"A man who was raped in a hostel tells of his ordeal"

[pisacake]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-tyne-41614756/a-man-who-was-raped-in-a-hostel-has-told-of-his-ordeal
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4978220/Transgender-man-speaks-serial-sex-attacker-jailed.html

The victim, who is a transman, says of the rapist "He was treating us like a woman and saw me as a woman".

The rapist was convicted of a second rape of a female student.

I find this a bit confusing, as the victim says, the rapist saw them as a woman and wanted to rape a woman. The rapist then raped a second woman. The victim, however, believes they are a man.

Presumably this goes down in stats as a rape of a man?

My pic was intended to highlight YetAnotherSpartacus'S quote.

Exactly. As if a woman's own agency determines whether she is raped.

You have hit it perfectly. Like Smarties and others, I couldn't previously articulate what exactly was bothering me. It's very close to the reason why I find the term 'cis' offensive.

While i'm sorry she was raped it also implies that she thinks those of us females who are not trans are asking to be raped. Maybe that's a leap but that's how it feels to me

I agree. I don't think it is a leap. The point is that it's not 'but I am trans', but 'what the f*ck are you doing? I do not want (consent) to have sex with you!'.

Regarding being thrown to the lions, I don't blame vulnerable young women for trying to opt out of femininity, but I do blame grown and mature adults of both sexes for encouraging transitioning as a way of doing this, rather than trying to dismantle the reasons why femininity might make them feel vulnerable and uncomfortable, if that makes sense.

The butch lesbian/transman comparison is interesting. Why on earth would you say actually I am a man, when you can live as a lesbian woman and dress how you wish, have women not won that right? It is homophobic as well as anti-woman.

The other thing I wondered was whether this young woman was targeted precisely because she was trans - perhaps the rapist got an extra thrill from singling her out and demonstrating to her that as a biological female she stood no chance against an expression of male power.

He raped a drunk woman on a night out, and he raped this woman living in the same shelter.

It seems to me that he has targeted women in positions of weakness. I don't see a trans element particularly.

I also don't particularly see a trans element, beyond the fact that the victim seems to have seen his trans status as protection. It shows me the depth of his delusion - the idea that his internal 'identity as a man' would be relevant to the rapist. It makes no more sense than a lesbian expecting to be safe from rape because she isn't attracted to men. (And we all know how that goes.)

I have no doubt that, in raping a person who protested that he was trans, the rapist got the same extra kick that he would have done by raping a lesbian. But it was still driven by his view of female biology.

I have so much sympathy for this woman, what an awful awful thing to have happened.

I saw her in the chronicle (not sure if it's the same link, I'm too lazy to check) urging people (women) to come forward if they've been raped. She was saying 'you WILL be believed' and it made me so sad and angry because it's just not true.

have no doubt that, in raping a person who protested that he was trans, the rapist got the same extra kick that he would have done by raping a lesbian. But it was still driven by his view of female biology.

YY.

Another report here:

www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/detectives-who-brought-rapist-shelton-13764170

"“I have been out as trans for five years now. In the beginning people would say to us;’ You are just a lesbian.’ But I was never a lesbian I have always seen myself as a straight man. I don’t let it get to me because I know who I am. I did think about the fact that I am transgender before reporting it. And wondered if people wouldn’t respect who I am. But the support was really good.”

Interesting perspective, the victim says 'I was never a lesbian' yet the rapist was very clear that he was raping a woman.

I'm still confused what the difference is between a 'straight (trans)man' and a butch lesbian.

My main concern with this situation though is the collection of crime statistics. If male bodied perpetrators are recorded as female or women and female bodied victims of violent crime are recorded as male or men, the very new progress that's been made on specificly gendered data collection will be wiped out before we've even been able to analyse it properly

^ this ^ wrappedupinmyselflikeaspool

As regards the difference between a straight transman and a lesbian. To me as a dyke it's the difference between a woman who loves other women and womens bodies (including her own), and someone who doesn't. It's a woman who rejects conventional femininity, and someone who doesn't it's just not for them because they're not a woman. Butch for me means saying there are many ways to be a woman, but trans says to me there are very few, and if your interests or appearance vary too much, well, you're obviously not actually a woman at all. Butch says you're willing to be out and obviously a dyke, trans says to me you want to try and hide with the menz and throw women under the bus. Based on some personal experience of lesbians that I have lost to this madness. Rejection of lesbianism and of womanhood, rather than butches who embrace both. It really is a yawning gulf from my old bulldyke perspective............

That’s a really interesting and helpful post SomeDyke thank you. I am sorry you have lost friends to this though.

"...because we as biological women are forcibly reduced to our female body parts. It doesn't matter how we identify or what we call ourselves. I want it to stop, but it shows no sign of stopping. Until the magical day when it does, we need safe spaces for biologically female people. Women."

Yes.