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'Needle spiking' in UK nightclubs wtf?

Harking back to the subject of medical misogyny, I have another book recommendation which goes into this in some detail (with stats etc)

It's brilliant. But I could only get about a third of the way through it because the rage it induced was just too much.
 
It's brilliant. But I could only get about a third of the way through it because the rage it induced was just too much.
I get that. I was like that with Everyday Sexism. Had to keep putting it down and reading something else for a while.

With this one, I keep finishing a chapter and then berating the fella with all the info I've just taken on board.
 
Such a nasty thing to do.

My uncle is 60 and works in an estate agent. The rest of the office are all typical young estate agents- you know, pricks.

He is often the butt of their jokes. He's very mild mannered. Eg sending offensive emails to people when he was away from his computer.
At their last Christmas do before lockdown they spiked his beers with vodka, and he barely drinks from one month to the next.
He got horribly pissed and ended up saying stupid things and generally making a disgrace of himself.
Makes me sad to think of that incident 😞
Similar situation over forty years ago. I could hold a lot of drink at the time, but continuous tumblers of gin and tonic with decreasing proportions of tonic left me making a complete ass of myself and barely able to stand when I left. I was lucky to get home with only minor injuries (I woke to find my head glued to the pillow with my own blood).

It actually hadn't occurred to me until I read this thread that what for me (a straight white cis man) was an almost forgotten unpleasant incident with no drastic consequences might have been something so much worse for someone else. That's not to say I would have dismissed their experience of being spiked as trivial, just that I wouldn't have made the link. (Edit: didn't make the link until now)

We live and learn, eh?
 
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An 18-year old man from Brighton is being held by police on suspicion of administering poison with intent to injure.
A 28-year-old man from Hove and 19-year-old Brighton man have been bailed on suspicion of the same offence.

 
But of course it’s just silly women not holding their drink, and blaming an invented bad guy the next morning.


And other silly women getting sucked into a moral panic.

I don’t believe that. Why would anyone make this stuff up? Most people go about their lives and report back on stuff. I believe the reports.
 
Yes I do understand some of the reasons for certain forms of skepticism, alertness to moral panic in the press etc, but its fucking infuriating when applied sloppily as the default response to this sort of thing.

Personally this means I tend to always want more info, to get a better understanding of whats happening, before I comment at all. And victims should always be given the benefit of any doubt in the meantime.
 
I don’t believe that. Why would anyone make this stuff up? Most people go about their lives and report back on stuff. I believe the reports.
You don’t need to read back very far on this thread to see the energy being put into the “regretful women telling lies” explanation.

Which of course is a close relation to the mythology of common false accusations of rape and sexual assault.
 
The wtf element makes it easy to unreasonably dismiss. As does the lack of plausible agents. That said, lots of incidents reported doesn’t mean it is being done “successfully”. It’s still sickening. Also hard to tell how many copycat attempts are happening - I’m not sure what to do with that. I’m sure the police will have analysts tracking certain channels where this shit is likely to be discussed.
 
You don’t need to read back very far on this thread to see the energy being put into the “regretful women telling lies” explanation.

Which of course is a close relation to the mythology of common false accusations of rape and sexual assault.

I think it’s horrific. The evidence of how women have to conduct their lives simply to stay safe is diabolical. Everard followed the ‘rules’ and still got raped and murdered.
I don’t have these worries but it is making me think about them.
 
The wtf element makes it easy to unreasonably dismiss. As does the lack of plausible agents. That said, lots of incidents reported doesn’t mean it is being done “successfully”. It’s still sickening. Also hard to tell how many copycat attempts are happening - I’m not sure what to do with that. I’m sure the police will have analysts tracking certain channels where this shit is likely to be discussed.
It probably wont seem real to some people until the substances involved are named. But its not hard to imagine some reticence towards publicising that info at this stage, on the occasions where it does become available to the authorities.
 
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It probably wont seem real to some people until the substances involved are named. But its not hard to imagine soem reticence towards publicising that info at this stage, on the occasions where it does become available to the authorities.

Yeah, you’re totally correct of course.
 
I think it’s horrific. The evidence of how women have to conduct their lives simply to stay safe is diabolical. Everard followed the ‘rules’ and still got raped and murdered.
I don’t have these worries but it is making me think about them.
She did not 'get' raped and murdered, like it was something she did that caused it. She was raped and murdered by someone who took advantage of her being a lone woman.

Language is important here.
 
It was a reminder that on this topic words matter. There is so much victim blaming, disbelief and dismissiveness that it is important to be accurate.

I get how you feel. I just think a more charitable interpretation is due given the context.
 
The idea that the chances of being spiked are next to nil is a bit of a sweeping statement since even anecdotal evidence says otherwise. Just within my circle of friends, one was spiked with Rohypnol and gang raped (drugs identified, men sent down) and my friend’s 16 year old daughter was spiked while out with her mother drinking soft drinks (took her to hospital, drugs identified). I myself was spiked with 2 tabs of acid in a pint and once with smack in a joint - although that was more for someone’s “amusement” than any sexual motive.

The issue is the method of spiking as a print article I read at the weekend quoted several medical bods saying that to do this via needle would require a certain amount of specialist knowledge to get an accurate injection site, a powerful enough substance, a small enough needle and, even if those conditions were satisfied, much more prolonged contact than just a scratch (as has been reported by those reporting these assaults). They weren’t disputing the spiking - just the method of administration.
 
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