101 wankers

Brendan O'Neill was right I suppose when he said that attempting to legislate against any form of speech becomes an attack on liberty

That may be so, but street harassment isn't really a form of speech--it's the act of doing it that's important, and it's a form of assault. Someone wants to publish a misogynist article? That's a form of speech. But making lewd remarks or shouting abuse in the street, while involving words, is mainly an act of some aggression. It exploits the fact that women tend to be more vulnerable to the implied physical assault behind the words than men in virtue of tending to have less physical strength (much as of course some women are physically stronger than some men). So, category mistake, I think.

And, of course, the old chestnut--all meaningful ideas of freedom must involve some sensible restrictions. I don't want to be at 'libberdee' of murdering people, for instance. 'Absolute freedom' is not real freedom.