fake lesbians all the way down
TRANSCRIPT
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Timeline
2011
June
6
Aminaabducted
Feb
Aminablogbegins
April
My fatherthe hero
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Suspicion
No word from family
No one has met her
No confirmation of Amina’s existence in the U.S.
No reason for the cousin to lie
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
The story within the story
Amanda Lynn McClure
Pattern recognition
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Digression!
Plain Layne, “bisexual info-waif”, 2003
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Layne = Odin
Also, Acanit fromThe Sex Pistols Are Alive and Well and
Living in Sohatsenango,Iranian-American-Kenyan TV journalist blogger and impish
bisexual, 2000-2001
The Plain Layne Hoax
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
SXSWi talk on “fictional bloggers” and hoaxes
2007
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Back to Amina!
Mutability of the story
Her identity is the story
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Amina’s girlfriend
(Amina’s *Internet* girlfriend)
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Timeline
2011
June
6
Aminaabducted
Feb
Aminablogbegins
April
My fatherthe hero
June
7
* State Dept.inquiry* acarvin’s question* Sanda Bagaria comes forward* I post doubts
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Boom!
The Internet explodes. Into my inbox.
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
But wait, those photos are stolen
from a woman in London named Jelena
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Timeline
2011
June
6
Aminaabducted
Feb
Aminablogbegins
April
My fatherthe hero
June
7
* State Dept.inquiry* acarvin’s question* Sanda Bagaria comes forward* I post doubts
June
8
* Jelena photos* Amy Young emails* Amanda McClure* Email lists* Electronic Intifada*Everyone’s brain explodes!
May
Amina goes into hiding
Sandra Bagaria calls Amina’s phone
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Sockpuppet techniques
Argue with yourselfAnd agree with yourself!
Either way, you become more important.
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Timeline
2011
Amina’s Gay Girl in Damascus blog starts
20102009200820072006
Jennnifer Cheyenne “dies”
20052004
AmyLynn/Cheyenne/Andrea/brother drama Amina
talks about her imaginary life as Amanda Lynn McClure
Amina begins posting to alternate-history list
Jasmine from Pakistan blogs and comments
Paula Brooks emails, chats with Amina
Amina stops postingin alt-history
Various activistsFacebook-friend Amina
Amina posts on queer-jihad
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Internet Sleuths Gather
And a bunch of Actual Lesbian
Bloggers who shall remain nameless
BenAli
AndyEsther
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
The Amina Entity
Amina2007
Amina2011
threefoldaminaaminaarraf
Rania Ismail
Amanda Lynn(e) McClure (Davis)
Jennifer Cheyenne Williams (Davis)Kimberly Dakota (Davis)
Andrea (Brittney Williams)
Bi/Lesbian, bad poetry, endless drama, multilingual, multiple ethnicities
jasmine from pakistan
Andrea’s brother
littleamylynn
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Theories within theoriesNested stories
Long hypothetical narratives presented as lightly fictionalized dialogues
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Long earnest emails
I meant it all, but this is how I felt.
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
LezGetReal: A Gay Girl’s View on the World
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
And maybe his wife Britta Froelicher, post doc in Syrian Studies, too
(but probably not, given all the soft core porn Amina wrote)
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Paula Brooks quoted extensively in WaPoHas Amina’s IP number
Deaf lesbian surfer, mom of twins, 3rd grade teacher
Meanwhile, Paula *who*?
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Queen of the Surf Pirates
Sammy the surf dog, Lots of horrible poetry about surfing, twin babies, local politics
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
The Lesbiatopia drama
Paula writes to:Renee
HeatherLesbianMommy
LezziMomGeekPornGirl
CJEvery other
lesbian blogger around
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Who is real in LezGetReal
Investigating the other associatesLinda
BridgetteMelanie
They all speak to Paula only over IM, email, or through her
dad “Bill” (The Major)
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Timeline
2011
Amina’s Gay Girl in Damascus blog starts
20102009200820072006
Jennnifer Cheyenne “dies”
20052004
AmyLynn/Cheyenne/Andrea/brother drama Amina
talks about her imaginary life as Amanda Lynn McClure
Amina begins posting to alternate-history list
Jasmine from Pakistan blog
Paula Brooks emails, chats with Amina
Amina stops postingin alt-history
Various activistsFacebook-friend Amina
Paula writes for Lesbiatopia, emails every internet lesbian evergives birth to twins
LezGetReal splits from Lesbiatopia
Paula starts Queen of the Surf Pirates
Paula’s wife Debbie dies from breast cancer
Paula moves to DC
Tom MacMaster posts to alternate-history list
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Fallout
Fauxpologies
Justifications - hoaxes brought attention to “the issues”
Syrian bloggers, news sources went quiet for weeks
GLBT activists in Mid East had to question their own security, who knew who in person
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
Bad Allies
When someone says they’re speaking for the voiceless, I reach for my gun
Fake Lesbians All the Way Down The Story 2012 - Liz Henry
This is why marginalized people lose their historiesThey’re drowned out by the fake stories
Our real stories are too dangerous to tell in publicso the false stories, so much more palatable, trump them
Our histories are often preserved in baroque eddies, backwaters, hidden pockets, obscure corners
We are struggling to preserve complexityso that difficult stories stay alive