Sorry Gerard Batten, rape can’t be ‘satire’ when misogynistic abuse is widespread in politics

According to Amnesty International, women working in journalism and politics are abused ‘every 30 seconds’. There’s nothing funny about gleefully engaging in hate speech when this is the new normal

The notion of rape culture has cropped up time and again in mainstream spaces over the past few years. Yet, we still seem woefully ignorant to what it actually means.

This weekend, a comment from Ukip leader, Gerard Batten, inadvertently gave us a refresher.

Speaking in defence of recently announced Ukip European parliament candidate for southwest England Carl Benjamin, who in 2016 took to Twitter to inform Labour MP Jess Phillips “I wouldn’t even rape you”, after she complained of incessant rape threats on the social media platform, Batten dismissed the tweet as “satire”.

It was a disgusting comment then, promoting the idea that rape and perceived beauty have anything to do with whether or not a person will be violated, let alone inciting yet more abuse against her.

Though make no mistake, the comment is just as awful now, mere hours after it was brought to light again on The Andrew Marr Show, and subsequently downplayed as a misunderstood attempt at humour. Challenging the party leader, Marr questioned Batten about the comment. His response?

“I don’t know the exact context of that and I certainly don’t condone any remarks like that, but he is not a bad person as he’s being portrayed.

“He is a proponent of free speech. The context that he said it was satire against the people he was saying it about. He wasn’t actually making a literal statement.”

Whether or not Benjamin, a known anti-feminist, racist, conspiracy theorist YouTuber, is considered a nice person in Ukip circles (which doesn’t say much), as a direct result of that flippant, wildly misogynistic comment, Philips said she had been bombarded with “600-odd notifications talking about my rape” that day.

What’s satirical about gleefully engaging in hate speech? I don’t know.

As far as I’m aware, there was no attempt to follow up the comment with an explanation; no sign of genuine remorse; no venture to communicate that what he had tweeted was actually his own misguided way of highlighting the casually violent language we fail to take to task on a regular basis.

In fact, you could even say that Benjamin went as far as delighting in the harassment he legitimised. Doubling down on the comments on YouTube a year later, Benjamin attempted to promote a hashtag dedicated to that very tweet.

Since that debacle, The “Sargon of Akkad”, as he calls himself, has been busy making more, erm, “satirical” comments about rape and sexism.

When the #MeToo movement blew up around the Harvey Weinstein story, he dismissed the disgraced film mogul’s accusers as “gold-digging whores”.

He defended Isla Vista killer Elliot Rodger, claiming that feminism was to blame for his murderous rampage in 2014.

And now, he’s being touted as a legitimate political candidate who simply wants to uphold his right to freedom of speech. Like the hordes of public figures like him, he’ll likely have an even larger platform following this.

We’re living in an age where irresponsible, careerist public figures are almost untouchable. They’re free to make grossly misinformed statements, embolden their followers, even encourage rape, and get off without so much as a shrug and the insistence that “it was only a joke”.

Nevermind that, according to Amnesty International, women working in journalism and politics are abused “every 30 seconds”. Or that one in five women have experienced sexual assault since the age of 16. It’s all about having a laugh, even if it fans the flames of issues that literally terrorise people.

The argument that this is just one troll in a sea of otherwise noble politicians doesn’t wash here either. British sensibilities, particularly when it comes to people who are less likely to be targeted, tell us that ignoring the engulfing influence of far-right politics is the best means of combating it.

This is why David Lammy had to defend himself on The Andrew Marr Show that same day, in reference to his criticisms of Jacon Rees-Mogg for quoting the leader of German far-right party the AfD. Why do so many think it’s perfectly acceptable to invite proponents of hate onto prime time television slots to make the case for subjecting marginalised groups to even more mistreatment?

But we’re in too deep to dismiss this man as a lone troll with a handful of followers who bears no influence on the lives of regularly targeted groups. This is a man who, should the UK take part in the European Parliament elections, could very well become a huge influence in the already increasingly hostile landscape of European politics.

As long as he is legitimised, so too will be engagement with a culture that trivialises inherently horrific acts like rape, and the attitudes that tell us there’s nothing wrong with it.