Britain’s main opposition leader sparked a political furor Wednesday after he was accused of calling Prime Minister Theresa May a “stupid woman” in the House of Commons.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was caught on camera appearing to mutter the insult during the prime minister’s weekly question-and-answer session.
He denied, it, saying instead that he had called Conservative lawmakers “stupid people.”
The always-lively session was even more heated than usual, as lawmakers’ frustrations and divisions over Brexit boiled over into raucous shouting and personal jibes. Britain expected to leave the European Union on March 29 but lawmakers from many political stances are against May’s Brexit plan.
Conservative legislators yelled “Shame!” and “Disgraceful!” at Corbyn after the alleged jibe.
“I did not use the words ‘stupid woman’ about the prime minister or anyone else, and am completely opposed to the use of sexist or misogynist language in absolutely any form at all,” Corbyn said.
The incident came as Britain’s Parliament attempts to end bullying, abuse and sexual harassment. Earlier this year, a cross-party working group reported that one in five parliamentary workers had experienced or witnessed sexual harassment in the previous year.
This is funny. A Tory MP heckles a very serious Jeremy Corbin: “Who are you?” | pic.twitter.com/YvUSVqf4yi
— Mike (@Doranimated) December 18, 2018
It’s not the first time a male political leader in Britain has been accused of using sexist language.
In 2011, then-Prime Minister David Cameron was accused of sexism when he adopted a catchphrase from a popular commercial and told a female lawmaker to “calm down, dear.”
Wednesday’s incident also has echoes of Donald Trump branding Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman” during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
As British media outlets enlisted lipreaders to try to determine what exactly Corbyn had said, actor Rob Lowe was among those who offered their opinions on social media.
“FYI- I have to say, I saw Jeremy Corbin call the Prime Minister a “stupid woman” with my own eyes watching on @SkyNewsPolitics,” Lowe tweeted.
Did Jeremy Corbyn call Theresa May a “stupid woman”? PMQs ended in fiery exchanges between MPs after the Labour leader appeared to mouth the phrase. A Labour spokesperson claimed he said “stupid people”.
What do you think he said? Find out more here: https://t.co/j5Al4jaTKE pic.twitter.com/fjCTn3c1Gd
— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 19, 2018
(AP)
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4 Responses
What would be the big deal if he had said “stupid woman”? Nobody would raise an eyebrow if he had said “stupid man” about a man. Ditto for Trump; had he called a man a “nasty man” nobody would think twice of it, so what was wrong with calling Clinton a “nasty woman”?
The headline, containing the /subjective characterization/ “Anti Semite” yet the article appears to be a /news story/. Is the incongruity in that combination not obvious?
I note, as well, that the article is credited to the AP. Would they approve of your appending the incendiary title to their article? In doing so, has YWN remained compliant with the AP’s terms and conditions for use of their material?
> Milhouse
I think the article is clear. The “big deal” is, first, that the general agreement in those circles in current times is that such name calling is bullying and borders on sexual harassment because it was a “he” against a “she”. In fact, the women’s extremist movements have already published guidelines that a male (who is not a current lover of the female) who merely compliments a woman on her appearance has committed sexual harassment.
The UK labour pary web site I just looked up states:
> The Labour Party has a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment and will take all complaints of this nature extremely seriously.
> Should you experience any behaviour that you feel amounts to sexual harassment either towards yourself or another member we strongly encourage you to report it to us as soon as you can.
> What is sexual harassment? … It takes place when someone is subjected to unwelcome and unwanted … conduct related to their gender.
Thus calling someone a stupid person is not directly sexual harassment because the gender is not specified. As soon as it becomes “stupid woman” – that is sexual harassment.
And yes, “fairness” would call for the other way around as well (woman calling a male “stupid man”), but “fairness” is not on the agenda in the extremists feminine world. As is well known (or should be) these modern extremists feminists have come out with open statements that they don’t even care if (as an example of name they mentioned) Kavanaugh actually did what is accused of because he is guilty anyway. That is the way the world is going.
Stupid YWN for calling a non-Jew – any non-Jew – an anti-Semite. Jews throughout the ages had more sense and knew that in golus, we are diplomatic. (In any case, all of Esav are presumed to hate us, so why single out one over another?)