Dominic Raab is no more keen on the Equality Act than he is on the Human Rights Act
Esher and Walton MP Dominic Raab has just been made justice minister alongside Michael Gove.
Raab is a longtime critic of the Human Rights Act – this appointment looks like David Cameron’s way of saying he is serious about scrapping it. In January 2014 Raab voted to allow human rights grounds to be used to prevent a foreign criminal being deported only in cases where there would be a breach of right to life or the right not to be tortured.
In 2013, he voted to remove the duty on the Commission for Equality and Human Rights to work to support the development of a society in which people’s ability to achieve their potential is not limited by prejudice or discrimination.
And in 2013 he also voted against making it illegal to discriminate on grounds of caste.
Raab also took an unusual stance on gender equality in 2011, when he expressed his fears that ‘from the cradle to the grave, men are getting a raw deal’. He attacked the ‘obnoxious bigotry’ of feminists and complained that men work longer hours than women (no mention of pay gap etc).
“While we have some of the toughest anti-discrimination laws in the world, we are blind to some of the most flagrant discrimination – against men.”
Seeming to have fallen at the first hurdle – assuming that feminism is anti-men – Raab also suggested that men start ‘burning their briefs’, presumably as a long- overdue retaliation against the feminists of the sixties (who did not, in fact, burn their bras.)
Raab’s diatribe continued:
“Britain’s not perfect, and we will never eradicate all human prejudice.”
This is especially true when we do not understand that prejudice. Another interesting choice from David Cameron.
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow her on Twitter
398 Responses to “He thinks feminists are ‘obnoxious bigots’: meet the new justice minister”
Chris Kanski
derp looks like you read ‘feminism 101’ and think you have a handle on it, shame you’re so discriminated against you’ll never be important enough to have any say eh? :ppp
Rex Duis
Judging by your comments on Discus Chris you’re clearly a little sh*t stirrer. J.D. clearly stated – he sees the proof that Feminism is anti-male with his own eyes. You don’t need to ‘read feminism 101’ which suggests he read bad things and formed a limited opinion based on that. He’s got his eyes as do we all, and he has his experiences which are valid.
Camilla Johansson
What a load of bollocks. To dismiss feminism on the grounds that men has a raw deal from the cradle to the grave shows a frightening lack of understanding the mechanisms of the patriarchy. He´s clearly intellectually incompetent.
Rex Duis
Chris, what is your point? Are you saying it’s wrong for someone to mutilate your body without your consent and for no good reason and to be upset about it?
As it happens, no I’m thankfully still intact. My mother had the basic common sense, humanity and strength of will to tell the doctors at the hospital to f*** off. A pity more ‘strong, independent women’ aren’t strong or independent enough to have done the same, judging by some of the hatchet jobs I’ve seen on plenty of men in my life.
The fact this hasn’t happened to me personally is irrelevent. Knowing that it’s happened to others and still being angry means one has empathy for others. An immature jibe like yours would suggest a lack of empathy. Your defending of Feminism in another comment further down the page demonstrates your bias. A lack of empathy for male suffering is synonymous with Feminism, so you’d ably demonstrated why we need to get rid it and it’s a movement if not filled with hate then lacking in empathy and worthy of destruction.
Rex Duis
If women are suffering more from mental health problems, they’re doing a much better job of staying alive than men when they become suicidal. That would be why men around the world have significantly higher suicide rates and no one gives a sh*t, then victims like you come along and make out like we’ve got it all easy.
I’m not saying that men and women don’t both face unfair treatment and social expectations in society but all we ever hear about is the injustices and humiliations suffered by women and after 30 years of it I’ve frankly had a gutsful. It’s about bloody time men started standing up for ourselves and having some balls.
We enjoy less legal protections than women and we need to get that changed as a priority. We need to get male suicide rates down urgently. We need to pour more funding into cancer awareness and research programmes for testicular and prostate cancers which kill far more men than breast cancer kills women. We need to urgently help boys in schools to achieve higher grades and have a better chance at life as adults. We need to ensure fair and equal sentencing for equal crimes with no gender disparity. We need to grant men equal reproductive rights. We need to grant baby boys genital integrity.
It’s all well and fine for you to complain now your on the other side of the fence, but I doubt you were as ardent a defender of women when you were a man, which reeks of self-interest and hypocrisy. I however am happy to support any endeavour which brings fairness to any person or group maligned, regardless of whether it directly affects me or not.