Maya Forstater

Public insults, a short thread. The statements stuck up around Oxford are “Woman: noun. Adult human female” And: “Women don’t have penises” As a matter of human biology these are statements of fact. In context they have been posted in order to offend a group of people. /1https://twitter.com/jameskirkup/status/1184004292308623362 …

The context is the widespread writing and stickering of the message "Trans Joy is Real" around Oxford. So, in context, the message of the above statements is "Transwomen are not women." A statement calculated to offend. /2

The law is the easy bit. Stickering and writing on public property like this is criminal damage, but that is unrelated to the message. Is the public message itself, which some find offensive and may be seen as "hateful" a crime? /3

The possible offence is s 5 of the Public Order Act 1986. That section requires words that are "threatening or abusive." The word "insulting" has been deleted, and so "abusive" does not include that. Is this abusive? I think not. So no crime as a matter of the law. /4

Should it be criminal? If we think, as utilitarians do, that the law is there to maximise something (happiness, preferences, something else) then it looks plausible that we should criminalise this. Perhaps the world would be happier overall if we banned such public words. /5

if we think, as some moralists do, that law should in some way track morality, and seek to make us conform to our good reasons for action, then again we might want to criminalise this. The words are calculated to offend a group that understands them, for no good purpose. /6