Sexual boundaries in space

Protection from male violence

My first article for The Critic UK has just dropped.

I wrote about the arrest of a man for the homophobic murder of Scott Johnson and the memories and conversations it prompted in my own life about the late 80s.

Click here to have a read.

I wanted to highlight again, how people at risk from male violence can gain safety in single-sex spaces. That may seem a strange point for homosexual men, but in the 80’s when gangs were targeting gay men, they did so, particularly in the suburbs, where gay men went to meet and have sex with other gay men.

As gay spaces, including online spaces are being forced to comply with gender categorisation of sex and sexuality there is a real risk gay spaces will again be forced underground.

It may seem like a strange thing for a middle-aged Christian woman to be interested in, but I had my heart shattered by the vulnerability of a gay man in the 80s, as I talked about in my article. We have entrusted the safety of our loved ones to what have become massive lobby groups, but they are failing, not just gay men and women but those of us who love them and remember a time when they were subject to culturally sanctioned violence.

Happy to hear your feedback.

Cheers,

Edie.