Racism, sexism and free speech

Racism, sexism and free speech

In yesterday’s PMQ’s William Hague called a Labour MP a “stupid Woman,” of course this has created an uproar as this is sexist.  And if you like me think sexism is distinguishing people based on sex then yes it was a sexist comment.  However, we do have a level of free speech in this country so surely a racist or sexist slur, which only offends, should not see you persecuted.  It is probably best I explain that last statement, for me racism is to distinguish between people based on race, and sexism the same but with sex.  It is important that we are aware there are different levels of sexism and racism, so encouraging physical harm against a group because of race or denying a group a job based on race are examples of what I would call high racism (the same goes for sex).  This high racism and sexism is taking away a person’s rights or causing them physical harm due to race or sex and this should be prevented by law and people who commit these acts should be punished under law. 

The next level would be medium sexism or racism, this would be things that are sexist or racist but are not supposed to disadvantage a group.  So this is like single sex private members clubs, sports clubs that only allow single sex membership, or institutional structures that prevent advancement for a sex or race.  People should not be prosecuted for this sort of thing however, any government that believes in equality should legislate to remove these barriers, and society should speak up and try to get these barriers removed.  The final form of racism and sexism would be low level this would include things like what William Hague said because it only causes offence, it does not insight hate and it does not disadvantage a group.  Low level racism and sexism is the hardest to identify because it has to only cause offence, if you advocate violence against a group like a hate preacher does that would be high level racism or sexism and should be dealt with by the law.  However if you call someone a stupid man or a stupid woman this might offend a person but nothing more.  And as we are supposed to have freedom of speech offending a person should not lead to punishment under law.

You may read this and totally disagree with me and believe that you can’t talk about anyone’s sex or race and that every job should have representative proportions from all society and that is fine.  I am going to try to qualify my own opinion in this last paragraph,  if someone said you were rubbish at football this could cause you offence but there is nothing you could do about it.  If some calls you a dickhead or another insulting term and you are offended you can do very little about it.  Nevertheless, if someone writes something or says something that is racist or sexist they can be fined their online accounts can be suspended and if they are a notable person like a politician, the press can bring them down, the gay marriage debate was an example of this.  Racist and sexist comments which only cause offence should be treat the same way as other comments that cause offence.  I am not trying to say that being racist or sexist is good most of these comments will be obscene and horrible and you should challenge the person who makes them about why they said it, but if you support free speech, you can’t punish people who just state an opinion no matter how stupid of offensive it is.  For me free speech allows you to state an opinion, it allows you to criticise the government, it allows you to offend people, it allows you to be offended, it allows you to express your personality.  What it does not allow you to do is to incite violence against other groups, endanger other people’s lives, or threaten people.  It is easy to support freedom of speech for easy subjects such as your right to voice one of the many mainstream opinions but if you support freedom of speech, you must allow people with views you find ridiculous or offensive to be heard without fear of being prosecuted by the law.