Marion Millar is Scottish, a feminist and a working mum. On 28th April 2021 she received a phone call out of the blue, from a police officer who told her she would need to attend her local police station to be interviewed under the Malicious Communications Act (MCA). When Marion told her she had small children to care for (she has autistic twins) she was informed that social services would look after them while she was interviewed. Millar was understandably both horrified and intimidated by this news. She was contacted again and told to attend the station on 27th May – which was also her birthday- but this appointment was cancelled, ostensibly due to the custody suite not being available. Her interview was eventually rescheduled for 3rd of June, leaving her to spend five weeks under huge amounts of stress.
“I shall be attending with my lawyers,” Millar told Twitter on May 28th.
What was her crime?
Tweeting.
Recently, feminists in Scotland have been tweeting under the WomenWontWheesht hashtag. ‘Wheesht‘ is Scots for ‘hush’, ‘be quiet’ or even ‘shut up’.
The hashtag took off a while ago, but yesterday, the day of Marion’s court appearance, it was trending on Twitter with nearly 16k tweets.
What do we know about Marion’s tweets?
Well, we now know that Marion has been charged on two counts of malicious communications under the MCA. The tweets could be seen as ‘aggravated hate crime’ and, under the MCA, theoretically she could face up to 2 years in prison.
It takes a lot to surprise me, but when I first saw one of them, the tweet that has been making an appearance in the press and on social media, I was so incredulous that I thought there must have been some mistake.
The offending tweet is on the left.
In the words of The Times newspaper, “The messages investigated by officers are understood to include a retweeted photograph of a bow of ribbons in the green, white and purple colours of the Suffragettes, tied around a tree (sic) outside the Glasgow studio where a BBC soap opera is shot. It is believed a complaint was made to the police suggesting the ribbons represented a noose.”
A noose.
Evidently, somebody thought that the suffragette ribbon (which was actually tied to a wire fence not a tree), fluttering lightly in the evening wind, was a noose, and that Marion’s tweeting of it was some sort of veiled threat.
We have yet to receive full details of exactly which other of her 11.5k tweets Millar is being charged for. A photo of a kitten in a basket that was mistaken for a Basket-Hilt Broadsword, perhaps? It seems anything is possible.
However, it has been suggested to me that the three tweets below may also be among those involved. This has not been confirmed by Millar. The tweets remain in the public domain on her timeline, as Twitter has not seen fit to question their presence.
Whilst we don’t have details of all the tweets involved, it is probably safe to presume Marion wasn’t posting a picture of a ‘gun’ on Twitter and threatening to shoot people who disagree with her beliefs.
This was one Twitter users’ recent response to the #WomenWontWheesht campaign.
Andrea Cachia has now been suspended from Brunel University while the Metropolitan Police investigate his- sorry, zie’s- actions. Yup, zie’s an enby. It will be interesting to see if he ends up in court.
Cachia’s tweet is not the only astonishing thing to come out of this. On 3rd June, a group of women waited outside the police station for Millar, offering solidarity and support.
Some of them posed for photographs and this photo (below) had been shared on Twitter, later reposted by transactivist Joss Prior.
“This is the mass protest for Marion Millar the crank,” wrote Prior. “This is what their ‘grass-roots’ movement looks like without the GC blokes, without the right-wing blokes, without the sock accounts and the astroturfing. A handful of bored, middle aged, conservative dullards.”
Joss’s attack on women is a triple whammy, the epitome of bigotry – attacking women for their age, their politcs (entirely speculative) and their perceived intellectual capacity.
I imagine Joss’s idea of a feminist protest would have been a parade of 20-year-old bikini girls sporting full make-up and perfectly coiffed hair, chanting ‘transwomen are women!’
Prior- no spring chicken himself- is also disparaging about the number of women in the photo. I’m told that others were present who were not photographed, but bloody hell – just yesterday someone was threatening to shoot gender critical women with a ‘gun’! It’s pretty damn brave that these women dare show their faces at all! And with just six day’s notice, on a week day, when most women are either at work or have kids to ferry to and from school. In the middle of a pandemic. And where, exactly? Central Edingburgh? No: Coatbridge. A town in the lowlands of Scotland, about nine miles outside Glasgow. I’ll just hop on my bike…
For Women Scotland tell me, “It was just some friends and supporters outside the police station, so not really a protest as such.”
