NEIL PARISH, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, announced his resignation on Saturday after a week of goings-on that resembled a circus show. Last week we knew that an MP had been seen looking at pornography on his phone in the House of Commons. 

Then we were told the identity of the MP, followed by his resignation. This whole debacle, like so many other recent parliamentary scandals, will in no doubt be erased from the public’s consciousness shortly so politicians will be free to carry on behaving as if the rules don’t apply. 

This scandal, however, gives us an opportunity to examine an issue that has been at the forefront of many women’s and girls’ lives.

While we were waiting for the identity of the MP to be revealed, like some ill-conceived joke, Parish appeared on GB News to discuss the MP who was caught watching pornography. 

Asked if he thought there was a problem with culture in Parliament, he replied: “If you have 650 members … in what is an intense area, you are going to get people that step over the line.” 

Followed by “…I don’t think there’s necessarily a huge culture here, but I think it does have to be dealt with and dealt with seriously.” 

By Saturday he had reported himself to the parliamentary standards watchdog. How the mighty fall so quickly.

On announcing his resignation, Parish called it a “moment of madness.” No, it wasn’t a moment of madness. This was a moment that showed us the blatant disregard, sense of entitlement, lack of consequences and accountability that men like him have. He wasn’t looking for pornography, he was searching for information on tractors which led him to the said pornography. 

Now, believe me, I know this can happen. I was looking for French blinds once and a pornography site was advertised. But, the thing is, you still have to click on that site. 

Colin Slade, a Devon county councillor and friend of Parish, supported his friend and said he could see how his tractor search led to pornography. I’m sure it must be a common search for some men.

Two female colleagues were subjected to him looking at pornography and raised the initial complaint. This was while they were in the House of Commons during a debate. 

They weren’t in the corridor or the canteen. They were at a place of work, at a place where the highest-level policy and reform around women and girls and their safety and equality takes place. This is so much bigger than an individual MP accidentally stumbling on pornography on his phone.

Does Parliament have a problem with misogyny? Of course it does. Why wouldn’t it? We have a large cohort of men, used to being in male-only spaces, whether that is from boarding schools such as Eton, or their male-only members’ clubs or from the advantaged position of power and money. 

And we know what the mix of power and money can do. We only have to look at recent cases such as Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. 

Only last week the BBC covered the story of Angela Rayner MP being subjected to sexist remarks and asked the question of wider misogyny in Parliament. 

It does indeed appear that nothing has changed in decades. The 2004 report, Whose Secretary Are You? heard from female MPs who reported male MPs pretending to jiggle imaginary breasts when a female MP spoke in the House of Commons. 

Several politicians are now being investigated over alleged sexual misconduct under an independent complaints scheme that was brought in after a sexism row in 2017. 

And here lies another problem inherent to sexism and misogyny. Language. “Sexual misconduct” is a recent term, like “sex work,” that obfuscates the real meaning of the word and eliminates and diminishes the inherent harms. 

This is not an accident. By downplaying language, you make it more difficult for women to complain or raise concern. Why would they when it wasn’t sexual assault or rape but only “misconduct.” 

They weren’t being prostituted but involved in empowering sex “work.” Let’s not downplay the actions of Parish by calling it embarrassing or in his own words “a moment of madness.”

When Parish was finally outed, we heard the usual mumblings and justifications of a politician caught out lying. He now admitted to seeking out the website concerned, but this was only after he had stumbled across it the first instance. 

That’s OK then, he had only partially lied. There appears to be no honour among MPs any more, only honour among thieves and liars.

“But my crime, my biggest crime is that I went in another time,” Parish said. Is it, Mr Parish? What about the crime of dishonour and abandonment? What about dishonouring your wife? What about dishonouring the women and girls in your family? What about dishonouring all the women constituents in Tiverton and Honiton who rely on you to speak out for them? All the women who rely on you to keep them safe and to ensure women and girls are seen as equals in this country? All abandoned by you. 

Parish has been described as a “normal guy.” And here lies another problem. Men who watch pornography are normal guys. Pornography has become so ingrained in a culture and society that sees women and girls as fodder for the sex industry and bodies that are there to gratify and pleasure men and boys 24/7 that viewing it is not seen as anything but normal. 

Parish’s wife Susan has stood by him publicly and stated that few men can claim to never have watched porn. 

She is of course correct. But this only confirms how insidious men’s hatred of women really is, and how women have been brought up to instinctively know that men watch pornography and that a) there is nothing wrong with it or b) there is nothing that can be done about it. 

