The Gay Girl Damasc Hoax explor the vulnerabily of ted and polilly engaged Wterners to Progrsive Orientalism, a form of Orientalism embedd wh otherwise egalarian and anti-imperialist Wtern thought. Early the Arab Sprg, the Gay Girl Damasc blog appeared. Its thor claimed to be Ama Arraf, a Syrian Amerin lbian Mlim woman livg Damasc. After the blog’s went viral April 2011, Wtern journalists electronilly terviewed Ama, magnifyg the blog’s claim that the Syrian uprisg was an ethnilly and religly pluralist movement anchored an expansive sense of social solidary. However, after a post announced that the secret police had kidnapped Ama, journalists and activists belatedly realized that Ama did not exists and Thomas “Tom” MacMaster, a forty-year-old straight whe Amerin man and peace activist livg and studyg medieval history Stland was the blog’s te thor. MacMaster’s hoax succeed by meldg his and his dience’s shared polil and cultural beliefs to a falsified versn of the Syrian Revolutn that validated their views of themselv as anti-racist and anti-imperialist progrsiv by erasg real Syrians. Watch our talk wh the thor Andrew Orr here:
Contents:
- 'GAY GIRL IN DAMASC' TURNS OUT TO BE AN AMERIN MAN
- ANDREW ORR ON “THE GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX”
- ‘GAY GIRL DAMASC’: THE TLY DPIBLE PART OF THE WHOLE SNDAL
- THE GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX
- "A GAY GIRL DAMASC": BEHD THE TWISTED TALE OF A BLOGGER WHO "TFISHED" THE WHOLE WORLD
- GAY GIRL DAMASC BLOGGER ADMS TO WRG FICTN DISGUISED AS FACT
- TOM MACMASTER, THE MAN BEHD ‘A GAY GIRL DAMASC:’ ‘I DIDN’T EXPECT THE STORY TO GET SO BIG’
- 'GAY GIRL DAMASC' WRER ADMS BLOG IS FAKE
- ‘A GAY GIRL DAMASC’ CLEAN
'GAY GIRL IN DAMASC' TURNS OUT TO BE AN AMERIN MAN
The person behd the "Gay Girl In Damasc" blog me forward after purported arrt drew scty. * gay girl in damascus blog *
Over the last several months, Ama Arraf, a blogger who said she was Syrian-Amerin and went by the name Gay Girl In Damasc, ptured the world's attentn.
Today, the Gay Girl In Damasc blog end the mystery, postg an apology that revealed Ama was fact the work of Tom MacMaster, an Amerin om Geia whose universy rerds show is a medieval studi graduate program at the Universy of Edburgh Stland. The revelatn me hours after NPR approached Brta Froelicher, his wife, wh some evince that nnected her wh Gay Girl In Damasc. She was a gay woman livg a untry where beg gay is illegal.
Early on the Arab Sprg, a blog that had already existed for several years went viral: A Gay Girl Damasc by Ama Arraf, a Syrian-Amerin Mlim woman, who wrote about the uprisgs Syria and her life as a lbian Damasc. Andrew Orr, Profsor of Milary History and Secury Studi at Kansas State Universy, has lved to the qutns his newly published book, “The Gay Girl Damasc Hoax.
ANDREW ORR ON “THE GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX”
* gay girl in damascus blog *
”Meet the dog of the hour: Tom MacMaster, a 40-year-old whe, male graduate stunt livg Geia who, for four months now, has been masqueradg as Ama Abdallah Arraf, the supposedly Syrian Amerin thor of the Gay Girl Damasc blog.
‘GAY GIRL DAMASC’: THE TLY DPIBLE PART OF THE WHOLE SNDAL
The Amerin man behd the Gay Girl Damasc bloggg hoax explaed an terview wh The Tim that his attempt to e fictn to promote discsn of the Middle East spun out of ntrol. * gay girl in damascus blog *
MacMaster claims that A Gay Girl Damasc was jt a wrg exercise that got out of hand. The Gay Girl Damasc Hoax explor the vulnerabily of ted and polilly engaged Wterners to Progrsive Orientalism, a form of Orientalism embedd wh otherwise egalarian and anti-imperialist Wtern thought. Early the Arab Sprg, the Gay Girl Damasc blog appeared.
As a Syrian opposn blogger efully observ Sophie Deraspe’s rivetg jigsaw-puzzle documentary “A Gay Girl Damasc: The Ama Profile” – this blogger is an actual person, unlike Ama Arraf aka Ama Abdallah, the talytic agent behd this film – the whole thg feels like the story of a movie.
But as “A Gay Girl Damasc” mak clear, the story of Ama, the voice of Arab ristance who punked the world for four months at the height of the Syrian rebelln, lacks a clear and satisfyg nouement. There’s no way to discs the story of Ama and her blog A Gay Girl Damasc, which beme a foc of ternatnal media attentn 2011, whout discsg what was ultimately disvered about s thor. The thg is, even knowg what I knew (or thought I knew) before seeg “A Gay Girl Damasc, ” ’s full of surpris.
THE GAY GIRL DAMASC HOAX
Tom MacMaster, a 40-year-old om Geia, talks about why he assumed a fake persona on his “Gay Girl Damasc” blog, how grew larger than he expected and what he regrets. * gay girl in damascus blog *
Some people the Syrian ristance and the nascent LGBT muny of Damasc were puzzled when Ama began wrg A Gay Girl Damasc Febary 2011 – who was this person, and had anyone actually met her person?
