Yet Another "Lesbian Blogger" Fraud

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When the person posing as "Candice Jarman" started his nasty "Paul Barford- heritage - the Truth" blog, he presented himself as a lesbian legal secretary, even gave a few details about "Candice's" partner. When it was pointed out by a commentator that real lesbians do not write about each other in such terms, that fragment of "Candy's" profile disappeared, the first of a number of things that were "adjusted" as the blog author developed his assumed persona.

It seems posing as a lesbian female is quite a common fantasy for male bloggers. Yesterday we had the case of Tom MacMaster, a 40-year-old married masters student at Edinburgh University (Esther Addley, 'Syrian lesbian blogger is revealed conclusively to be a married man', The Guardian, Monday 13 June 2011). He posed as Amina Abdallah Aral al Omari, a gay girl in Damascus, who set out to inform people of the "truth" about being a gay woman in Syria (see the 'explanation' here).

Today a third one has been exposed. Paula Brooks, who claimed to be editor of LezGetReal.com, which set out to inform people of the "truth" about being a gay woman in the US, admitted to the Washington Post that 'she', too, was a man (Esther Addley and Ben Quinn, 'Second lesbian blogger exposed as a man', The Guardian, Tuesday 14 June 2011 ) in this case, a 58-year-old retired construction worker from Ohio called Bill Graber. Interestingly "Brooks" claimed to have a PhD in archaeology from Bryn Mawr college, falsely.

There seems to have been an element of sexual fantasy in the activity in all three cases, Tom MacMaster masquerading as "Amina" exchanged around 1,000 emails with Sandra Bagaria, a French Canadian woman and led the latter on to believe that she was in a romantic online relationship with "Amina". In addition "Amina" often "flirted" with LezGetReal.com's "Brooks" – with neither man apparently realising that the other was also a man pretending to be a lesbian. "Candice Jarman" claims to be receiving bouquets from "darling friends" in Turkey.

Candice Jarman: "About me" (first version, before 12th October 2010)

Hi, my name is Candice - I am a secretary with a firm of Solicitors in Hampshire, United Kingdom. I live with my partner, Sophie, in Bournemouth with a big soppy labrador and two cats - sorry Guys, I am a girl's girl. I am passionate about archaeology and history. I have many metal detecting friends - all of whom report their finds to the PAS and only search with the landowners permission. I am incensed at the misinformation and lies spread by the anti-metal detecting/anti-collecting archaeological lobby - hence this blog which will expose their lies and set the record straight on a legitimate and lawful activity. But this will be more than a single issue blog campaigning against one man - it is hoped it will also become a forum for examining how archaeology is done in the world today. I passionately believe that archaeology belongs to the people - to all of us - and not just to archaeologists. Is it not time to examine whether more excavations can be done by amateur societies, of which there are many? In todays straightened times, can we afford to support so many University Archaeology Departments and Archaeology Units from the public purse?

The beginning and end of that text have now been altered.

UPDATE 15/6/11
Part of the fallout from this affair prompted an article by Dan Gillmor in the Guardian on 'anonimity'

Sounding real is not the same as being real. The fake Amina's blog was especially well done, with details that sounded authentic even to native Syrians. Its unmasked author said he was telling larger truths, but we have a name for this technique: fiction. We also have a name for the technique of identity in this case: pseudonym. This is a much-used method online – not revealing one's own name but having a consistent identifier. It's one step away from outright anonymity, where there is no accountability whatever. As I wrote last week, the lack of accountability in such cases puts more responsibility on the audience. It is up to us to cultivate an abiding distrust for speech when the speaker refuses to stand behind his or her own words – that is, by using one's own name.

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Who is Candice, What is She, That Swains Commend her?

[metal detecting nonsense]

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Somebody writes:

My name [...] is Candice Elisabeth Jarman. I am 24 and I am not a metal detectorist.

So, the name is just like that lady in Tennessee? I don't want to be unkind, but if the photo Candice has used is of a 24 year old, she'd better give up the fags and start using a different moisturiser. As for whether Mr Jarman is a metal detectorist, let the content of his words speak for themselves. For somebody who is pressurising others who write about heritage issues to submit a full CV with "qualifications" and "credentials" to public scrutiny, Candice Jarman's online details seem rather scanty. In fact if you Google the name, the only things you'll find on the internet about "her" comes from two of Paul Barford's blogs.

I think before this individual continues to attack real people's real lives, in order to establish "her" credentials and qualifications, Candice Jarman should at least publish something which allows their identity as a real person to be established. Since he demands it of others, the name of blogger Candice Jarman's employer would do. After all, we all fully understand that this solicitor is in no way implicated in what Candice Jarman writes in his own free time outside work (see also here).

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Metal detecting Candyspite reaches new lows

[category: metal detectorist nonsense]

Metal detecting Candyspite reached a new low on Sunday, (Candice Jarman Damien gets caught out!). Apparently Candice reckons it is some kind of character fault to be socially committed, and to show it he has dragged up a ten-year old article from www.freemasonrywatch.org which tells us that:

Three UA students were arrested on charges of trespassing Friday night for protesting animal abuse at a showing of the Shrine Circus - a circus which has been accused of failing to meet the minimal federal standards for the care of animals. Tucson Police Department arrested Jeff Jensen, a biological anthropology junior; Rebecca Feather, a psychology junior; and Damien Huffer, an anthropology freshman, after they entered the Rodeo Fairgrounds, 4801 S. Sixth Ave., and passed out literature about animal abuse [...], the circus rented the land for the weekend, making it private property.

Candice expects his metal detecting audience to frown on such activity. We do not know how many of them are Freemasons, animal lovers or whether any of them campaign for animal rights, what we do know however is that it appears from a recent PET report that the Shrine Circus deserves more than just a few people handing out literature when they come to town. I wonder what Candice Jarman believes in strongly enough to risk arrest protesting about it? Would Candice support the Shrine Circus if they came to his town, or would Mr Jarman join the protesters, or would Mr Jarman join the many who would just turn aside and walk away mumbling that "we don't want any trouble around here"? ("Head down, blinkers on, avoid making eye contact with those outsiders with "ideas"...") Is Candice perhaps a Freemason?

It appears now that Mr Jarman intends engaging on slime attacks on people who appear to be supporting one bloke's conservationist blog, even people they have never met on the other side of the globe. What actually was Jarman's aim in posting that text to his hate blog? Who is next? Colin Renfrew maybe?

Perhaps more on Mr Huffer at a later date

he darkly warns, note that its more "on Mr Huffer" he promises, not any coverage and discussion of what he actually says and stands for.

Mr Jarman is now busily drumming up "support" for his blog and this kind of argument among UK metal detectorists and US "coiney" collectors and dealers. I am quite sure that there are a lot of people in both milieux who are quite happy to see the discussion on artefact collecting brought down to the level of black propaganda and personal attacks in 2011.

Vignette: Animal Rights protestors November 2000, where are these young activists now? Are they ashamed now of what they did ten years ago? Should they be?