“Is this Schrodinger’s GC feminists?” mused @CountessOfNice. “I thought we were a dangerous rightwing funded “international cabal of powerful lesbians” who must be silenced at all costs. They can’t have it both ways”
“I mean if your ‘enemy’ is a small group of ordinary women then maybe you’ve made some poor choices.” observed @crit_gen
“So women standing up to defend other women are being called cranks by men pretending to be women who have hijacked a mythical creature as their logo? Aye! Ok!” tweeted @ScotsKat
My favourite response was an… ahem… old photo of Prior in formal dress with the caption ‘bored, middle-aged dullard’?
If that seems harsh, bear in mind that Prior was not above doctoring a picture created by The Famous Artist Birdy Rose to make it look as if she had drawn Millar giving a Nazi salute.
Of course, it’s all a joke, ho ho ho. All done in the best possible taste, eh Joss?
When we take a closer look at the top left-hand side of the screenshot of Prior’s ‘mass protest’ post (above), we can see that it was retweeted by none other than Susie Green, the CEO of Mermaids.
Susie et al are excelling themselves recently: yesterday Mermaids tweeted an article with a cover photo that appeared to compare radical feminists to Hitler in make up.
So that’s nice.
The article talks about how Stonewall has ‘drawn the wrath of the LGB Alliance’ as if Stonewall is some sort of innocent little clownfish and the @ALLIANCELGB is a giant, omnipotent, all-devouring Kraken. You may be aware that Mermaids, Gendered Intelligence and other organisations with a vested interest in the transitioning of children are currently challenging the Charity Commission’s granting of charitable status to the LGB Alliance. Yes, organisations that advocate solely for the trans-identified want to shut down an organisation that advocates solely for same-sex attracted people. #lovewins eh?
In fact, Twitter is full of comments from people with pink, white and blue flags in their bios calling feminists ‘right wing’ and ‘Nazis’. I was sent a screenshot earlier today where Prior (who has blocked me) was calling me a ‘far right crank’. Honestly, the idea of me being far right is so bloody ludicrous you might as well call me a clownfish.
But I digress. Which are we? A few boring, incompetent middle-aged farts or an army of wild and dangerous battle-ready lunatics?
As @trottydog observed on Twitter:
“Make your minds up Joss and Suzie, are we a cluster of polite and sensible mature women or are we a rampaging mob endangering trans people everywhere? Because without the mob narrative, your fearmongering nonsense doesn’t really stand up does it?”
In the meantime, Marion Millar is waiting to be made an example of.
For Women Scotland told me, “The charge against Marion Millar seems highly politically motivated and appears to rely, at best, on interpretation and the belief that women’s rights are inherently hateful. During the Hate Crime Debate, we warned that some SNP officials and supporters were looking to use Hate Crime legislation against political opponents. Before the new law has come has come into force, we have been proven right. Part of the motivation of these complaints appears to be to outlaw legitimate protest: we have, for too long, heard that ribbons and stickers were hateful. It should terrify everyone that the police are now making arbitrary judgements on lawfully held and expressed opinion.“
We won’t know what happens next until July 20th, when Millar must report to the courts. By then she will have spent three months not knowing what she is supposed to have done wrong and with the potential threat of prison hanging over her.
Were ‘those’ tweets evil, threatening and fueled by hatred? Well, we won’t know for sure until we are told what they were.
It seems highly unlikely, as Twitter has made no attempt to shut her account down. A look through her timeline- unsurprisingly- would suggest not: the accusation of homophobia seems especially strange as Marion is consistently an advocate for lesbian rights and the right to be same-sex attracted.
I’m not sure what it means for the future of free speech when a woman can’t express her support for women’s rights without being threatened with prison.
One thing I am sure of though – women won’t wheesht.
Brilliant article. Thank you.
Lily, “wheesht” is not slang. It’s Scots. The Scots language is a language, not slang.
“Wheest”, for “hush”, is as far as I am aware one of the imports into Scots from Gaelic, where the word for “hush” is “ist”.
“Shut up” is slang, of course.
Thanks Morag. Of course Scots is a language! I was unaware that ‘wheesht’ wasn’t slang though. Thank you for pointing it out to me: I have corrected my post.
