On not naming names

So predictably enough, after my post on Saturday exposing the links between Valiant Scribe and some homophobic, transphobic religious fundamentalists, some people are focusing on the least important part of that whole story - specifically, the poet whose story I briefly recap in the opening paragraph as a way of explaining how Valiant Scribe came to my attention. 

It is suggested that it is terribly unfair to the poet in question to not share his name. Personally, I see it as a courtesy. If I had shown my arse like that I would be grateful people weren't spreading my name around.  Still, some, losing all sense of proportion, speak darkly of 'whispering campaigns' and even, ridiculously, 'McCarthyism'. So, as Obama would say, let me be clear: 

I have no interest in being respectful towards people who conflate the destruction of lives and livelihoods by bigots like Joe McCarthy with a few people warning each other about the behaviour of someone they mutually know. Where some see a 'whispering campaign', I see a whisper NETWORK, and such networks have been absolutely vital in keeping women, queer people and others of marginalised identities safe. Here's a story for you: a few years back, when I was a lot less broken than I am these days, I seriously considered expanding into the continental European spoken word circuit. When I asked a friend for advice about this, one way she offered to help was by giving me one of the Lists so dreaded by our soi-disant defenders of free speech - specifically, a list of all the European spoken word promoters I should not share accommodation with, because based on their behaviour towards other female poets, they would probably try to sexually assault me. There is a reason such lists exist and are kept secret from the people who are on them: Britain's toxic combination of a massively imbalanced, unduly punitive system of libel laws, and a prosecution (never mind conviction) rate for rape and sexual assault cases which is so low as to effectively make rape legal here.

Since being offered that list, I've since been made aware of people in the UK scene who are equally unsafe to be around, which means that for me, practically speaking, there are some venues I do not go to for my own safety. Because these people are tolerated by the scene, and because openly exposing them would (a) leave me open to allegations of libel and in some cases (b) break the expressed wish for privacy of the people who confided in me, the number of venues at which I can perform is lessened. Funny how this never seems to factor into the discussions of how this stuff impacts 'freedom of speech'. Where's mine?

And, sadly, as with sexual assault, so with transphobia: both are rife in the UK poetry scene, and both mean that there are venues some trans people do not feel safe performing in, effectively alienating us from the scene. And once again, the perpetrators are protected by the draconian libel laws of this country - I've witnessed with my own eyes a poet and promoter use libel threats to suppress public acknowledgement of their transphobia.

So excuse me if my desire to protect myself and other trans people from harm upsets your respectability politics. I stopped caring about whether I hurt cis people's feelings a long time ago.