Sacred Spaces

23 Jan 2023

A point of view that is contentious for some, but it feels like trans or gender fluid people are the latest group that we tolerate discrimination towards, so I'm speaking up.

This poem starts with the conditional "if". I.e. if there was any evidence in existence that banning some people from toilets protected others (which I don't believe there is). The poem then applies the exclusion to other groups to illustrate how ridiculous it would be if we banned certain groups from toilets because there are some wrong-uns in that group.

They say 58% of trans people in prison are in there for sexual offences (at least someone on Reddit did), but I reckon the same statistic for MPs is 100%! As far as I know, there is only one former MP currently in prison, Imran Ahmad Khan, and he is there for sexual offences against a boy. That's the problem with percentages extrapolated from a small sample size.

I also offended a trans Redditor who thought I was promoting discrimination and exclusion, which was the opposite of my intent, so apologies to anyone who does interpret it that way.

The use of the term "Sacred Space" to describe the place people go to have a shit is also a bit weird. I've never done anything sacred in there.

And if you don't like this, you'll hate my previous work on this topic too, from May 2022:

Edit 24 January 2023

I did a bit of fact checking on my list before I published it which I'm now sharing here:

• BBC Radio 1 retirees — The list of former Radio 1 people accused of offences includes:
  • Jimmy Savile — police named as a prolific offender after death (Wikipedia source retrieved 24 January)
  • Dave Lee Travis — convicted of indecently assualting an adult woman (Wikipedia source retrieved 24 January)
  • Jonathan King — convicted of child sexual abuse against boys (Wikipedia source retrieved 24 January)
  • Tim Westwood — at the time of writing stands accused of multiple offences against women and girls (Wikipedia source retrieved 24 January)
  • Mark Page — convicted in the UK and jailed for 18 years for involvement in child sexual exploitation carried out in the Phillipines (Wikipedia source retrieved 24 January)
• Former or currently serving MPs:
  • Imran Ahmad Khan — convicted and jailed for sexual assualt of a boy (Wikipedia source retrieved 24 January)
  • Cyril Smith — investigated multiple times for offences against boys during his life, reportedly using his political position to halt investigations (Wikipedia source retrieved 24 January)
  • Thirteen more MPs are listed in an article titled "List of sexual misconduct allegations made against MPs" (The Guardian source retrieved 24 January)
• British male royals:
  • Prince Andrew, the Duke of York — defendant in a civil case for sexual assault against Virginia Giuffre, a trafficing victim of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which he settled out of court in Feburary 2022 (Wikipedia source retrieved 24 January).
  • Lord Mountbatten, a close relative of the British Royal family has been post-humously accused of twice molesting a boy in a children's home in Northern Ireland in the 1970s (BBC News source retrieved 24 January)
• Catholic priests:
  • Pope John Paul II issued the first papal apology for the sexual abuse of children by members of the Roman Catholic church in 2001 (BBC News source retrieved 24 January)
  • Between 2001 and 2010, investigations against 3,000 priest were carried out by the Vatican. (BBC News source retrieved 24 January)
• Professional footballers (from Wikipedia source, retrieved 24 January 2023, unless stated otherwise):
  • In 2016, Adam Johnson of Middlesborough pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a 15 year old girl, and child grooming.
  • In 2009, Marlon King of Wigan Athletic was convicted of sexual assault.
  • In 1999, Graham Rix former player at Arsenal and serving assistant manager at Chelsea, was convicted of having underage sex with a 15-year-old girl, and sentenced to 12 months in prison.
  • In 2011, Craig Thomson of Hearts admitted 'lewd, libidinous and indecent behaviour' towards two girls aged 12 and 14.
  • In 2010, Christian Ronaldo paid $375,000 for a confientiality agreement with a model who later accused him of rape, although the civil case was thrown out by a US judge in 2022 (BBC News source retrieved 24 January)).
  • In 2021, Diego Maradona was post-humously accused of raping a 16 year old girl trafficked to him by his entourage.(Reuters News source retrieved 24 January)
  • In 2021, Benjamin Mendy of Manchester City was charged with 7 counts of rape. He was found not guilty of 6, and will face a retrial for the 7th in June 2023. (Wikipedia source retrieved 24 January)
  • In 2022, an unnamed premiership footballer was arrested and bailed pending investigation of 2 counts of rape. The player continues to be selected by his club despite the ongoing investigation. (The Guardian source retrieved 24 January)
  • Ched Evans of Sheffield United was convicted of rape and jailed for 5 years, although the conviction was later overturned, and he was found not guilty at a retrial.
• Pick-up artistes:
  • Andrew Tate was arrested by Romanian police suspected of human trafficking and forming an organized crime group. It is alleged he coorced victims into creating paid pornography for social media. (Wikipedia source retrieved 24 January)
  • Daryush Valizadeh – known as Roosh V – described and encouraged raping women in his 2011 book (Huffington Post source retrieved 24 January)
  • Adnan Ahmed was jailed for two years for threatening and abusive behaviour towards five women, but the verdict was later ruled as a miscarriage of justice (BBC News source retrieved 24 January)