Thanks, much appreciated. Excellent article, by the way.
Brilliantly portrayed.
Mon the women.
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Thank you for an excellent article. Just two points aa wish tae draw yer attention tae… Wheesht is no a “Scottish slang” word.
It is a Scots language word and it’s meaning is..be quiet “haud yer wheesht” …hold yer tongue”…a sharp rebuke. or rudely “ocht awa an wheesht” …shut up.
The second point is.. the ribbon is tied tae a chain link fence and not as been reported “tied roond a tree”. Marion didn’t put the ribbon oan the fence, she posted a photie of it.
Again thanks for your article…regards Hettie ???
Thanks, Hettie. I’ve corrected my definition of ‘weesht’ and apologies for suggesting it was slang. TBF it was the Times that said the ribbon was tied to a tree, not me, but I’ve added for clarification that it was a wire fence not a tree.
Thank you for this excellent article. It highlights the astonishing prejudice against women in Scotland by the Scottish Government and their acolytes and the lengths they and their politically operated police force will go to to silence women. We still won’t wheesht!
Brilliant .. we must keep up the pressure….and liberate women’s right to free speech free expression with regards to our sex based rights and our self belief that people cannot change sex, forced language is totalitarianism, and Purple Washing needs exposing….
Sturgeon hates normal women and normal men. We live in a world she has created. My Daughter and her friends are really frightened. My Son is disgusted. I’m sorry I’m old and frightened for them. She’s backed up by cowards sucking the sugar money. You all disgust me snp troughing cowards. I’ve lived my hard life to see this disgusting mental torture. Cowards.
Thank you for this sane analysis. Trouble is though that it will be regarded by you know who as more transphobia.
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“One of the great secrets of the day is to know how to take possession of popular prejudices and passions, in such a way as to introduce a confusion of principles which makes impossible all understanding between those who speak the same language and have the same interests”. Machiavelli. i.e. #DivideAndRule by #IdentityPolitics
#LGBTQ #BlackLivesMatter #MenToo #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TimesUp #BelieveHer #CurfewForMen etc etc.
‘The #MeToo [LGBT & #GenderAgenda] Truth of Nr5 #RampantSexism’ (2020) https://wp.me/p94Aj4-1Y2 by #GaslightingGilligan
I’m confused. You clearly know Andrea’s correct pronouns, you just used them. And you’re ok with using them, because you used them. And you also know zie’s an enby, where they/them is the convention. Why use he/him when you have both the knowledge and every reason not to?
Confused? Really? Maybe think a little harder and you’ll get it.
Because nobody wants to lie anymore, it’s stupid don’t use the correct pronouns based in your sex. As an ex ally of the trans community I can confirm the brainwashing that people suffer for supporting trans community. detransitioners and ex allies are tired of lying in the name of trans community.
Andrea’s correct pronouns are “he / him”, because Andrea is a man.
On the Mermaids graphic…
Did they clear the rights for Chase Strangio’s image?
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Superb article, thank you. I hope you can get wider coverage for your work so that this crucial POV can help combat all the woke lunacy we are dealing with now. Women’s Rights cannot be sacrificed to Trans Rights. We must unite and fight back.
Thank you for the great piece. For the record, I am a fiscal conservative, social liberal and an American patriot. I also care about the needs and rights of trans people both because my sister is trans and because trans people are human beings. So it is a difficult issue for me to navigate as it is for so many people. I remind myself, you can dislike a lobby and still love the people they claim to represent. My sister is nothing like these monsters. I don’t mind calling someone “he” or “she” even if it flies in the face of everything I see. I am not going for the “zirs” or “they/them” thing though. That is a trans lobby power play. When the trans lobby offers sanctuary to known predators and empowers them with a “trans” status they are flexing their muscles. The crux of the problem is in the absolutism of “if a man says he is a woman, now he is a woman” and the very powerful message that everyone must treat these self proclaimed women the same as any other woman. Why? Is it because men never lie? If the trans lobby can protect criminals and at the same time have an innocent woman arrested for speaking out, they are powerful and that is what they want to prove most of all.
