美国国家公共电台 NPR New Hampshire State Lawmaker Accused Of Online Misogyny Faces Expulsion（在线收听）

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

In the live-free-or-die state of New Hampshire, the state Legislature is wrestling with how much free speech may be too much for its members. This is all because of revelations that one lawmaker is the founder of The Red Pill forum. This is a misogynist Reddit message board. New Hampshire Public Radio's Josh Rogers reports.

JOSH ROGERS, BYLINE: Until he was outed as The Red Pill founder by The Daily Beast, Representative Robert Fisher cut an almost non-existent figure at the New Hampshire State House. The Republican chose not to sit on any committees and skipped half his floor votes. But now the 31-year-old Fisher is front and center.

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ROGER FISHER: The way I would describe this is that I have never hated women. I know that's what it's been alleged.

ROGERS: That was Fisher defending himself this week during a hearing looking into his social media activities. As detailed by The Daily Beast, Fisher's posts derided women's intelligence, detailed ways for men to dodge rape accusations and even questioned if rape was bad. Fisher chalked those up to injudicious comments following a bad breakup, cherry-picked by the media.

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FISHER: A lot of convenient reporting to play in - into partisan politics, and I'm disappointed.

ROGERS: The disappointment is widespread in Concord. The governor and scores of lawmakers have told Fisher to resign. Representative Debra Altschiller called Fisher a purveyor of rape culture.

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DEBRA ALTSCHILLER: It is our responsibility, in this body, to work with vigilance to eradicate this vile scourge from our ranks and from our state.

MARTIN: That decision will be up to Fisher's peers, who are also looking into a democratic state rep who angered Republicans with politically barbed and occasionally profane tweets. House Speaker Shawn Jasper says lawmakers can censure Fisher but says expulsion is almost unheard of.

SHAWN JASPER: In the few times it's been done in the history of the Legislature, it's been for criminal acts.

ROGERS: The last time that happened was in 1913, well before social media. The crime was bribery. For NPR News, I'm Josh Rogers in Concord, N.H.