The Guardian: Sympathy for the Somerset Gimp

[TheOutlaws]

Sexual offending presented as a lifestyle choice, with people feeling sorry for him:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/27/somerset-gimp-villagers-on-their-encounters

Everyone is being so harsh here.

We should all support this man and his fetish. It doesn't matter if he is mentally ill or not. It's our duty as women to make sure his comfortable being his true self in public.

@AnnaMagnani Yep. I read this in the Guardian yesterday, and if this video represents their 'command- style walking', then they're fucking lying. He's clearly rubbing himself and wanking the ground. Probably has some kind of mud fetish.

Shame on them.

Oh yes, my silly lady brain had had a blip there and forgotten that women exist solely as support humans and fetish validation facilitators. Silly me (giggles). Women, remember to know your place!

(On a more serious note, some men generally really do see us as background players in the epic story of their lives, don't they? The idea that a fellow man might be impeded in his search for sexual excitement by women saying no is seemingly unacceptable).

It’s interesting that a few years ago there was a big push and public discussions of consent. Now we’ve taken a massive step backwards by letting (usually) men involve non consenting bystanders in their fetish.
Like PP have said, I don’t care what consenting adults get up to behind closed doors, but no one should be forced to participate in someone else’s sex games.

I know this completely serious and I would shit myself if he jumped out on me... but

this clip is hilarious!!

It's like an clip from This Country. And they both sound like Kurtan and Kerry.

"All right mate wanna ciggie?"

"You be safe then mate ok? Bye?"

And gimp answers "Thanks mate bye"

It just shows what a pathetic character he is! And def not crawling on the ground but wanking!

What WOULD be the right response to stop this literal wanker getting a kick out of frightening a person, does anyone know? Laughter? Shouting? Kicking his prostrate and rather vulnerable body?

Love those teenagers! Calm, sensible and actually concerned for him at the same time as unimpressed and amused. While gimp tries to be weird and scary to zero effect.

And “Somerset gimp” is the most fantastic villain name. I feel like there has to be a comedy-drama film come out of this probably by Simon Pegg.

But yes - classic example of how seamlessly the original ideas of acceptance and fairness regarding people’s private consenting adult sexuality, have now been distorted and twisted into “we must accept, celebrate and make way for anything that turns men on, even if it harms other people, and even if it’s illegal Women and children just have to do what’s required to accommodate it.” Under the guise of “inclusivity” and not “shaming” people. And how that’s being lapped up by people who think they are progressive. It’s astonishing

The general belief is that they have the right man.

I don't think we have many sex clubs in rural Somerset, not that that is an excuse. Although there could be loads...

I'm loving the This Country vibes and sequel to Hot Fuzz ideas mentioned! They're filming A Good Girls Guide to Murder locally and Wells isn't far!

Yeah I know but he could easily travel to Bristol for example where there will be loads and I dukge his latex fetish there. The fact he inflicted it on unsuspecting and unconsenting people is what make him dangerous and criminal I think. And shows that not all fetishes are harmless fun because the lack of consent is part of it. Same with flashers who we now know often go on to worse crimes (eg Wayne Couzens) so I'm glad they've got the right guy. Does he still live locally?

“Cry for help” my arse.

Either people are allowed to wear what they like or they aren't. I'm all for society curbing excesses tbh but that's not a very feminist position.

Yep

Sure, if he'd been walking around the local Sainsbury's doing his shopping. Lying on the ground wabking, ejaculating and then growling to try and scare away some teenagers isn't the same thing.

Same as if a man wearing a suit and a mohican flashes at a woman or rapes a young girl, that's not just freesome of expression.

The gimp doesn’t want to go to fetish clubs or be a gimp in the privacy of his own home. For him, the fun of gimping is in forcing innocent passers-by to participate in his creepy sex game. He may have a humiliation fetish, or get off on frightening others, but whatever it is, anyone minimising it needs to take a good long look at themselves. Do you really want to live in a society where this sort of thing is normalised on our streets?

Women are already afraid to go out alone at night because of the threat posed by men. How many keen joggers are too scared to go out running after 4pm in winter purely because they’re female and vulnerable to male predators? Now even women living in sleepy villages have to feel the fear of men in gimp suits, while the Guardian rolls its eyes with a wry chuckle about this poor misunderstood gimp.
Get stuffed. It’s time to stop pandering to penises.

OK, I’ll bite. Do you think this man was just “wearing what he likes”? Did you look at the video and think this is just a man wearing the clothes he wants to wear?

The guardian really are just shit! This is not a lifestyle choice, is is sexual offending. And for people who don’t know where this guy potentially would have ended up read about the man who raped and murdered Libby Squires and all the low level crime he had committed - most of which had been reported and he was never caught for until after her murder.
I’m very glad the police and CPS are taking this seriously.

Yes you wear what you want. You can’t stalk and jump out and frighten the shit out of people and wank in front of them. If you can’t see the fucking difference then you and the guardian are well matched.

Either people are allowed to wear what they like or they aren't.

No, it's really not that simple - much as "free speech" isn't an either/or situation.

You can wear (and say) what you want within the laws of decency, not inciting racial (or other) hatred, not committing sexual crimes which include for example exposing yourself, or for example behaving in a threatening way or deliberately scaring people (which could be dealt with under various laws like breach of the peace).

You don't get to behave in ways like these and then say it's fine because you can "wear what you want". If you used what you were wearing to effect your crime, then no it's not OK, or legal.

We have courts of laws to argue these details and ascertain the law in each case. We don't say "you can wear what you want and that's clear-cut so everything's fine".

Being suspicious of, and scared by, someone running around in a gimp suit, jumping out at people and wanking in public is a normal and reasonable reaction. It's not somehow mean to poor Mr gimp to say he can't do that.

And what does it have to do with feminism? Women can't "wear what they want" either. Go out naked, you'll be arrested. Wear a t-shirt calling for an ethnic group to be eliminated, you'll be arrested. Rightly so. It is utter bollocks to think feminism is about being cool with women - or apparently, anyone - doing exactly what they want.

This shit goes way beyond people being allowed to wear whatever they like,no idea how you can't see that.

Being suspicious of, and scared by, someone running around in a gimp suit, jumping out at people and wanking in public is a normal and reasonable reaction. It's not somehow mean to poor Mr gimp to say he can't do that.

Hear, hear.

@EarthSight you have got to be kidding. Please tell me you are.

Yes.....although I can understand why you would do a double-take because there's just so much crap out there. I was adopting the voice of the 'be nice' brigade.

I don't buy the cry for help thing, but I can believe he's mentally ill from the video I saw of him. He didn't even move much when those young men approached him, but that could be because he's into the public humiliation aspect, who knows.

Yeah, just like when that male pensioner wore a school girls’ uniform and hung around outside the Primary school whose uniform it was. Nothing to see here, just a man wearing whatever he wants. Good for him, eh? https://www.mylondon.news/news/local-news/middle-aged-man-wearing-girls-26031001?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

For my own sexual kinks & mental health I would respond to him jumping out on me with a good few punches. I hope people are sympathetic to that.

Does the man need to be helped? Yes.

But because there is a lack of kink-shaming his behaviour is allowed to escalate which makes it worse for him and more importantly the general public.

We know what happens when we let men with a sexual fetish escalate, it usually turns very violent.

Keep it behind closed doors please. The public have not asked to be part of your fetish.

Him in that rubber suit on the floor reminds me of the computer game Resident Evil 4 and the Regenerador (a rubbery enemy who moves on the floor at times). Now that is scary stuff.