Female students at the University of Manchester say they are “fearing for their safety” after an all-male committee set up a pro-life society.
Over 15,000 people have signed a petition voicing concerns about the group, which has been allowed to form due to freedom of speech laws.
The society’s social media page says its primary aim is to “create a pro-life culture on campus” in its first post on January 11.
A later post inviting students to meet its committee shared profiles of three male students. The group insists that while they are opposed to abortion, they are also “concerned with other threats to life” including assisted suicide and deaths occurring through poverty.
The students’ union said it would be illegal to reject the society’s application.
However, female students are concerned that the group stigmatises women and has even made some feel unsafe.
Second-year linguistics student Heather Bowling told The Independent that the students’ union (SU) is “directly enabling misogynistic hate speech” and called their response “weak”.
“My heart dropped [when I saw the society] - it felt like I was at the beginning of a new Margaret Atwood novel,” she said.
“The society has made me feel weak and inferior to my male counterparts. I’ve had endless messages from girls who fear for their safety.
“The SU are directly enabling misogynistic hate speech. It is so upsetting and disappointing. It actively promotes a harmful rhetoric- this society’s goal is to create a pro-life culture - does the University of Manchester not realise what this entails?
