Father’s day has gone south for a prominent lawyer who blamed women for upskirting

Nick Freeman
Andrea Needham


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A prominent lawyer is blaming women for upskirting, saying they should take more responsibility for what they wear. His comments left his daughter seriously unimpressed, and she took to Twitter to take issue with him.

Upskirting

On 15 June, Conservative MP Christopher Chope managed to block a private members’ bill that would make upskirting a criminal offence. He was widely condemned, with Wera Hobhouse – the Labour MP and sponsor of the bill – calling his behaviour “outrageous”.

Lawyer Nick Freeman, meanwhile, thinks that women need to take some of the blame:

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Victimising men

Nick Freeman – aka ‘Mr Loophole’ – is a millionaire lawyer who specialises in getting celebrity clients off drink-driving and motoring offences. He also has a history of victim-blaming. In an article on a ‘slut walk’ in Manchester in 2011, he said:

I abhor rape and attacks on women and, believe me, as a criminal defence lawyer, I’ve been involved with plenty of cases where those who have been dressed in a perfectly conventional way were still victims of this heinous crime.

I also strongly believe that yes is yes and no is no. But, in the real world, a woman who behaves or dresses in a sexually provocative way conveys a certain message. A message that, ironically, can victimise men.

In case anyone was wondering, he went on to explain he’d been “victimised” at the age of 19 when a woman wearing a “skimpy dress” decided she didn’t want to have sex with him.

Twitter takedown

Freeman’s tweet about upskirting sparked this response from his daughter:

But instead of addressing her well-made point, he simply took issue with her grammar:

#DontBanSkirtsBanCreeps

Other Twitter users were equally scathing:

https://twitter.com/TraceyH100/status/1007769662329901057

https://twitter.com/bridget_pants/status/1007945006668304384

Thankfully, the Christopher Chopes and Nick Freemans of this world are outnumbered by those who can recognise abusive behaviour when they see it. Freeman has been well and truly taken down. And not only by his daughter, but by the whole of Twitter.

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