Ali S

ANALYSIS: The treatment of Jess Phllips over recent days tells me all I need to know about the epidemic of misogyny, sexual abuse and violence against women and girls that still plagues our culture. The domestic violence campaigner-turned politician, who has spent her career fighting for victims, has found herself the subject of abuse on an industrial scale over the past week that has put her in danger, and, in dark moments, left her wondering whether she should give up frontline politics for good and go back to the women’s hostels where her journey to champion vulnerable women and girls began. Outspoken and a women’s campaigner, Phillips has long been a lightning rod, but when the world’s richest man, who owns a social media platform with 211m followers, starts trolling you as a “rape genocide apologist”, complicit in a what he claims is a ‘cover-up’ of the most disgusting and sickening abuse, that’s a different order of attention, and danger. This week the female politician charged with trying to protect the actual victims of these unspeakable crimes becames subject to an avalanche of abuse - and threats - herself. It was undoubtedly horrific for Phillips, who tells me she felt physically sick and hunted as the tweets came raining down. And as everyone piled in with their outrage and indignation, where were the voices of the actual victims themselves? It has been so vicious and noisy and fraught as the very serious matter of grooming gangs and the exploitation, rape and torture of young victims turned into a political battleground of finger pointing and point scoring. You can read the full piece here > news.sky.com/story/elon-musk…