Earlier this year, I wrote an article on Gemma Watts, a 21-year-old woman in Britain who pretended to be a teenage boy in order to seduce teenage girls. I also mentioned a similar case involving a woman named Gayle Newland.
And apparently both of these cases were not isolated incidents.
Around ten years ago, another British woman named Gemma Barker (age 19) had also seduced several teenage girls by pretending to be a boy. In fact, she had three different male personas: Luke Jones, Aaron Lampard, and Connor McCormack. But whereas Gemma Watts posed as a boy online in order to have sexual relationships with various teenage girls, Gemma Barker posed as a boy online to seduce two of her friends (Jessica and Alice).
In her relationship with Jessica, Gemma pretended to be Luke, and later Connor (after Luke was allegedly unfaithful to Jessica, in which Gemma created the persona of Connor as a friend of Luke’s in order to comfort and eventually seduce Jessica). However, Gemma instead chose to rape Jessica instead relying on mutual seduction. In the aftermath, Jessica took off Gemma’s hat (which she wore as part of her disguise) when Gemma fell asleep and realized she had been sexually assaulted by a woman.
I’m not sure why any rapist (regardless of gender or sexual orientation) would fall asleep, let alone hang around after committing such a deed.
As for Alice, Gemma created the persona of Aaron, and the sex in this relationship was consensual. But things in that relationship began to unravel when Alice found a dildo in Gemma’s bag.
Eventually the police were notified, and Gemma was arrested, in which her true identity was revealed during a strip search.
Gemma Barker was later tried and pled guilty to sexual assault and fraud. She was then sentenced to thirty-three months in prison and was required to undergo a psychological examination, during which she was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
It is unclear just how many crimes like these have occurred in Britain, let alone elsewhere in the world.
Perhaps in the cases of Gayle Newland and Gemma Watts, it is possible they were copycats.
It is also puzzling how the victims in all of these cases did not suspect that the perpetuators were actually women pretending to be boys, particularly in the case of Gemma Watts (who seduced around 50 teenage girls). Even as just as puzzling is how Gemma Barker’s friends did not recognize her during their sexual encounters.
The motives of all three women are also unclear.
