T E Lawrence and Arabia. BBC documentary pt 4 of 7

1986 BBC 90 minute documentary biography of T E Lawrence. In 1987 T E's brother AW Lawrence wrote to the BBC producers, "I have at last had the video shown to me, it is impeccable, a splendid achievement. I can't thank you enough, not only as an individual, but on behalf of historic truth"

[@matthewstokes1608]

odd that they removed episode 2 of this series

[@soleaguirre100]

This man was awesome! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼Greetings from Chile 🇨🇱

[@chrisjones3901]

I think it's a hard thing even today to admit to being raped,that era even more so,why would he say such a thing if it weren't true,he would gain nothing from this,only shame as a victim does,we all make up our own minds,mi as he was not a liar

[@Mycatsname]

I believe that it’s totally true. I also think that the rest of his book was written as a “boy’s own adventure” with exquisite writing. But that chapter is written in a different manner compared to the rest of the book. I believe that writing about the assaults were a way for him to purge himself of this trauma and for him to explain the unexplainable to the world. A world that most people couldn’t even imagine especially in that era. The people that don’t believe him haven’t been assaulted like that, and the rest that have been brutalised like this, it rings very true. T.E. Laurence is the bravest of men from that era, to write about his torture and rape for the world to see is completely unheard of, no one would even discuss what happened to women who were raped and brutalised in those days, the media usually depicted the “virtuous” woman that had been raped and tortured that the only “virtuous” way forward was to kill her self or be killed by her merciful loving family and if she wasn’t “virtuous” she deserved it and it was just punishment, let alone write about it as a man in that situation in excruciating detail to tell the world that it really does happen and that the survivors are forever damaged by the experience

[@mariannatrench5677]

@@Mycatsname Well said. It still blows my mind that he wrote about it so starkly in 1926. The automatic response was for his biographers to victim blame or try and discredit him. But having read his letters and accounts (and medical reports from a field hospital he went to afterwards.) Theres really no reason to doubt him. The fact is that the Ottomans didn't sign the Geneva convention and routinely used rape against male officers as a weapon of war. One of the most painful aspects for male survivors is that they sometimes become aroused during an assault. It doesn't mean they secretly wanted it. Even today thats a difficult thing to admit. For him , as a young, totally inexperienced -Possibly Asexual person it must have been unbelievably traumatic.

[@Mycatsname]

Yes I agree. I wonder if he was ostracised because he put that in the book? Because he drops out of circulation and took a fake name and joined the airforce as a nobody. I can’t imagine other men from that era would be very happy to have a male rape victim among them. I have recently just found out that the movie “Lawrence of Arabia” was shown to modern troops as an educational tool to understand what the Arabs and Arabia is like, this century! It blew my mind.

[@harrysecombegroupie]

​@@mariannatrench5677 For years I've heard that there was a either diary entry or report from the doctor who treated him after Deraa, but I've never been able to track it down or verify if it even existed. Can you tell me where you read the medical reports? That's some pretty solid evidence, and though It sounds morbidly curious, I'd be interested to read them. I agree it makes no sense at all for Lawrence to fabricate such an incident.

[@eisenkreuzmusik]

Damascus Lawrence, Damascus!

[@-elchoya9832]

too bad we couldnt hear his voice,recording ect.

[@molarmama32]

Why would he lie? Please explain. What did he tell Gertrude Bell?

[@noneofurbusiness5223]

And we wonder why report of rape on men is underreported.

[@w584450]

You hear what you want to hear. To come close to the truth do documentary on how boundary lines are drawn when the states are divided in Arabia. Therein lies the secret.

[@bournemouthlass]

No2loitrring: Lawrence was known to be a joker and a man who did things his own way so what you have described sounds accurate rather than a slur.

[@mikeyriart816]

I tottaly agree with the coment of "molarmana 22" Why did he had to lie ??? It DID happened !!! In a comentary of John Mack book (A Prince of our Disorder) the author says from the comentas of another persons who "worked " with him who said "Se saw him VERY changed" More comments ???? Mike Yriart San Andrés Great Buenos Aires Argentina

[@no2loitering]

Lawrence sometimes used too much explosives when blowing up railway lines and bridges to impress his tribal Arabs more than anything else, but also for the sheer fun of it. This is in reference to what Sir Alex Kirkbride stated along starting in frame 12:10, where he ingloriously received a rather unwholesome disapproval of the knighted gentleman...for some legitimate reasons. This could be from an honest point of view, but could arise from a distinction of criticizing a famous man such as TEL.

[@sblack48]

If you talk ti American soldiers operating in Afghanistan they will tell you that rape of young boys in the army and in the taliban was a regular occurrence. So it was commonplace in that part of the world. These “opinions” on whether or not it actually happened are based on nothing really. None of these people were there. What is the point of presenting them if there is no substance behind them?

[@James-nl6fu]

When he's caught, he's sexualy assaulted in an extremely specific Sado-Masochistic way. A way he felt profoundly stimulated by. Like everything about Lawrence much of it is probably flamboyantly fictional. Captors tend to have their own agendas

[@subutaymete4887]

Lawrence went to hell.