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Man dressed as schoolgirl questioned after arrest in Merrima
Man dressed as schoolgirl questioned after arrest in Merrimac
* Greg Stolz
* From: The Courier-Mail
* May 31, 2010 6:11PMPOLICE have swooped on a Gold Coast rape victim’s home after a teenager dressed in drag sparked chilling fears her attacker was roaming her neighbourhood.
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11 Replies
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Yahoo!7NEWS – Top Breaking News 01 June 2010
Cross-dresser charged with trespass
A 17-year-old man found wearing a wig and school girl’s uniform on the Gold Coast on Monday has been charged with trespass.
The man was arrested at Merrimac on Monday after a woman noticed him in the yard of her home.
Witnesses said police cars descended on the street, which is a short distance from where a woman, 20, was dragged into long grass and sexually assaulted while out for a jog on May 23.
Police said the arrest was not linked to the assault.
The man is due to appear in the Southport Magistrates Court on June 15.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/7323816/cross-dresser-charged-with-trespass/
What’s newsworthy about this incident. A youth upset the sensitivities of a woman. Doh! Over-reaction? My recollection of reports of the assault was an adult male who drove past a jogger, and then turned around, returned and then attacked her.
This is just media voyeurism, reinforcing (implied criminal threat/behaviour) all the negative stereotypes
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Hi Christina and Bambi,
Thank you for drawing attention to this incident.
I can sympathise with the woman’s discomfort considering that she had been raped just one week before, but I am also very annoyed at the immediate assumption that a cross-dresser is a possible rapist.
I have sent an e-mail to the ABC’s Media Watch program about the coverage of this story. I have highlighted the “smearing by association”, where all the stories about the trespass mention the rape and assault.
I also highlighted the fact that in the initial report, the teen is referred to as a “man” even though he is only 17. In later reports, where he is cleared, he is referred to as a youth.
Julie
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Good stuff Julie, it sickens me to see such stories that use words in such ways, it’s ignorant and whether intentional or not very damaging to the transgender community.
If their intentions are to make the average common person hate on us then they are doing a great job. No one in such power should be so ignorantly malicious.
So this 17 yr old was wearing clothes of the opposite sex does that really have anything to do with the story? total sensationalism, sickening.
What if this youth was wearing something from the 1920’s or a superheroes costume? Would anyone make a link? Would the public then go and hate on people that like to wear such clothes? Of course not. Gosh I hate people and the media with a burning passion.
I guess this means they win…. again.
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I sympathise with this poor kid. He surely didn’t mean to cause the stress that he did, or the national attention that he’s gotten.
I was just thinking it seems there’s been a spate of stories of guys trying to pull off the schoolgirl look without success…really, it’s not that many, I guess they tend to leap out of the headlines to some of us.
There was that bloke in Japan a little while back- http://www.geishablog.com/uncategorized/man-dressed-in-schoolgirl-uniform-arrested/
and we had an incident here in Canberra a month or so ago too- http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/man-in-school-girls-uniform-on-the-run-20100325-qz1r.html
Unfortunately, it’s the kind of thing which tends to freak the general community out, particularly parents. Probably safest to keep it as an indoors fantasy. -
The differences in the two stories are stark.
By the following morning the woman who has reported the trespass has ceased to be the rape victim. The incident has occurred “a short distance” from where a sexual assault occurred; and the woman’s brother and the chase?
I certainly can appreciate that a woman who has been sexually assaulted a week earlier may have been distressed by an ‘unknown male’ in the yard.
The problem is the media reporting. As also was identifying a rape victim, if this is so, especially so soon after the assault – so the attacker now knows the area where his victim lives.
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http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2010/06/15/228521_crime-and-court-news.html
I guess this counts as a happy ending in that he got a good behaviour bond, although I feel very sorry for him being identified so publicly at age 18. Tough gig.
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I say sign him up as a member while we can!!
