MP recalls online abuse as she urges women to continue entering politics
Rosie Wrighting spoke of her own experiences during a debate on International Women’s Day.
Parliament’s youngest female MP has insisted online abuse should not deter women from entering politics, adding: “There’s a place for you here and we need you.”
Labour’s Rosie Wrighting said several insults have been directed at her, such as “Barbie” and “stupid girl”, and she is aware of “many great women” who have not stood for Parliament because of safety concerns.
The 27-year-old’s voice cracked with emotion as she spoke of how online threats “translate to real life”, including making sure no-one is following her home and worries over her drink being spiked on a night out.
“I was also raised by women – my mum, my nan and my aunt Emma.
“I am proudly a Gen Z woman. Like many others my age, I grew up on social media, I watched this series of Love Island, this weekend I’m going to see Sabrina Carpenter and I’m still shocked about Molly-Mae and Tommy Fury’s break-up.
“But absolutely none of that takes away from my ability to serve my constituents.
“Being a young woman in this place has its pitfalls and I know that women MPs bear the brunt of online abuse, making ourselves read daily online comments which criticise our appearance, question our intelligence and threaten our safety.
“In a post when the election was called last year, more people asked me if I had an Only Fans account than about our manifesto pledges.
“Online I am called Barbie, I’m a stupid girl and child playing politics and many more creative things that I can’t say in this House.
“I know many great women who haven’t stood for Parliament because of online abuse or worrying about their safety and this House is worse off because of it.
“My message to women who are thinking about getting into politics is that there’s a place for you here and we need you.”
“And when I walk back to my flat tonight, I won’t have my headphones on so I can hear if someone is following me.
“And when I go out with my friends, I won’t put my drink down because I am worried I might be spiked.
“When a man asks for my number on the Tube, all I’m thinking is how I can let him down gently because I’m worried how he might take it if I say no.”
Labour MP Polly Billington (East Thanet) intervened to highlight security warnings issued to candidates for Parliament.
She said: “The advice that we got from a bunch of white men, we kind of looked at each other, us female candidates, and observed almost everything they were suggesting we did – walk in the light, don’t have your headphones on, be careful where you stand on a platform – were basically the advice we’d been given by our mothers at the age of 12.”
Ms Wrighting agreed with her party colleague, adding: “Coming into this place, it’s sad to say that advice wasn’t new to us and it is sadly things we’ve had to learn through our own experiences.”
She went on to say she is surrounded by “many, many great colleagues, great male colleagues” in Parliament, adding: “I know we cannot accelerate action, uplift or empower young women without also engaging young men.
“We have to be clear: we cannot tackle violence against women and girls without supporting young men at this vital point.”
She said: “If we look at the last parliament, the BBC was discussed more often than childcare. You were five times more likely to hear about fishing than you were the menopause. This historic House that women died to get us into, spent more time discussing football than rape.”
She added: “Every single one of us has either been raped or knows somebody who has been raped. Rape is a part of our story as women, yet a part that we don’t tell.
“So I want to tell you about rape and being an MP. Rape threats are an accepted part of the job.
“Thank you to the minister (Jess Phillips) for speaking up about this disgusting truth. I am the 690th woman MP so Rape Crisis estimates that a quarter of women have been raped or sexually assaulted. If we apply that data to MPs, that means 172 of us have been raped.
“Half of those 86 women MPs will have been raped more than once. Statistically, 28 of them will have reported this and if there’s a miracle at the very best, on an optimistic day, there’s a potential that one could have led to conviction.”
Ms Fleet further stated: “I’ve spoken publicly about giving birth after being the victim of statutory rape, and I am sick of being told I am brave. I don’t want to be brave. I want it to be expected that we tell our truth.”
