Spat about the Female Genital Mutilations Act shakes social media
Leeds criminal silk Simon Myerson QC and junior barrister campaigner Charlotte Proudman have had a massive row about the law on Twitter.
The spat — which began on Saturday — centres around whether female genital cosmetic surgery is a criminal offence under the Female Genital Mutilations Act.
Proudman, who was called to the bar in 2010, says that it is; Myerson, whose call year was way back in 1986, says that it isn’t.
But the difference of opinion isn’t a polite one, with Myerson, of St Pauls Chambers, seeming to be determined to put the young upstart in her place, and Proudman — who is currently taking time out of her practice at Mansfield Chambers to do a PhD on female genital mutilation — keen to give a public slap to this member of the patriarchy.
Who’s right? We don’t have a clue. But in assessing the spat it’s worth noting that Proudman appears to have deleted some of her tweets.
However, in Proudman’s favour, she does seem to have got under Myerson’s skin. And she has had some support, although not necessarily for her legal argument, from criminal barrister Felicity Gerry QC, who praised the “valuable work” that her junior colleague was doing researching female genital mutilation.
