knew and trusted. The usual cheers and jeers of the house were replaced by empathetic silence. | Michelle Thomson’s measured, moving account of being raped when she 14, given at a House of Commons debate yesterday, was testament not only to her great bravery but also to the importance of the personal in parliamentary politics. In her speech, on the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Thomson, a Scottish MP, calmly shattered rape myths: she was wearing jeans, not a mini-skirt; she didn’t fight or flee because – as is common in threatening situations – she froze; she didn’t report the attack because she was ashamed; and – as in 90% of cases – the rapist was not a stranger in a dark alley, but someone she knew and trusted. The usual cheers and jeers of the house were replaced by empathetic silence. |
| Earlier this year, Labour MP Jess Phillips marked International Women’s Day by reading out the names and ages of all 121 women killed by men in the UK since International Women’s Day 2015. It took seven minutes. The sobering litany insisted that we call each woman to mind, recognise her humanity, and confront the male violence that ended her life. Phillips insisted we see a pattern. | Earlier this year, Labour MP Jess Phillips marked International Women’s Day by reading out the names and ages of all 121 women killed by men in the UK since International Women’s Day 2015. It took seven minutes. The sobering litany insisted that we call each woman to mind, recognise her humanity, and confront the male violence that ended her life. Phillips insisted we see a pattern. |
| On 13 October this year, during baby loss awareness week, Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft spoke with great difficulty about the death of her baby, Veronica, born with an umbilical cord wrapped around her neck when Foxcroft was 16. Foxcroft expressed her hesitation about sharing something so personal in parliament, before offering a moving account of slow reactions from medical staff and a lack of support from counselling agencies in the wake of her loss. In 2014, there were more than 5,500 perinatal stillbirths and deaths in England and Wales. Foxcroft’s testimony takes this out of the abstract – it convinces us that more can and must be done politically to prevent this personal trauma. | On 13 October this year, during baby loss awareness week, Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft spoke with great difficulty about the death of her baby, Veronica, born with an umbilical cord wrapped around her neck when Foxcroft was 16. Foxcroft expressed her hesitation about sharing something so personal in parliament, before offering a moving account of slow reactions from medical staff and a lack of support from counselling agencies in the wake of her loss. In 2014, there were more than 5,500 perinatal stillbirths and deaths in England and Wales. Foxcroft’s testimony takes this out of the abstract – it convinces us that more can and must be done politically to prevent this personal trauma. |
| In the 1960s, second wave feminists coined the phrase “the personal is political,” encouraging women to join the dots between individual experiences of misogyny and systemic discrimination. Where once women saw bad luck – something they might have avoided if they’d dressed differently, walked home a different way, made men less angry – the second wave uncovered a pattern. That pattern provides the foundation of feminist politics. | In the 1960s, second wave feminists coined the phrase “the personal is political,” encouraging women to join the dots between individual experiences of misogyny and systemic discrimination. Where once women saw bad luck – something they might have avoided if they’d dressed differently, walked home a different way, made men less angry – the second wave uncovered a pattern. That pattern provides the foundation of feminist politics. |
| Since then, much research has proved that this pattern exists. Now we have statistics, numbers. Misogyny is not an isolated incident. Sexual assault cannot be avoided by long skirts or brightly lit streets. Our experiences of male violence are not bad luck: they are systemic and fostered by a culture in which male narratives are deemed more trustworthy and reliable. Crucially, these experiences are not our fault. | Since then, much research has proved that this pattern exists. Now we have statistics, numbers. Misogyny is not an isolated incident. Sexual assault cannot be avoided by long skirts or brightly lit streets. Our experiences of male violence are not bad luck: they are systemic and fostered by a culture in which male narratives are deemed more trustworthy and reliable. Crucially, these experiences are not our fault. |
