Owen Jones. Again. This is re Kevin Spacey so some content warning.

[Elendon]

This quote from the article he wrote makes me feel deeply uncomfortable. He is a Guardian Columnist. He is a champion for gay men and gay men only. His empathy doesn't extend to Lesbians in the Lgbtq rights.

It is a deeply personal moment, and only those who use their platforms to further the cause of homophobia (like secretly gay politicians who vote against LGBTQ rights) should be outed against their will.

So he calls for people to be outed against their will, if they are politicians? Has he lost the plot?

This is the article in full, if you can stomach it.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/30/kevin-spacey-vicious-lie-gay-men-accusation-attempted-sexual-assault

What Kevin Spacey did was child abuse and came out as gay at the same time. Oh the horror. Being gay does not exclude you from the panoply of those who will and are inclined to abuse children.

I didn't like the article. Owen Jones is attacking Spacey's timing in coming out because it will encourage people to conflate homosexuality with child abuse.

But I can't see that that's true. The sort of people who think homosexuals are child abusers will continue to do so, and those who don't think that aren't going to change their mind because of Stacey.

The problem, to my mind, is that Jones is avoiding the bigger issue here, which is that Spacey probably attempted to have sex with a 14-year old (he hasn't denied it - simply said he can't remember, which speaks volumes). So instead of attacking Spacey for being a child abuser, he's attacking him for making gays look bad.

It's pretty pathetic, in my view, and yet another example of the way certain men decide to make everything about them.

So, if an older male who abused a 14 year male then in later years decided to change gender, would his past life be erased? Would he be okay to champion?

Elendon we've seen this again and again from violent men. The narrative usually goes something like this:

I was an entirely different person then. The stress of living as Not My True Authentic Self made me act badly and out of my True Womanly Character. I have changed since then and am entirely different person now - see, I've got a different name, and am wearing earrings, and everything! And anyway, transwomen are oppressed, therefore I'm oppressed, and so I'm the real victim here and not the predator. QED. < exunts, to cries of "you are so brave!!!" and magazine cover articles >

So instead of attacking Spacey for being a child abuser, he's attacking him for making gays look bad

Oh that's a good point which stupidlyI hadn't really thought about. I can start to see why Elendon is so incensed with the article.

But the issue about encouraging the conflation of male homosexuality with paedophilia is still an issue.

However, there's a bit of a disconnect (cognitive dissonance?) in some aspects of gay male culture that I've observed. OTOH, there's a kind of anti-heterosexual anti-traditional anti-monogamy kind of sexual free for all - a kind of super-masculine "anonymous sex is my right as a gay man" culture. So Spacey's harassment of a young boy is part of that.

OTOH, Owen Jones is trying to claim the higher ground and say NAGMALT.

I thought this a lot in the AIDS times of the 80s - women have always known about the connection between sex & death, because of our role in reproduction. Sex is always freighted with a heavy burden of risk for women, both literally & metaphorically - actually & culturally.

But not so much for men ...

Heterosexual/ PiV sex, I mean. sorry for heteronormative assumptions ...

So instead of attacking Spacey for being a child abuser, he's attacking him for making gays look bad

That is an excellent point.

I'm confused by the trans references.

A number of my gay friends have been upset and / or outraged by the way that Spacey has conflated coming out with a sort of admission that he molested an under age boy. It's reinforcing all the age old stereotypes that gay men are really all just paedophiles.

I can't agree with forced outings. I can agree with exposure of hypocrisy to a point. There are not really many instances when it is genuinely in the public interest to know if X is shagging Y or Z

I really dislike Owen Jones, and think he's massive misogynist, but I agree with this article. Politicians who are secretly gay but who advocate for anti-gay measures should be outed. In the same way that politicians who preach about family values while having affairs should be.

And Spacey conflating being gay with paedophilia is utterly nauseating.

Being gay (man) and a paedophile were routinely conflated for a long, long time in the UK. I can understand nervousness about going back to those days, tbh.

Great article about this on feminist current

www.feministcurrent.com/2017/10/31/gay-men-arent-special/

I really dislike Owen Jones, and think he's massive misogynist, ....

This

Great article about this on feminist current

www.feministcurrent.com/2017/10/31/gay-men-arent-special/

This is a BRILLIANT article. Thanks for posting the link. Really terrific.

Excellent article. Absolutely nails it.

Have only just seen your reply @BingoFlamingo. Perhaps you could enlighten me as to how a 14 year old boy is not a child?