We had better get used to it or even better, ignore it. Susan Parish gave a revealing insight into women’s psychology when she stated: “I am a woman, it’s degrading. It’s demeaning. But on the other hand it takes two to tango. There must be women posing for all of this.”

Women have been taught to blame other women for men’s misdemeanours and behaviour, which she is instinctively doing. She also massively misunderstands what pornography entails. 

We are not talking about women posing for naughty pics here. We are talking about the violent and degrading images and videos where women and girls are being actually physically and emotionally harmed. And let’s not start discussing trafficking or underage girls.

Parish doesn’t have a “get out of jail free card” because every other man does it. Politicians think they can get away with things us normal people wouldn’t. 

When millions of people are trying to figure out how to put food on the table and pay their bills, Parish is in the House of Commons, during a debate, watching pornography on his phone. Does he care that little for his constituents?

Women are mad about this. Yes, we are. We are mad about MPs not caring about us, mad that MPs get away with anything and everything and we are mad about pornography blighting and diminishing our lives, degrading and dehumanising us. 

When will we get the opportunity to speak out and be listened to? We are expert witnesses. Not men or the multimillion-pound sex industry.

Women’s response, articulated so powerfully by Andrea Dworkin, was that pornography is not “just sex” but a vehicle for eroticising the domination/subordination dynamic that is central to institutionalised male dominance. 

It does not free our sexual imaginations but distorts them, keeping us trapped within the patriarchal project of protecting male power. 

The pornography industry harms women in multiple ways: those used in making it, those hurt by men who use it, and those living in a society in which subordination became sexual entertainment.

Pornography is an issue on every woman’s lips. 

We are all categories to be searched, viewed and abused. The statistics are staggering. Thirty-five per cent of all internet downloads are pornography.

Eighty-eight per cent of downloaded pornography contains violence against women. There are 28.5 billion annual visits to Pornhub. In 2020 porn sites received more traffic than Twitter, Instagram, Netflix, Zoom, Pinterest and LinkedIn combined.

Take a minute to consider the nature of pornography’s “success” — an industry that grows more ruthless in its exploitation of women has become normalised.

And at the same time, a feminist critique that offers the most compelling way to understand the industry is marginalised. Why? According to US writer and academic Derrick Jensen, there is a simple explanation: patriarchal attitudes are woven so deeply into the fabric of our lives that many cannot see their effects, and many others choose to turn away rather than face them. 

It has become more overtly cruel and degrading to women and more overtly racist. Images of men’s sexual exploitation of women are routine, and sexual violence (real or simulated) remain common. 

And then there are our young people, of which the safeguarding implications are huge. They are receiving their sex education from porn sites that groom them into an abusive relationship format in which there is total absence of consensual love and intimacy.

Girls are being harassed in school on a daily basis by boys being groomed into thinking this behaviour is acceptable. We are setting a generation up to fail before they hit adulthood. 

Unilever and Heinz cut ties with Pornhub in 2019 after it was found to host content showing illegal acts, including secretly filmed “creepshots” of schoolgirls and clips of men performing sex acts in front of teenagers on buses.

The most frequently used title in porn videos is “Teen,” even though all sites claim to have a zero-tolerance policy on child abuse.

Descriptions of serious criminal sexual offences against underage girls are used as entertainment.

Pornography is both a cause and consequence of female inequality. It underpins male violence against women and girls and reinforces gender stereotypes. 

It creeps into every aspect of our lives, from music videos through to advertising clothing and perfumes and high-profile platforms such as OnlyFans.

This sends out a strong message that women and girls’ primary value and currency is in their sexual availability and looks. It also grooms men and boys to be consumers of pornography and sexual services. 

So, what as a society are we doing about this? On the ground, women and girls across Britain are doing it for themselves.

In 2021, Soma Sara started the Everyone’s Invited website, to hear stories from girls with experience of school sexual violence.

Over 50,000 young people shared survivor testimonies. This triggered a government investigation and awareness raising in schools. 

Men at Work delivers transformative training with men and boys with a focus on the harms of pornography.

FiLiA is taking specific steps around this and will be running a session looking at the issues around pornography at its annual conference in Cardiff this year, Europe’s largest feminist festival.

It’s about time the government took the responsibility off women and girls to protect themselves and showed us that they have the courage to implement research findings and the feedback from women and girls themselves.

We do not want to live under a cloud of sexism and misogyny fuelled by pornography. Sacking any MP who watches pornography while at work would be a start. 

Ali Morris is FiLiA’s VAWG Wales lead. For more information about FiLiA and this year’s conference, which takes place in Cardiff from October 22-24, visit www.filia.org.uk.