Another important aspect of “A Gay Girl Damasc” volv settg the rerd straight about how the Ama hoax was exposed. After a supposed of Ama’s posted on the Gay Girl blog that Ama had been kidnapped by secury forc early June of 2011, the hoe of rds began to llapse.
One Syrian gay activist wh ti to the Assad regime ntacted a source the secury forc, at enormo personal risk, who told him they were not holdg anyone who matched Ama’s scriptn. “A Gay Girl Damasc” opens this week at the Mic Hall Los Angel, the IFC Center New York, the Digal Gym Cema San Diego and the Roxie Theatre San Francis, and is also available onle om SundanceNow Doc Club. 'Gay Girl Damasc' Blogger Adms to Wrg Fictn Disguised as Fact - The New York Tim.
"A GAY GIRL DAMASC": BEHD THE TWISTED TALE OF A BLOGGER WHO "TFISHED" THE WHOLE WORLD
| Gay Girl Damasc Blogger Adms to Wrg Fictn Disguised as Fact. Gay Girl Damasc Blogger Adms to Wrg Fictn Disguised as Fact. Six days after a post on the blog A Gay Girl Damasc triggered panic among s rears by suggtg that the blog’s thor, who claimed to be a Syrian-Amerin.
that s edors had helped to start the Gay Girl Damasc blog. As part of an vtigatn led by Andy Carv, NPR had disvered that photographs of Syria sent by the thor of the Gay Girl Damasc blog to a Facebook iend Canada recently had been posted onle 2008 by Ms.
Froelicher poted the broadster to the new apology posted on the Gay Girl Damasc. Abunimah was given some help his rearch by another blogger, Liz Henry, a Web producer at who suggted last week that the Gay Girl Damasc blog might be fictn. Update: Tom MacMaster posted a longer apology to his blog Sunday, "A Gay Girl Damasc, " turned out to be a married man om blog about a half-Amerin, half-Syrian lbian woman that had ptivated the world wh timate acunts of life om wh Syria turned out to be wrten by a 40-year-old Amerin man named Tom Friday the Washgton Post was the first news anizatn to ntact him wh spicns that he was behd the blog.
GAY GIRL DAMASC BLOGGER ADMS TO WRG FICTN DISGUISED AS FACT
”I was va enough to thk that even if wasn’t my name, I was seeg my words June 6, a post on “A Gay Girl Damasc” by “Ama’s ” said she had been kidnapped. I had been stgglg for a way to let thgs why he cid to make Ama gay:It was part of the challenge of beg someone who wasn’t me. I also thk I wanted to show that Syria, too, there are people who are all different, gay, straight, people of every possible permutatn.
TOM MACMASTER, THE MAN BEHD ‘A GAY GIRL DAMASC:’ ‘I DIDN’T EXPECT THE STORY TO GET SO BIG’
I’ve been acced of beg of a misongyist, a homophobe, a racist, and jt about everythg bloggers have said they feel like MacMaster has ligimized their blogs. The blogs were wrten not by a gay girl Damasc, but a middle-aged Amerin man based MacMaster, a 40-year-old Middle East activist studyg for a masters at Edburgh Universy, posted an update clarg that, rather than a 35-year-old femist and lbian lled Ama Abdallah Araf al Omari, he was "the sole thor of all posts on this blog".
'GAY GIRL DAMASC' WRER ADMS BLOG IS FAKE
But provoked a fur rponse om those who had supported the blogger's mpaign, wh some the Syrian gay muny sayg he had risked their safety and serly harmed their blog A Gay Girl Damasc was lnched Febary, purportedly to expla "what 's like to be a lbian here", and gathered a growg followg as Syria's popular uprisg gaed momentum recent months. "Gay Girl Damasc, " an credibly popular blog purportedly thored by a lbian woman livg Syria, has been revealed to be a an entry on the blog Sunday eveng, the se's te thor, Tom MacMaster, published an apology to his rears and admted that he created the avatar of Ama Arraf to draw attentn to the reprsive actns of Syrian Print Bashar Assad's regime.
RELATED:'Lbian blogger om Syria may be a hoax'Syrians flee to Turkey while Wt mulls sanctnsIn March, “A Gay Girl Damasc” beme an ter sensatn after the popular uprisg agast the Assad regime broke out. Those wrgs stopped abptly last Monday, and a postg on her blog, “A Gay Girl Damasc, ” a said Ama had been hled away by ernment secury of her disappearance beme an Inter and media sensatn. On Wednday, pictur of her on the blog were revealed to have been taken om a London woman's Facebook Sunday, the tth spilled out: The gay girl Damasc nfsed to beg a 40-year-old Amerin man om persona Tom MacMaster built and cultivated for years — a lbian who was half Syrian and half Amerin — was a tantalizg Inter-era fictn, one that he ed to brg attentn to the human rights rerd of a untry where media rtrictns make tradnal reportg almost Sunday, MacMaster apologized on the blog.
‘A GAY GIRL DAMASC’ CLEAN
"MacMaster, a Middle East peace activist who is workg on his master’s gree at the Universy of Edburgh Stland, wrote that he fictnalized the acunt of a gay woman Syria to illumate the suatn for a Wtern hoax rais difficult qutns about the reliance on blogs, tweets, Facebook postgs and other Inter munitns as they creasgly bee a standard way to report on global events. The edor said she had termed that Ama's e-mails had been sent om a puter several terviews, the edor — who spoke on ndn that she be intified only by her psdonym, Pla Brooks — said she enuraged Ama to wre more, first on Lez Get Real and later on a new blog, tled “A Gay Girl Damasc.