Source: Women are Human
UK — London, England. A British Academy of Film and Television Arts-honored actor, director, producer and screenwriter who publicly advocated for male people who identify as women to be allowed access to sex-specific female facilities is currently facing fallout following accusations by 20 women who say he engaged in a course of sexual misconduct toward them.
Noel Clarke was quickly dropped by four companies in two countries. Creative Artists Agency, Industry Entertainment and 42 announced Clarke is no longer a client, and he was suspended from his production company Unstoppable Film and Television by super-indie financial backer All3Media.
The companies took the action to separate from Clarke in the face of public outrage after The Guardian revealed that Clarke is being accused by no fewer than 20 women of engaging in behaviors ranging from inappropriate touching to the secret filming of an actress naked during an audition. The purported victims and witnesses say Clarke had used his power and influence to keep them silent for years.
Clarke first came to the attention of women’s rights advocates in 2016 after repeatedly denigrating women in person and on social media for seeking to retain privacy from male people in such facilities as public showers, changing rooms, dressing rooms, prisons and refuges for battered wives and rape survivors. In the past, some such facilities were reserved for the exclusive use of members of the female sex. New policies are increasingly permitting male people who identify as women to access these spaces.
“Argument with this silly lot the other day,” Clarke wrote in a mocking 5 July 2016 tweet. “‘Lesbians against Trans women sharing their spaces’ Changing rooms etc.” A photo of women holding up signs supporting women’s sex-based facilities accompanied Clarke’s tweet.
One woman recalled encountering Clarke that day at the protest. “He shouted at us that day and was so nasty to me I burst into tears of humiliation. POS,” she wrote on Facebook.
Clarke’s derisive tweet was challenged by multiple women at the time, including feminist and lesbian Magdalen Berns, who responded, “Straw man. Setting boundaries is every woman’s right. It’s not a lesbians job to validate the identity of het males.”
“I apologise to all who think I was ignoring women’s rights,” Clarke replied to the women sarcastically. “But won’t say sorry for being inclusive and calling trans women, women.” Two days later Clarke further doubled down: “My other and wife know I respect women and so do I. I don’t need this lots validation.”
With the sexual allegations against Clarke now in the limelight, a woman pointedly noted on social media the sex of all 20 victims of Clarke purportedly targeted for sexual harassment. “How many trans women had to suffer his sexual advances?”
Clarke is denying he engaged in “sexual misconduct or criminal wrongdoing,” but claimed he is seeking “professional help” to assess his behavior and educate himself.
