Yup. This is where society has gotten to.

According to the Daily Mail, Kate Scottow of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, a 38-year-old mother of two, was arrested by police in her home and in front of her children because she went online and called a transgender woman (man claiming to be a woman) his actual gender.

It was there, Scottow claims she was held for seven hours without sanitary products that she needed at the time, and then was finally questioned and released by police. The arrest took place on December first, and the case is still under investigation. Police are still holding her mobile phone and laptop, which she says is “hampering her studies for a Masters in forensic psychology.”

“I was arrested in my home by three officers, with my autistic ten-year-old daughter and breastfed 20-month-old son present,” said Scottow according to the Daily Mail.

“I was then detained for seven hours in a cell with no sanitary products (which I said I needed) before being interviewed then later released under investigation … I was arrested for harassment and malicious communications because I called someone out and misgendered them on Twitter,” she continued.

Hertfordshire Police confirmed the arrest, stating “We take all reports of malicious communication seriously.”

Stephanie Hayden, the transgender activist in question who was engaged in debate with Scottow, apparently has a history of sending the police after people who misgender him, including sitcom writer Graham Linehan, popular for shows like The IT Crowd.

According to court documents, Scottow was engaged in “toxic” debate about Hayden, and was sending “defamatory messages.” Scottow denies that any harassment took place, but affirmed that she does believe Hayden is still a man despite any surgeries that may have occurred:

The papers claim that, as a ‘toxic’ debate raged online over plans to allow people to ‘self-ID’ as another gender, Mrs Scottow tweeted ‘defamatory’ messages about Miss Hayden.

She is also alleged to have used accounts in two names to ‘harass, defame, and publish derogatory and defamatory tweets’ about Miss Hayden, including referring to her as male, stating she was ‘racist, xenophobic and a crook’ and mocking her as a ‘fake lawyer’.

Mrs Scottow denied harassing or defaming Miss Hayden and said she holds a ‘genuine and reasonable belief’ that a human ‘cannot practically speaking change sex’, but Deputy Judge Jason Coppel QC issued an interim injunction that bans her from posting any personal information about Miss Hayden on social media, ‘referencing her as a man’ or linking her to her ‘former male identity’.

Firstly, someone needs to clean out the Hertfordshire Police Department and install officers worth a damn, but only after the UK gets a Constitution that treats the UK citizens like people.

Secondly, it’s a sad sign of the times that someone can go to jail and remain under investigation for months just for referring to someone as a gender they don’t identify as. Don’t tell me they’re backed up with work at the department. If you’re going out of your way to arrest someone for misgendering someone online, then you have the time to complete an investigation about an online debate. They aren’t investigating, they’re punishing Scottow.

And before you say, “thank God this isn’t happening in America,” I’ll remind you all that you can be fined up to $250,000 in New York for misgendering someone.

In California, they considered a bill that would land you in jail for up to a year if you misgender someone.

Don’t ever think it can’t happen here. There’s likely a Smurf blue state out there trying to make it happen.