If I claim that I am a goat, you would declare me delusional. I would respond that you are a capraphobe, disparage you for refusing to participate in my delusion, and call for you to be canceled, financially destroyed, and fired from your profession.
you people need to get a life, imagine spending all your time hating trans people for existing
Eager to read somewhere (will any major media organisation have the guts?) what Marion Millar has done wrong after her trial today. Free speech no longer allowed in Scotland evidently. Silencing women is NEVER going to work, it didn’t before and it won’t now. All the best Marion, I’m rooting for you.
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thanks for sharing!!
Thank you for explaining all of this! I saw the #Womenwontwheest hashtag on Twitter and didn’t have a clue what it was. I saw Marion Miller and still didn’t know. Clearly all the news I seem to see lately are either eco protestors shutting down main roads or Covid cases rising, and this didn’t get a look in. I came across your post and you laid it all out very well. It’s scary how Tweets can be wielded as weapons to put someone in jail. It’s obviously a very deep topic to unpick because there’s trans rights, feminism of all levels, freedom of speech issues and so on. I’m all for trans rights, but I do see her point on the photo with the “trans men” when she’s highlighting the men who sexually assault women, boys and girls and use “trans” as a way to get in to multi-gender areas. I don’t think this is the sort of case where there’s a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but I think the waters will continue to get muddier and it won’t end well.
Thanks again for explaining all of this!
Caz x
*Millar. Sorry, didn’t spot that auto-correct.
Wonderful article. More power to your pen!
My ex husband is transgender, hence my daughter’s father and my grandson’s grandfather is transgender i.e. is now a woman, has had the reassignment surgery etc. Yes it was difficult to get our head around but there it is & we now accept it.
While i respect everyone has a right to point of view & freedom of expression, I sincerely don’t understand what the Marion Millar & friends protest is advocating exactly so would appreciate further explanation. Thanks from Beth in Australia
Only men could oppress women for millenia, and when women finally win some rights through their blood, sweat and tears, turn around and claim to be us. I notice almost no men claimed to be women when we had no existence in law, no rights to property, no recourse for rape or d v, and were being murdered after being falsely accused of “witchcraft”.
I was thinking the same thing.
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Thanks for the artical. Interesting. I recently had a row with a friend over this.
We all agree that we women should have a voice. What I am a little worried about, is the facts.
We won’t know the full story, until the court case.
My assumption is that, as a result of the complaint about the ribbon Tweet, the police have investigated. As a result, they have come across the older Tweets.
I have to say myself, that the Tweet about the criminals in the photos, could make some people believe that ALL trans people are preditors, which they are NOT.
A lot of views are posted (or ‘published’) without thinking about the bigger picture, or the impact of how it may be viewed.
That particular post, I would view as fanning the flames of hatred in people that already hate. This can be greatly upsetting for the Trans community.
People (myself included) need to to be much more aware of how a simple post can cause so much damage. I doubt it was the intension at all.
We grew up being told to ‘think before we speak’. Now, we need to think before we Tweet.
“Just shut up and be nice” is not going to work anymore. Bending over backwards to accommodate men’s feelings has got us exactly nowhere, they will NEVER be satisfied and every concession we make just leads to further demands.
No more. I refuse to play their game, men are men and transwomen are men like any other, and pose exactly the same danger to women that other men pose.
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This type of governmental behavior is why I am so happy I live in a country with a Constitution and a Bill of Rights.
For the record, you are being treated by your government in the same manner as the British treated us before we got rid of them. They ARE, after all, the reason our Constitution and Bill of Rights exists.
Remember the words of the song 2525:
In the year 3535
Ain’t gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lie
Everything you think, do and say
Is in the pill you took today
Welcome to your future if you keep electing the same people.
I have absolutely no problem with transgenders being delusional.
What I DO have a problem with is their insistence that I participate in that delusion.
(Posted from the free country of the United States where free speech is still revered.)
Julian Assange and Craig Murray rot in Jail because they told the unwelcome truth.
Julian Assange, Craig Murray and Alex Salmond were falsely and publicly accused of sexual misconduct.
These misuses of draconian laws are not being treated as “womans’ rights issues”
How is the prosecution of Marion Millar for voicing her opinion any different?
The state can enforce draconian laws on anyone. Including women and tranny’s
They are all human rights violations. The violation of the right of “free speech”
The right not to be falsely accused.
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