A Labour MP has insisted she will not stop speaking out despite being subjected to rape threats after objecting to demands for a debate on men’s rights.
Jess Phillips was hit by a wave of vile abuse on social media after laughing at Conservative Philip Davies when he called for a discussion in Parliament to coincide with International Men’s Day.
Ms Phillips told BBC Two’s Newsnight she had suffered a “huge torrent” of abuse following the exchange, including calls for her to be bound and raped.
She said: “I suffered a huge torrent of very noisy abuse from men’s rights activists, which very unfortunately, led to a very dark bit of the internet calling for me to be raped, bound and raped publicly.
“When I published that on Twitter then there was a torrent of people saying that I asked for it, that it was my own fault.”
The abuse erupted after the Labour MP told Mr Davies she felt as though “every day” was International Men’s Day when he asked the backbench business committee to allocate time to a discussion about the event.
Ms Phillips said if the Tory MP had come to the committee with an issue like male suicide rates she would have pushed it through.
She admitted she could sometimes “be a bit childish” and would probably react differently if the situation was repeated.
“Perhaps I wouldn’t be so flippant and I will protect myself in future but I will not stop speaking up though against people who, frankly, use equality as a tool for their own ridiculous agenda,” she said.