Why do men hate Nicola Sturgeon? What would Maggie have made of it?

The Herald Scotland

18-06-2025

Who was that author? Boris Johnson, JD Vance, Sarah Vine? It was Nicola Sturgeon, whose publicity juggernaut for her memoirs is revving its engines and preparing to flatten all in its path. Says one blurb: 'From a shy childhood in working-class Ayrshire to wielding power in the corridors of Holyrood, Scotland's longest-serving First Minister shares her incredible story.'
I'm guessing our man on Sauchiehall Street won't be first in the queue for a signed copy. Ditto Rupert Everett, the actor, who used an interview with The Herald at the weekend to call Ms Sturgeon a 'witch'.
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According to Everett, he once loved Nicola but now cannot bear her. The reason: she ruined the arts in Scotland. Before Sturgeon, the country's arts scene had been internationalist and outward-looking, but after that, oh dear. 'As soon as the witch Sturgeon came into power … everything had to be about being Scottish'. That must have come as a surprise to all those performers who took part in Edinburgh International Festivals and Fringes while she was First Minister.
Ms Sturgeon was having none of this. She wrote on Instagram: 'What is it with (some) men who can't disagree with a woman without resorting to deeply misogynistic tropes? His substantive point is baseless rubbish too.'
Kate Forbes, the Deputy First Minister, yesterday joined in the condemnation of Everett's remarks, calling them 'misogynistic' and 'abhorrent'.
I would like to report that there was a general outpouring of support for Ms Sturgeon on this, but most of the responses on social media were worse than Everett's original remarks. It is the same whenever she appears in the media, mainstream or social.
What is going on here? Before her book is published is as good a time as any to ask. Is there a problem with Ms Sturgeon in particular, or with assertive women in general? Is misogyny limited to 'some' men, or is it rife in society and becoming worse? And what would Margaret Thatcher have made of it all?
That last one is more pertinent than might at first appear.
Margaret Thatcher on a walkabout in George Square, Glasgow in February 1975 (Image: STAFF)
In a strange twist of fate, the girl from Irvine who grew up opposing everything that Mrs Thatcher stood for has ended up in the same place. Both women political leaders, both subject to levels of personal and political abuse that no male politician has had to endure, both considered by many to have been in the wrong.
In Mrs Thatcher's case, the comments from her colleagues were jokey at first. Attila the Hen. That Bloody Woman (TBW). By the time she was forced out of office she had been called worse. Much worse.
But unlike Ms Sturgeon she did not have to contend with social media. If she had, one wonders how the famously non-feminist Prime Minister would have reacted. Would she have seen it as just another example of the free market in operation, however grisly, or would she have been appalled and taken action? I reckon a few rude tweets about her son and words would have been exchanged behind the scenes.
Mrs Thatcher operated in a political environment that was male-dominated and, as we know from revelations since, deeply misogynistic. New institutions, including the Scottish Parliament, were supposed to change that. How is that working out? Not well, according to a survey of women MSPs by Holyrood magazine. It found 'almost all' who responded had experienced online abuse, including death threats and rape threats, and the situation was becoming worse. One said Holyrood was becoming 'a hostile environment for women'.
What a depressing development. And how dispiriting that a quarter of the way into the 21st Century, (some) men are still calling women witches. Not only that, they are being cheered on by other men, and (some) women too.
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It would be nice to ignore Rupert Everett. He's an actor for pity's sake. You might as well listen to an angry gerbil (although I have enjoyed his memoirs). But we cannot turn the other way because misogyny is on the march everywhere, the clocks are whirring backwards.
Kate Forbes was speaking at a Women in Public Life event in Edinburgh. Chairing the session was one Cherie Blair, herself no stranger to misogyny. There is a lot of it about, and as Ms Forbes agreed, it has only grown worse with time.
If you haven't experienced it, you are either incredibly fortunate, not a woman, or you haven't been paying enough attention, because it is out there. It is in every walk of life, on every street. It used to lurk in the shadows or hide behind a mask, but now it is bolder. Misogyny has gone mainstream.
So no, Mr Everett, it is not okay to call a woman a witch. I don't care how much you miss the Citizens and the European theatre tradition of Peter Stein and Nina Bausch (and what do you think Bausch would have thought about your language?), or how disillusioned you are with politics today (yawn), your language is not on.
While we are on the subject, what are the chances of Scotland keeping the heid when Ms Sturgeon's book eventually sees the light of day? It is a political memoir, but these things are inevitably personal too. Words will be exchanged, accounts traded and opinions challenged. It will be a very boring memoir if it doesn't provoke a reaction, but let's at least try to keep our cool.
And for gawd's sake, no one send Everett a copy.
Alison Rowat is a Herald feature writer and columnist