ABUSE BY GASLIGHT

ABUSE BY GASLIGHT

By

Sally Hughes

I was a front line Police Officer for 25 years, all of it on the beat.  I retired in 2020.

I’ve been a supporter of Scottish Independence forever.

And like many an Indy supporter, this Gender ‘stuff’ when it first appeared on the radar, at first seemed unconnected, a distraction, divisive even.

Sadly though, and worryingly, the concerns initially raised, proved to be all too real, and in many respects, the tip of the iceberg.

We are due a huge debt of gratitude to Wings Over Scotland’s creator and Investigative Journalist par none – the Rev Stu Campbell.  How I wish though, just once in a while, I wish he would get it wrong.

In my time on the beat, there was seldom a day, and certainly not a full shift went by when I was not dealing with domestic abuse.   Almost all of it – a female victim, a male perpetrator.

And not once, not once, in 25 years, did I deal with a hate crime inflicted on a transgender person.  And having asked long time-served colleagues, they too have no incidents to recollect.

For the 1^st 15 years of my service, female cops on the shifts, including me, were always the ones to note rape statements.  CID officers, in my area, there were 4 teams of 4 plus a sergeant for each team – there were 2 women in total (neither were Sergeants) and neither of them ever left the office – they were desk bound, while the ‘real’ Sweeneys were out and about on the swagger.  God’s gift in their own tea break (I was uniform by the way, in case you hadn’t figured).

Female cops noting the initial rape statement was not out of any respect for women’s’ dignity, but because it takes a minimum of 4 hours to note such a statement (and then follows the medical), like babies they always get reported just as you were about to go off duty, and they were often emotionally, complicated enquiries not often with a ‘clear cut’ arrest at the end of it.  (All cops are simple souls at heart, give them a nice clear-cut story with a goodie and a badie, and a simple trail of evidence, leading to a straightforward arrest, and they’re happy.) 

A female victim, with a history of being sexually abused as a child, and an adulthood of drink and drug abuse, one abusive partner after another, and her own children taken into care…. On the one hand (and something that is often overlooked) on the one hand she is the most attractive victim – because no-one will believe her – and on the other she is the most infuriating witness, because trying to get a clear account, a comprehensive statement from her is often a nightmare.

It’s not like the movies folks – people in the real world have messy, messy lives.

A powerful male institute such as the Police does not have a good history in dealing professionally with these complainers, and women know it.  That lack of trust often leads to a delay in reporting, a delay in reporting leads to a loss of evidence, and so on and so forth.

I did not often deal with child abuse complaints or offenders, but of course there were times, being a response officer when I dealt with some, as first point of contact.

And that is really the purpose of this essay.  In my experience, the extreme domestic abuser, the rapist, the child molester – they all had one intrinsic trait in common…. GASLIGHTING.

Many, many times I’ve heard the point made, that concerns about Self Identifying males to females would pose no threat to women and children and that somehow to raise concerns is to besmirch those transgender people with GR Certificates and label them as predators.

This is clearly an apples and pears argument.

So, if I may, I’d like to swap that viewpoint around, completely.  Let’s approach this from the opposite end.

Imagine you WANTED to attract male sexual predators; how would you do that?  What would be your marketing strategy?  Hmm.  How would you rally them to your banner?

I’d suggest that if you made, front and foremost, GASLIGHTING, as an intrinsic part of the package – you would have to beat them off with a stick they would be so keen.

You see, for a sexual predator, GASLIGHTING, is the foreplay and aftersex cigarette all rolled up into one, mindfucking on steroids, with the added bonus (if successful) of undermining your victims confidence and credibility.

So, in such context, a biologically fraudulent statement, such as ‘Transwomen ARE Women’, and bending all the states arms of legislation and administration to your will, is the biggest mindfuck of all.

Gaslighting by daylight.

……..

There has been some seriously, seriously brave campaigning going on for this issue.  Maya, Stock, Miller, Cherry, Burrell…. And Father Ted’s author Graham Lineham.  Women For Scotland, And others.

And while expensive, stressful court rulings have been won – landmark cases that are essential to tackling this nonsense… recently – just as the women’s movement have built up momentum, just as the dangerous reality of this ideology has started to get out there to the general public – recently I’ve heard talk of, victory, and ‘stonewall’ retreat.

I’m going to caution against such thinking.  Tactically it’s likely that the foot is being taken off the accelerator in order to take the wind out of the gender critical movement’s sail.  They have far too much money invested, for it to be over just now.

But that’s an essay for another day.

In the meantime, to all the many good cops out there (most of them as it happens – even the CID wankers), the many transgender people who just want to live and let live, and the many males and females out there who have found themselves in the firing line for stating biology is real.  Peace and love.

And one last point to make, about 10 years ago, Police policy changed, any person reporting a rape now, will have the initial statement noted by a Sexual Offence Liaison Officer, one who has received specialist training.  They will still be a cop on the beat, and depending on who’s on duty and where they are serving, it might take a while for them to get to the station to note the complaint, but they are there.  And the complainer will be asked if the sex of the officer noting the complaint is suitable for them, and every effort made to accommodate that.  For, what should be obvious reasons – most of the SOLO’s are female.