Scotland is living through 'period of profound misogyny' says feminist author

Addressing an audience at Wigtown Book Festival to speak on her new book, Hounded, Scotsman columnist Ms Lindsay spoke of the abuse she has suffered on social media and elsewhere.

Ms Lindsay said: “I think what the gender wars have shown me is the level of blatant misogyny that is still around and this ideology has given men a pass to be abusive to women on a scale I never thought I would see.

“I feel like I am living through a period of profound misogyny and hatred of women to the point that even the language we need to express our rights is being robbed from us and made problematic.”

She also said the gender debate had "hitched" itself to various liberal causes around the world, including independence in Scotland and gay marriage in Ireland.

She said: “Gender ideology is global, but the way that it impacts the country is different. It’s less the case that Scottish nationalism has something inherent that means it’s compatible with gender identity, more that gender identity ideology looks for an issue to latch on to and in Scotland, that was the referendum and that was Scottish nationalism.

“In Ireland they hitched a ride off the push for equal marriage, in Australia, it hitched a ride on indigenous culture threats.”

The Edinburgh International Book Festival came under fire earlier this year for appearing to exclude books by gender critical authors. Meanwhile, the National Library of Scotland recently made a U-turn over a gender critical book, The Women Who Won’t Wheest, not being included in an exhibition.

Speaking at Wigtown, Ms Lindsay said: “This is the first time a gender critical author has been asked to speak at a Scottish book festival.”