More Perving than Politics? – Syrian Lesbian blogger unmasked as straight man in Scotland

by Petit Fours

A blog claiming to chart the life of a Syrian lesbian that drew the world’s attention to the plight of gays in the Middle East is now making headlines for another reason – it was written by a middle-aged man in Scotland.

Lies, internet ethics and the genuine problems faced by gays in Syria are all mixed up in the scandal – but it looks like we’re looking at an old old story – a straight man getting off on some fake lesbians.

The Gay Girl in Damascus blog brought to publicity to the problems of gays in the Middle East. Coinciding with riots in Damascus and the Arab Spring it seemed like a fresh voice, bringing to life the repressions, fears and reprisals faced by gay people in a repressive Muslim state. But it was all a fiction.

Tom MacMaster, a 40 year-old American man studying in Edinburgh was the writer behind all of the 145 blog posts published since February this year. The 35 year old lesbian Amina Amin living in Damascus was just an invention of his. MacMaster wrote about her beliefs, her sex life, and in the past week her dramatic arrest by security forces (in the persona of her couisn). After some journalists raised suspicions about the true identity of Amina, he outed himself on his blog yesterday.

While we accept MacMaster was trying to help a cause he cared about..
He writes:

“While the narrative voıce may have been fictional, the facts on thıs blog are true and not mısleading as to the situation on the ground. I do not believe that I have harmed anyone — I feel that I have created an important voice for issues that I feel strongly about.”

In a world where women’s voices are so often co-opted, it’s a real let-down to find out that there’s a 40 year old straight man with some lesbian fantasties behind this website.

There’s as much prurience as politics in entries like Testimony of Jasmine

“My sex to your sex
Grinding in time
With sounds of the City
Stretched out below

“Up on the rooftop
Our bodies entwined
You’re slick with my sweat
And the savor of your salt’s on my skin

And then drama of the Amina arrest story in the past week – which has raised international concern – reads much more like the invention of someone who enjoys attention rather than an activist making a serious political point.

Another bad effect of MacMaster’s hoax – well-meaning though it might have been – is that he has undermined the authority of anonymous bloggers everywhere and mixed up lies with important truths. MacMaster has become the story – not the gays and lesbians of the Middle East.

We would like to assure you all that none of The Most Cake’s anonymous bloggers are 40 year men in Scotland – but it does raise questions about people who choose to be anonymous.