Film Night: The Spies Who Ruined Our Lives + Post Film Discussion

The Spies Who Ruined Our Lives

​For over 40 years, a secret organization spied on British citizens. This secret organization infiltrated over 1000 groups they wanted to spy on. ​To achieve this, they created new personas by stealing the identities of dead children. They used these new personalities to start relationships with women. They also used their new identities to have sex with women and In some cases, they even had children. Then once they had what they wanted, they abandoned the women and vanished without trace.

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​The women wouldn't find out the truth until decades later. ​The men were in fact, undercover police officers who were infiltrating completely lawful groups.​

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"They believed, and probably still believe that if you hold certain ideals and ideas, then you ought to be spied on. It's straight out of George Orwell. It's straight out of 20th century totalitarianism. The British have never been caught out on it until now, but they're doing exactly the same sort of thing."

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When their activities were exposed, rather than taking immediate action, the government ordered an inquiry, which was to be held in secret, and the identities of 140 undercover spies were hidden.

The women decided it was time to fight back.​

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"Had I known that he was an undercover police officer at the time, it would've had a devastating effect on me and I would've regarded it as rape. He was wearing a mask. I didn't know who he was. I wouldn't have consented to have sex with this man. So in that sense, it's non-consensual. It's state sanctioned rape."

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