TV scientist Professor Alice Roberts has said she is “taking a holiday” from Twitter after receiving “hate, bile and misogyny”.
The biological anthropologist, who has appeared on Time Team and Britain’s Most Historic Towns, said she has faced a torrent of abuse over discussions about gender.
She had recently been tweeting about the notion of binary gender and sharing articles about sexual diversity in animals.
I'm taking a holiday from Twitter for a while. I've argued for reason, compassion and empathy in discussions about sex and gender. That's opened me up to more hate, bile and even misogyny than I've experienced before. I'm sad and shocked. Humans can be so much better than this.
— Prof Alice Roberts (@theAliceRoberts) June 19, 2019
In her last post, she wrote: “I’m taking a holiday from Twitter for a while. I’ve argued for reason, compassion and empathy in discussions about sex and gender.
“That’s opened me up to more hate, bile and even misogyny than I’ve experienced before.
“I’m sad and shocked. Humans can be so much better than this.”
Here’s @HPS_Vanessa on the elusive notion of binary sex – “there has never been scientific (or philosophical or sociological) consensus that there are simply 2 human sexes, that they are easily (and objectively) distinguished, and that there is no overlap” https://t.co/j8ka1tIQXH
— Prof Alice Roberts (@theAliceRoberts) June 18, 2019
Professor Roberts is one of a string of women in the public eye who have quit social media following abuse.
Star Wars actresses Daisy Ridley and Kelly Marie Tran and Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown have all left Twitter after being trolled, while MPs including Luciana Berger, Diane Abbott, Paula Sherriff and Melanie Onn have spoken out about the abuse they have received online.