Luciana Berger: Online misogyny and anti-Semitism used to silence women

Online misogyny and racism is aimed at women in a bid to silence them, Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger has said.

The Liverpool Wavertree MP described Twitter as an “absolute cesspit”, which has got so bad she has turned off notifications to get away from the abuse.

Speaking at a Jewish Labour Movement conference event, Ms Berger said the hatred comes overwhelmingly from men and she argued women are disproportionately affected.

She has seen five men in court over anti-Semitic abuse directed towards her, with four of them receiving prison sentences.

Following the Old Bailey trial of right-wing troll Garron Helm, an international campaign was launched using the hashtag “filthyjewbitch”, which was shared thousands of times, Ms Berger told delegates.

She said within just half and hour on Sunday she was called names including an “apartheid apologist”, a “war mongerer”, a “racist Zionist” and a “treasonous, poisonous, gutless liar”.

“All of these comments have come from men,” she said.

“Some of the stuff I get is also intertwined with sometimes pornography, sometimes violence. This is stuff that comes from men.”

She added: “If you speak out there are very aggressive moves which are in order to silence women.

“That emboldens me to speak out, but the more I speak the worse it is. It’s the worst it’s ever been at the moment.”

Ms Berger said one of her tweets, which reached a million people, attracted 1,000 messages of hate.