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When Is An Assault Not An Assault? When It Is A Gay Assault Apparently.

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anotheoldgit | 11:06 Thu 17th Apr 2014 | News
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/westminster-is-awash-with-tales-of-young-men-being-sexually-harassed--but-its-far-from-being-just-a-problem-in-politics-9265637.html

/// It called to mind, however, innumerable young men I have met on the gay scene over the last 20 years, men who have been abused but who do not consider themselves victims, do not attach words such as "rape" or "sexual assault" to their experiences, do not feel able to wield consent, and do not think they can complain, or report it. ///
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I can well believe it- the reasons sound similar to the reasons women don't report things. Unfortunately, they are probably right. I'm not sure convictions happen as much as they probably should.
Yes, no different to many women who are assaulted and raped by men.
AOG

Interesting article, but I don't think the author came to the same conclusion as you.

This section is especially prescient:

"Section 28, forbidding the "promotion" of homosexuality, which gagged teachers from discussing it at all, was in effect from 1988 to 2003, but its shadow loomed for years after. To grow up gay in the Eighties, Nineties and part of the Noughties was to be the great unuttered, one's existence unacknowledged by those in loco parentis, muzzled by fear and law, unable to help or validate.

Add to this an epidemic of homophobic bullying that still pervades, and where as recently as 2012 (according to a study by Stonewall) 99 per cent of school children hear "gay" used as a pejorative. The majority of gay pupils report being bullied – 60 per cent of whom say that teachers who witness this do not intervene.

But the erosion of self-worth is both subtler and more panoramic than these obvious markers. It is compounded by a pressure to conform to gender roles while being pushed into a protective self-made closet – preventing truthful, intimate bonds among peers – amid a heteronormative society that validates little about a gay person's identity. As a minor, the message from every angle is clear: you are not welcome and you are not safe."
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It is not just a matter of failing to report such crimes or even see their abusers arrested and charged, the difference here (as in the recent Nigel Evans' acquittal) the victims refuse to accept it as rape or assault.
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What are you suggesting that both yours and the author of the piece, think that being assaulted and raped is all part and parcel of being gay?

I don't think so somehow, but please enlighten me, what is your interpretation of the piece?
I interpret it as confirming the fact that some older men (whatever their sexual proclivities) see it as their right to put their hands on more vulnerable younger people, whether their attentions are invited or not.
I can't see how any non consentual action can be considered as anything but assault, homo or hetero sexual. Of course a prosecution can only continue if the person sees themselves as a sufficient enough victim to press a charge. This problem is again present in both.

I wonder if the same feeling/attitude exists amongst the lesbian community or whether it is a 'male' thing. Does anyone know?
AOG

You asked:

"What are you suggesting that both yours and the author of the piece, think that being assaulted and raped is all part and parcel of being gay?"

No. Not at all.

I think that this this is a well-written article which has highlighted issues that the wider public may not know about.

I commend you on drawing further attention to it.
AOG

I did not think that the author of this piece was saying that. You may have inferred that, but I strongly doubt whether that was the thrust of the argument.
AOG

Furthermore pixie373 has summed it up perfectly.
"Section 28, forbidding the "promotion" of homosexuality, which gagged teachers from discussing it at all, was in effect from 1988 to 2003" - No as it says it forbade the PROMOTION not the discussion. Unusual for you to deliberately misrepresent something to promotr your own agenda SP, tut tut.
TGT - The fear was that the 'discussion' of homosexuality (if it was held it anything other than a negative light) could be construed as 'promotion', because the definition of 'promotion' was so vague....and in order not to fall foul of that pernicious piece of legislation many LEAs simply side-stepped any sort of discussion on the matter.

sp is quite correct on the point.
I'm pretty sure that if you wanted to it would be easy to ensure it could not be interpreted as promotion as opposed to discussion.

It was most likely right-on liberal-left LEA's using this action of banning it to promote their own agenda against the policy by stirring.

It doesn't particularly matter who stopped it or what their agenda was. The fact is that such discussions were stopped. And the young people of this country who turned out to be gay suffered incredibly as a result.
That's not how it worked out, ymb.
LEAs were worried that parents would complain that their children were being influenced/corrupted by homosexuality being given any sort of positive light. In order to prevent that happening, and precisely because the word 'promotion' was open to interpretation and they feared losing any costly court-cases the whole topic was brushed under the carpet for a whole generation of school-children.
what a load of old pony, I'm pretty sure it's illegal to promote drug taking in schools but I've seen assignments from my kids on that subject. Ditto, drug dealing, prostitution, racketeering, slavery! need I go on?! YMB hits the nail on the head again, the right on liberal brigade used the "fear of promotion" argument to supress discussion and call it prohibition and blamed the "nasty" old tories! It was never illegal to discuss sexuality of any nature in schools.
I'll type this slowly so that you can understand it, TGT......

It was the threat of legal action by parents/pressure groups who viewed any discussion as 'promotion' which dissuaded schools from addressing the subject. Few parents are likely to view discussions on the other topics you mention as being any sort of 'promotion' of them.
All my children, aged 10, 15, 16 and 18 have discussed relationships at school, including all persuasions, so I'm not sure if it's been completely sidestepped. I don't see what is meant by "promotion", but certainly the schools mention it as equally valid and acceptable.
How sad that you seem so desperate to drag politics into this. And it's not even correct history anyway on your and ymb's part. The first progress towards allowing homosexuality to be discussed in schools was made by Labour Councils in the 70's and particularly the early 80s. As a reaction to this, "Conservative backbench MPs became concerned that left-wing councils or schools would provide children with pro-homosexuality material or commend homosexuality to children, both described by parliamentarians backing the bill as morally wrong but which could be carefully policed by judges in applying a narrow sense to the meaning of the word promote."

Most of the wrestling over the Amendment and its meaning took place within the Conservative party. All of the major left-wing parties opposed the Bill. I cannot understand how you can portray this as a left-wing conspiracy to stifle discussion. It was anything but.

Regardless of the politics, though, the prime victim was all those children who got taught nothing at all about homosexuality, and therefore went through school thinking it was something to keep secret, and to be ashamed of.
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It not got anything to do with the education they either get or do not get in schools.

These are adult men we are talking about, surely even the most naive would not accept this sort of thing as being all part of the gay scene.

/// Other anecdotes were darker: "When I was 18, my then boyfriend's best friend groped me and then assaulted me when I was asleep and I didn't report it because I felt like it was just a rite of passage," says Edward. "My own boyfriend told me he'd been spiked the first time he went out and that things just happened on the [gay] scene." ///

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