“There is no evidence that predatory and abusive men have ever had to pretend to be anything else to carry out abusive and predatory behaviour.”

What gets me is how definitely and earnestly these words are said. It's like a groupthink that comes mainly from women who would claim to be feminists within "progressive" parties.

I think more and more that the predominance of the professional politician ie - university- spad- candidate- MP/MSP - creates an echo chamber that distances these individuals from the real world. They lose touch with common sense and critical thinking. They become so entrenched that they don't brook any view that conflicts with their own. It's quite scary really.

This is a really important point.

A person can be both of these things.

Anyhow, if this is about single-sex spaces, when was the last time someone proposed their abolition 'because NAMALT'?

One answer to that bullshit:
Savile.

Can't the desire of a male to commit rape be a pure paraphilia in itself? Sex and power.

It's the Emperor's New Clothes, isn't it?

You go along with something because you think that is what everyone else is doing; even better if you've been told there is virtue in it.

Just here to repeat two very key and pertinent words in the OP:

vacuuous bullshit.

There was a really interesting interview last week, on Radio 4 ( My Cultural Life), with the artist Marina Abromovich - whose 'art' is predicated on pushing the boundaries of her own body and inviting others to do the same. She ended up in some very extreme places.

Exactly this.

I think it comes down to boundaries. Pushing them, over-coming them, transgressing them. People who are into S&M always go on about boundaries too. The thing is once you push a boundary and it gives way - you tend to keep pushing more. The transgression of boundaries becomes the dopamine hit. The thing you are addicted to.

I strongly suspect she doesn't think at all. She's fully subscribed to the gender bollocks, which requires that people actively don't think. If you allowed your brain to engage with the issue even for one short moment, you'd quickly see how nonsensical it was.

Predators stalk their prey and become adept at noticing and targeting weakness, defencelssness and vulnerability.

It is also related to the (deluded imo) view discussed elsethread earlier that rape/abuse is about power and not about sex. For some men, sexual enjoyment comes from the exercise of power - the two are intertwined. A consenting partner is less fun.

Exhibitionism, frottage, voyeurism, invasions of private space - they are all sex acts, and the non-consensual element is a key component.

Who was it that originally said that?

When abusers are professionals or status holders in a position of trust - teachers, doctors, scout leaders for example - the pretence is that they fully embody what that role is expected to be, with all the boundaries and duties of care that come with it.

If we didn't expect these boundaries and duties of care to be upheld, we wouldn't necessarily be happy undressing in a room alone with them or with our child spending all day with them behind a closed door.

Additionally, why is the notion of 'pretence' made central here? Many, many Catholic priests, scoutmasters, pop stars, TV presenters who used their positions to abuse were fully sincere in their occupancy of those positions. The preists believed in God, Rolf Harris really loved kittens, the scoutmasters genuinely wanted to help boys build campfires, etc. And they wanted abusive sexual gratification too.

Their sincerity didn't eliminate the possibility that they would exploit those positions to abuse. It isn't necessarily about pretending at all (other than pretending not to be a rapist). It is about remembering that none of these statuses reduce the relatively high propensity that males have to commit sexual abuse. So we mustn't let any of those statuses justify gaps in safeguarding.

(Edit for clarity)

I had exactly this conversation with a Labour canvasser last night, there was an "oh" moment on his face when I spoke about sacred castes...