We need more young ones to get some advice on how to stay safe . Think once , think twice, think…don’t peer in other people’s windows whilst in drag…it could have been a baseball bat he got instead of the cops! -
I read he got a good behaviuor bond !it would have been better if the magistrate had the decency to let him off as a first offender with no conviction recorded.
Suzz
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Quote:I say sign him up as a member while we can!!
We need more young ones to get some advice on how to stay safe . Think once , think twice, think…don’t peer in other people’s windows whilst in drag…it could have been a baseball bat he got instead of the cops!Haha, actually if it were me i think id rather the baseball bat than being splattered all over the news and arrested. But this article honestly frightens the heels out of me. Im 18 and i crossdress, and i occasionally go out to… im not sure why… but i feel an urge to. And this could have been me, although i dont trespass on people’s property and peer through their windows (that was just dumb =
. But i have been to shopping malls, and used female changing rooms when en femme which i dont feel any offence because i feel i am a woman too. But in hindsight i now realise this type of behaviour could easily get my arrested anywhere, anytime. Now, im having not only second, but third and fourth thoughts about ever leaving the house en femme again. -
hi katiee
you say
Quote:But in hindsight i now realise this type of behaviour could easily get my arrested anywhere, anytime. Now, im having not only second, but third and fourth thoughts about ever leaving the house en femme again.all i can suggest is that if you abide by the law, you will never get arrested, and in many parts of the world, dressing in clothes that are not consistent with your biological gender is not against the law. you will be pretty safe in nsw.
as for not leaving the house, i would recommend that you seriously think about no doing so. if dressing is a not a part of a fetish, then being out and meeting others will help you fulfill whatever it is that makes you what you are. remaining at home only leaves you stuck on a treadmill and is more than likely to be very frustrating for you if you want to deal with your true gender identity.
there are lots of people here on tr that can help you do that. i may not be qualified in any of this stuff, but that’s what i would recommend based on my observations and experiences.
i hope you find this helpful.
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I know this getting slightly off-topic, but I would like to try to reassure Katiee (and others) that there is little to fear in going out whilst crossdressed.
I started crossdressing fairly regularly in public about 20 years ago, and I have never experienced any problems. I have been living full time as a woman since the end of 2008. I am a genetic male and I don’t pass, so I am still seen by many people as a crossdresser.
As long as you don’t break the law (such as trespassing), there is no reason that you would be arrested simply for cross-dressing in public. According to http://www.gendercentre.org.au/cross_dressing_information.htm
Quote:Is Crossdressing Illegal or Immoral?There is nothing in the act of Crossdressing that offends any law in mainland Australia or in most of the world.
In addition, the Anti-Discrimination Act provides significant anti-discrimination law protecting transgendered people.
Quote:The Anti-Discrimination Act bans discrimination based on race, sex, sexual harassment, age, disability, sexuality, transgender status, marital status, or carer status.The definition of transgendered varies, but even the law recognises that cross-dressers may be considered transgendered, by acknowledging the Gender Centre’s definition in section 9.2.2.1 of the “Equality Before the Law Bench Book” at http://www.judcom.nsw.gov.au/publications/benchbks/equality/section09.pdf includes the following statement:
Quote:The Gender centre uses the term “transgendered” to mean:
“any person who feels that their assigned gender does not completely or adequately reflect their internal gender“
This term is clearly more inclusive and would include people who cross-dress.The definition of transgendered by the Anti Discrimination Board reads (in part):
Quote:It does not matter which gender is your preferred gender. It does not matter why you are transgender. It does not matter how you describe or label yourself (for example, as transgender, trany, transsexual or something else).
What matters is how you live and behave, or how you want to live and behave. If you fit any one of the ‘rules’ listed above, then the anti-discrimination law counts you as transgender.You are also covered by NSW anti-discrimination law if someone treats you unfairly because they think you are transgender, even if you are not.
See http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/adb/ll_adb.nsf/pages/adb_transgender#who for a full description.