| The slogan “the personal is political” blurred the boundary between the private and public sphere. The former has traditionally been the domain of women, and the stuff of it – bodies, emotions, reproduction, domestic labour – was, by definition, not the reasonable, rational, manly stuff of politics. Feminists have tugged apart this false dichotomy, and yet women remain underrepresented in mainstream politics. And you only have to watch the braying and intimidation that represents business-as-usual at Westminster to realise that parliament is not exactly an accommodating space for the personal. | The slogan “the personal is political” blurred the boundary between the private and public sphere. The former has traditionally been the domain of women, and the stuff of it – bodies, emotions, reproduction, domestic labour – was, by definition, not the reasonable, rational, manly stuff of politics. Feminists have tugged apart this false dichotomy, and yet women remain underrepresented in mainstream politics. And you only have to watch the braying and intimidation that represents business-as-usual at Westminster to realise that parliament is not exactly an accommodating space for the personal. |
| The recording of the debate in which Thomson spoke shows it was not particularly well attended. By my count there were 24 MPs there, the majority of whom were women. But Thomson’s decision to share her personal experience made an important and necessary impact. It means that the house can’t ignore the urgency of violence against women. Approximately 85,000 women and 12,000 men are raped in England and Wales every year. But those are just numbers. People are more likely to empathise with an individual story than with a shocking statistic. Thomson creates an audience. She makes her absent peers complicit. Their apathy and silence breeds a culture in which women feel that their experiences do not matter and that they cannot speak. | The recording of the debate in which Thomson spoke shows it was not particularly well attended. By my count there were 24 MPs there, the majority of whom were women. But Thomson’s decision to share her personal experience made an important and necessary impact. It means that the house can’t ignore the urgency of violence against women. Approximately 85,000 women and 12,000 men are raped in England and Wales every year. But those are just numbers. People are more likely to empathise with an individual story than with a shocking statistic. Thomson creates an audience. She makes her absent peers complicit. Their apathy and silence breeds a culture in which women feel that their experiences do not matter and that they cannot speak. |
| The testimonies of Thomson, Phillips and Foxcroft, these insertions of the personal into the hallowed halls of the political, are more than lip service. As the historian and author Nancy L Cohen writes, there’s a substantial body of scholarship showing that women in public office “make it a priority to advance rights, equality and opportunity for women and girls, in a way and to a degree that men in power overwhelmingly do not”. If statistics prove a pattern, shared stories ask us to recognise the effects of those patterns on real bodies and real lives. But there’s another step: having made their case, women politicians must move to effect change. Which – the research shows – they do. | The testimonies of Thomson, Phillips and Foxcroft, these insertions of the personal into the hallowed halls of the political, are more than lip service. As the historian and author Nancy L Cohen writes, there’s a substantial body of scholarship showing that women in public office “make it a priority to advance rights, equality and opportunity for women and girls, in a way and to a degree that men in power overwhelmingly do not”. If statistics prove a pattern, shared stories ask us to recognise the effects of those patterns on real bodies and real lives. But there’s another step: having made their case, women politicians must move to effect change. Which – the research shows – they do. |
| It’s exciting to see women insisting that parliamentary politics can and should be personal, to hear them sharing experiences of what it means to be a woman before uncharacteristically hushed peers. This politics of the personal is a tactic – it hooks the public, making them listen, and generating support for women’s rights; it is a confrontation – it brings women’s bodies, emotions, and labour into the house, where, tradition has it, these things do not belong; and it is also a step forward. These shared stories signal the beginning of a parliamentary process that can really represent women. And perhaps they signal a mainstream politics ready to recognise – at last – that the personal is political. | It’s exciting to see women insisting that parliamentary politics can and should be personal, to hear them sharing experiences of what it means to be a woman before uncharacteristically hushed peers. This politics of the personal is a tactic – it hooks the public, making them listen, and generating support for women’s rights; it is a confrontation – it brings women’s bodies, emotions, and labour into the house, where, tradition has it, these things do not belong; and it is also a step forward. These shared stories signal the beginning of a parliamentary process that can really represent women. And perhaps they signal a mainstream politics ready to recognise – at last – that the personal is political. |