Thursday, April 12, 2007

The Martin Mullaney YouTube saga has taken a new twist. Not content with confronting the teenage tagging community he's now taking on the men-who-have-sex-in-parks community, and they're not taking it lying down. As it were.

As The Stirrer puts it, CAMCORDER COUNCILLOR TARGETTED OVER GAY ORGY VIDEO. How exciting! Has Martin really done a video about gay orgies? Um, no. What he's done is made a video about how the council will be tacking the issue of public sex in Highbury park by cutting back some bushes. Now, I might be rusty on my definitions but I have a feeling it requires slightly more than a chair in a bush to have an orgy, but we should never let the facts get in the way of a good headline. Here's the video in question:



From an internet point of view the interesting thing is how this video has apparently sparked a campaign against Martin with this sign being hung outside his house...



... which he's apparently leaving there to show he won't be intimidated.

The whole thing is rather unfortunate. For good or ill public sex is illegal in the UK and the council were responding to complaints from the public, so there's nothing wrong with the action taken. Regarding the video it's slightly disturbing how horrified Martin is by the sign of condom wrappers and you could infer some homophobia at a push, but he isn't a natural presenter by any means. In fact it's his naivety in front of the camera that makes his stuff work for me. I'm pretty sure this wasn't his intention.

The big issue, I guess, is that by highlighting the goings on in the park he's essentially encouraging gay bashing by identifying exactly where gay sex is occurring. I think this is unfair as Martin has repeatedly identified where illegal activities take place in his ward from graffiti to drug taking. And it's not unreasonable to assume that anyone who uses the park on a regular basis knows what's going on. What's more disturbing is how Martin's video has been reported elsewhere. I'm pretty sure he doesn't use the word "orgy" in the piece but there it is on The Stirrer. Similarly the Mail reported the video under the headline " Park exposed as gay haunt". Typically the Mail doesn't keep its archive online but I found the opening paragraph: "A Birmingham councillor has launched an online battle against a group of gay men who gather in a family park for illicit sex."

This is the sort of thing that's homophobic. This sensational, salacious style of reporting that put the facts through a filter of horrified fascination and marks out The Other as a danger. When Martin makes a video about dealing with mugging and drug dealing there's nary a peep, but once you mention the fags it's pile-on time.

If Martin's guilty of anything it's that he gave those parts of the local media that thrive on spreading fear and distrust (and I'm sorry to have to put Adrian Goldberg of The Stirrer into the category as he seems a nice chap) some ammunition for their nasty games. In return he's gotten himself on the end of a hate campaign.

(And yes, I know I made an oo-er joke in the opening paragraph. So sue me.)

6 Comments:

Blogger bounder said...

I'm not sure this one's totally related to the park, for the 'sexually liberated' a sign using the word paedophile seems a little Daily Mail, and the sign is written in marker-pen by someone who looks like they've had a little bit of practice. The gay orgy-angle, while difficult (hem-hem), seems to be the most news-worthy.

And as for the underage rent-boy "claim" on the stirrer, I've been watching this since the beginning and I don't believe I've heard this claimed anywhere. Unfortunate for the stirrer to use such sensationalist tabloid methods, as normally it's a breath of fresh air both in local journalism and on t'interweb.

April 13, 2007 at 6:36 AM  
Blogger thestirrer said...

In my initial report on The Stirrer (/8/3/07) we report Mullaney's belief - backed up by witnesses - that gay men are involed and so are apparently teenage male prostitutes - some apparently under the age of consent.

It's all there - check the archive.

I also can't see why it's homophobic to refer to gay sex orgies.

This a group activity (ie an orgy) involving gay men.

Er, that's it.

April 14, 2007 at 6:16 PM  
Blogger Pete Ashton said...

Hi Adrian. Thanks for popping by.

For the record I don't think you personally are homophobic but I think you use of language is regrettable.

"In my initial report on The Stirrer (/8/3/07) we report Mullaney's belief - backed up by witnesses - that gay men are involed and so are apparently teenage male prostitutes - some apparently under the age of consent.

It's all there - check the archive."


I'm sorry, where did I say otherwise? My concern is not what you reported but the language and tone you used.

"I also can't see why it's homophobic to refer to gay sex orgies.

This a group activity (ie an orgy) involving gay men."


It's not homophobic to refer to "gay sex orgies" when you are actually referring to gay sex orgies. Here, though, you're not. An orgy, by most definitions, is a wild and crazy party involving great indulgence, usually related to sex but not necessarily. Food will often be involved as will wine. Perhaps some kind of ritual to the Bacchus or Dionysus. Above all an orgy is glamorous and fun.

Having furtive sex with a stranger, perhaps for money, in a bush using a broken chair doesn't quite come up to scratch. Group sex maybe but certainly not an orgy.

But an orgy is kinda sexy and easy to disapprove of. It's the sort of language the tabloids use when they want to express a judgement about someone without blatantly accusing them of something. It allows prejudices to be reaffirmed. You can argue that it's semantically correct all you like but it buys into something nasty.

Above all it is irresponsible. Despite great strides being made in the last decade or two homophobia is still rife in our society. When you say "gay orgy" a significant number of people think of dirty fags having filthy bum-sex in bushes and wouldn't it be good if they were taken away somewhere and dealt with. And then the next time they come across a gay person this is the first thing that pops into their heads. For example.

"Er, that's it."

Let's hope so.

April 15, 2007 at 12:01 AM  
Blogger bounder said...

I stand corrected. The first stirrer peice is one I hadn't read.

I do think that Martin has ruffled a lot of feathers recentley - i'm glad i'm not charged with investigating. ;)

April 16, 2007 at 2:01 PM  
Blogger Pete Ashton said...

I said: "I'm sorry, where did I say otherwise?"

I see now you were replying to Bounder - apologies for dimness.

April 16, 2007 at 6:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Councillor Mullaney says he's not homophobic, why then is he focusing on gay cruising? And why does he describe the area in the video as a FAMILY PARK several times? And why does he change the tone in one of his messages to describe it as a PUBLIC PARK. I wonder why he was so keen to use the FAMILY word.

Someone can send a nice email to him to have a look at this websites:

http://www.melanies-uk-swingers.com/goingout/dogging/counties/birmingham-swingers.htm

http://www.melanies-uk-swingers.com/goingout/dogging/doggingadvice.htm

He may find another motive for another youtube stunt. Will he? I doubt it.

April 19, 2007 at 6:40 PM  

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