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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Man sexually harasses women with more than 2000 explicit text messages - gets fawning pity piece in the Times

17 replies

Orsinia · 04/11/2018 13:54

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/andrew-griffiths-mental-breakdown-drove-mp-to-send-shameful-sex-texts-q83dp9qgg

So much wrong with this article. The summary is that a middle aged man serially harassed two young women with obscene, sexually explicit text messages. He only stopped when they finally told the press about it. The man is a current Tory MP.

He’s also married. His wife has recently given birth to a little girl. So, as well as abusing two young women he has also psychologically abused his wife.

He seems to be like a British Anthony Wiener.

But strangely, the piece does not even glance on the effect and the damage inflicted on the two women who were on the receiving end of his depraved messages nor on the betrayal to his post partum wife. No, the whole piece is about justifying why this poor man should have our pity and sympathy.

“Griffiths pinpoints the moment his mental health started to collapse at another happy event this year. When Alice was two months old, he watched his 31-year-old niece walk down the aisle.”

“It was such a perfect day and the sun was shining and I could not have been any happier,” he muses. “And then it just hit me that if Alice gets married at 31 like my niece was, then I would be 79.”

So, by the logic of this article; Poor man realises he’s not young anymore and so, it’s totally justifiable that he goes out and is unfaithful to his wife and harasses two young women to prove his youth and virility to himself.

Article extract:

“It was supposed to be the happiest time of their lives. After the heartache of trying without success to conceive a baby, Tory MP Andrew Griffiths, 48, and his wife Kate, 47, welcomed “little miracle” Alice into their world in April.

Two months later he was forced to resign as minister for small business after revelations that he had bombarded a barmaid, Imogen Treharne, 28, and her friend with explicit text messages after striking up a friendship on social media.

The MP for Burton had referred to Treharne and her unnamed friend as the “tiy twins” and suggested a variety of depraved acts in more than 2,000 text messages sent over just 21 days. The MP also sent the women £700 for X-rated pictures and videos and asked them to tie each other up, boasting: “I can be a dirty * when I’m turned on.”

In one text, he wrote: “Daddy has been up making speeches and running the country. But what he really wants to be doing is naughty girls’ .” The exchanges ended shortly before the women told their story to a tabloid newspaper and Griffiths was forced to refer himself to the Tory party’s internal disciplinary panel.

......Article continues....

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ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 04/11/2018 13:57

Great twitter thread about it here:

twitter.com/Jessicae13Eaton/status/1059011603591544832?s=19

Electron1 · 04/11/2018 14:01

I salute this comment underneath the Times article.

His psychological version of "the dog ate my homework" only gets more pathetic the more elaborate it becomes.

Badmoonsarising · 04/11/2018 14:03

Haven’t read the article but feel for his wife and daughter what a sleazebag. Not sure what the deal was with the young women though, did they feel harassed or did they go to the tabloids as that was the only way to stop him or to be part of a big story. Wouldn’t he have stopped straight away if they asked him to, threaten to tell his wife or report him?

AngryAttackKittens · 04/11/2018 14:38

What is it with prominent Tory men and pigs?

Putting that rather specific perversion aside, "dog ate my homework" is apt, and far less cute and funny when coming from a middle aged man than from a small child. Nobody made him harass those women, he chose to.

Imnobody4 · 04/11/2018 16:36

I'm particularly moved by the way he likens bombarding random women with disgusting texts to a form of cutting self harm.

NothingOnTellyAgain · 04/11/2018 16:43

Men > and it starts with boys > seem to have an innate inability to take responsibility to things.
Well it's probably not innate but socialised.
I see it with the way so many of my friends treat the boys vs girls > subtle but it's there.

NAMALT obv and of course it's not all mums fault Grin it's society as a whole and that comes out in parenting.

TransposersArePosers · 04/11/2018 16:44

He is my MP because he refuses to go, but when I looked up 'who is my MP' on the Parliament UK website he is listed as Independent - so it would appear that even the Tories don't want him.

I didn't bother trying to see him re the GRA consultation as I somehow don't think he would care.

NothingOnTellyAgain · 04/11/2018 16:45

Although bizarrely I am noticing that in lots of families discplining children esp boys is totally left to the dad and the mum does constant fawning over the boys.

It's weird I never noticed before, mentioned to DH we saw some amazing examples the other day.

I have girls and also don't take any shit so it all seems v obvious and weird.

HamiltonCork · 04/11/2018 17:56

Yes, mothers of girls are utterly superior Hmm

This MP is a dick and hopefully will get booted out at the next election.

FFSFFSFFS · 04/11/2018 17:59

Oh I read somewhere today not sure what article that it was because he was "having a manic episode".

The slant was very much about poor mental health and lack of understanding of it.

Which makes it all okay. Obvs.

NothingOnTellyAgain · 04/11/2018 18:03

lol that didn't come out very well obviously Grin

most of my friend have both

I see a difference in the way their mums treat the boys to the girls, especially around disclipline.

I don't have boys >> if I did I would probably do it myself, as none of us are immune to social conditioning. But, I have girls, so it hasn't come up for me even to be able to gauge whether I would do this or not > and of course I wouldn't be able to tell.

The other night we went out and one of the boys was beign a little sod and I said stop doing that X people don't like it, and his mum was all giggle giggle oh he shouldn't really should he but absolutely did NOT tell him to stop it was v odd. Then later the same day with different friends something else came up. There's a sort of very soft indulgence tone of voice that doesn't get used with the boys.

Maybe it's the age> we all have kids who are later primary / into secondary age and maybe dynamics start picking up more then... Don't know.

Just my observation.

Was trying to think of reasons that so many men are so utterly incapable for taking responsibility for the consequences of their actions and why when held to account they do the adult equivalent of bursting into tears and saying "snoffair!" - I think it must start in childhood.

NAMALT again obv.

NothingOnTellyAgain · 04/11/2018 18:05

"There's a sort of very soft indulgence tone of voice that doesn't get used with the boys."

Girls! that should say obv.

NothingOnTellyAgain · 04/11/2018 18:10

I am aware this is probs coming across badly.

I depair when I see the whole "boys will be boys" thing going on.

Equally the dads seem to be even less effective or WAY too harsh.

There is the thing where is a woman or girl can be blamed for a boys / mans misdemeanours they will be >> girls are taught by society that they need to take responsibility for their actions and those of men / boys a lot of the time, which of course lets men and boys go without takign responsibility, so when they are held t account for their actions they react with poor me / snoffair / why are you all picking on me / it was (otehr person probably female)'s fault etc etc

ProfessoressWoland · 04/11/2018 18:38

Why the victim language in the headline?
"Mental breakdown drove MP to send 'shameful' sex texts"
Compare that with this headline:
Diane Abbott blames diabetes for election campaign slip-ups

arranfan · 04/11/2018 18:44

Jessica Eaton's thread was on-point the whole way through.

It was annoyingly predictable to see some attempts at victim-blaming in some of the comments on that thread. Nonetheless there were some excellent comments from other people who are rejecting the rannygazoo that is being offered in Griffiths' defence and self-defence.

EmmaGrundyForPM · 04/11/2018 18:50

He is a complete sleazeball, and his "defence" is pathetic. He is a cheating, sleazy pervert. That is all.

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