Member's statement: Abuse of Women

Member's statement by Ms Emma Sheerin on 20 April 2026.

MLA: Ms Emma Sheerin
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 20 April 2026
Type: Member's statement
Business: Members' Statements
Heading: Abuse of Women
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5493173

Text

I rise this afternoon to speak about something that troubled me all weekend: the CNN investigation into the so-called rape academy, which is an international rape ring and online forum where men shared tips and tricks on how to drug and abuse their wives and partners whilst they were most vulnerable and were sleeping, oftentimes filming the footage and sharing it with others. Everything about that story is vile and disgusting and should sicken the stomachs of everyone who encounters it. Some of the reaction to it has been equally troubling. I have seen the phrase "not all men" used liberally in response, and I can understand the rationale for that, because it is not all men. Most men are good. I consider myself lucky. I grew up in a loving home with a mother and father who loved and respected each other and who demonstrate partnership every day. I am blessed to have a dad who made it his life's work to protect and provide for me and my sister, and I know that I am lucky that I can say that. I am a member of a movement that cherishes men and women equally. I work with good men every day. I know them and call them my friends, and I trust them. However, even with that said, I have not been sheltered from the worst of men, and that is true for every woman. That is what we all have to consider.
While most of the 62 million hits in February and 81 million hits in March might have come from the United States and places other than here, none of that happens in isolation. This is the most dangerous place in Europe to be a woman. It is those disgusting videos that glamourise violence and normalise the abuse and assault of women that plant the seed in our young people that leads to women being murdered. We see that abuse and bullying even in the Chamber. Not long ago, we had tributes in this place to a woman who had been murdered from a man who had spent the previous weekend circulating souvenirs of his own abuse of a female colleague. It is not appropriate. It has to be challenged and called out. I call on everybody in the Chamber to think about what we endorse and to think about our behaviour. It is not all men, but it is some men. As women, we do not always know the difference. If you are not part of the solution, you become part of the problem. I urge everyone to consider that and react to those events holistically.

441 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.

Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.14 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
No identity-based framing was identified (0.49).
Subject area: Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups.
The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.

This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.

Jev’s structured answers

Probability that each statement is true of this text (0 = no, 1 = yes). A criterion counts as met at 0.60 or above.
Question	Probability	Met?
Identity framing	0.43	No
Sectarian or communal antagonism	0.13	No
Cultural grievance politics	0.02	No
Dog-whistle messaging	0.12	No
Controversy escalation	0.15	No
Legitimate policy scrutiny	0.38	No
Overall judgement	0.14	At or below not-flagging threshold

Context and attribution (stance)
Option	Probability
No identity-based framing (chosen)	0.49
Reports or questions it	0.00
Criticises or condemns it	0.48
Adopts it	0.03

Subject area (top five)
Subject	Probability
Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups	0.73
Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues	0.27
No identity-related subject	0.00
Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials	0.00
Parades, bonfires and commemorations	0.00

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:21 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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