LAST week the Misogyny Working Group in Holyrood launched their paper that argues for the need to make sexism a crime. But sexism, from their perspective, is only something that should be punished when carried out by men, not women.

It’s worth noting, when looking at the proposals, that as far as I am aware, nobody in the last Holyrood elections stood on a feminist platform or was elected by voters because of their arguments about the patriarchal nature of society.

Also, last week, we had the bizarre spectacle of Nicola Sturgeon apologising on our behalf for the treatment of “witches” since 1563, a form of treatment carried out in medieval times that she described as a clear case of misogyny. She went on to endorse the working group proposals and it seems just a matter of time before misogyny is made into a crime in Scotland.

As well as proposing laws that are already covered by existing laws and arguing for the more severe punishment of criminal acts if there is a sexist component to them, new laws to simply make misogyny a stand-alone crime were also argued for by the working group.

Stuart Waiton: Now being sexist could become a crime in Scotland

Some of the examples used to explain what would become criminal included talking out loud about what should be done sexually to a woman; telling a woman she is fat and sexually loathsome; or gesticulating in a sexual manner. Additionally, preachers who advocate physical punishment of women who have sex outside of marriage would be arrested and charge.

The ideological basis upon which these crimes are proposed is the idea that we live in a patriarchal society. Chair of the group, Baroness Helena Kennedy, argues in the report that “misogyny is so deeply rooted in our patriarchal ecosystem”. Kennedy, a highly successful QC, also believes in the “gendered nature of law”, and the working group are clear that “the idea of the neutrality of law is largely a fiction”.

Following what many would see as an extremist form of feminism, Kennedy believes in the simplistic and I would argue largely incorrect idea that we live in a society that is essentially made up of men who oppress women, More than this, she sees the very nature of womanhood is based on the constant and “daily” abuse of women by men.

Through this one-dimensional and prejudiced lens, men, on mass, are demonised, while women are portrayed in the most fragile and vulnerable way imaginable, literally having their sense of self made and unmade by the behaviour of men. This is why women, in her view, should not be punished for any of their behaviour towards men, because it is irrelevant, once you realise the patriarchal nature of society.

One result of this outlook is that all forms of male behaviour from unpleasant comments to rape come to be understood as part and parcel of the same culture of misogyny that crushes women and needs to be stopped.

To this end, the working group is not simply about criminalising men and boys, but it also wants to “change the culture”. The logical outcome of this will be that schools will once again be turned into social justice camps, to ensure that girls are educated about their victimhood and boys are punished for their emerging masculinity.

With little or no opposition to this state-imposed vision of our patriarchal culture, universities will no doubt follow suit, and soon employers will be developing training courses to ensure our “culture” is changed in accordance with this people-hating ideology that nobody voted for.

As I’ve noted before, the most dangerous aspect of these developments is that relationships between the sexes are being poisoned and portrayed in such a grotesque way that they risk creating a world where intimacy itself is policed and a new medieval type of chaperone society is forced upon us.

The woke witch hunt has begun.

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