"Witches and proud of it" could have been the motto of the Women's Coalition annual conference, as the party's leading member, Prof Monica McWilliams, took to the podium.
While party members were well used to "men behaving badly", the level of hostility directed at her and her party colleague, Jane Morrice, after they decided to redesignate in a bid to guarantee David Trimble's re-election, had been "pathetic", she told delegates.
"Boxing Day came early this year with what the media have been calling the 'brawl in the hall'. The name-calling and cheap jibes have also continued, mostly directed at us. It is unacceptable when grown men refer to us as transvestites, with all the sexual connotations attached to that term.
"They have even called us witches", shouted one of the delegates. "I take that as a compliment", retorted another, amid laughter and applause.
Anti-Belfast Agreement unionists had had such an impact on life in Northern Ireland that when children at a recent 11-Plus exam had been asked to name the opposite of "agreement", most of them wrote "anti-" instead of "dis-", Prof McWilliams told the conference.
Some of the women present looked worried despite the conference's atmosphere of good humour and sisterhood. The mood was rarely troubled, although members did indulge in a heated debate on how degradable bio-degradable plastic bags really were. One delegate, Ms Gerry Gribben, said she had been "tortured" by the question of whether dog faeces, if picked up in plastic bags, ever got the chance to degrade properly.
Members listened intently to two guest speakers from Belfast's Islamic Centre, Mr Jamal Iweida and his Northern Ireland-born wife, Linsey. Questions afterwards focused mainly on Ms Iweida's Muslim head-dress rather than on issues of racist hostility in the face of the war in Afghanistan. "Well, I suppose it is like us wearing hats to Mass", Ms Eileen Cairnduff said, striking a conciliatory note.