Say One Thing, Do Another

[poliphilo]

We're all agreed that the sexual abuse of children is one of the lowest, meanest crimes imaginable- witness the way nonces are treated in prison-  but when it comes down to it- when the evidence is placed before us and we're asked to do something-  we routinely side with the predatory paedophile, cover up behind him and silence his victims. This happens right across our society at every level. We saw it in the Church. We saw it with Jimmy Savile. We're seeing it in Rotherham. We know it happens in the political establishment.

What's this I hear about you and young boys, Cyril?

None of it true, David. On my honour.

That's all right then. So what would you say to a knighthood?

It's as though the adult world were one great conspiracy against the young.

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I get rather frustrated by the way people muddle up all child abuse cases as though they are all the same. In the Rochdale, Oxford and now Rotherham cases, the girls initially were probably perfectly willing to go with more mature men who had money, fancy cars and who treated them like the adults they wanted to be seen as. I can remember how my classmates behaved at school from 12-13 upwards. Also my daughter (now a sensible adult and mother) was once a rebellious young teen. We went through a hellish year when she was 14, though fortunately she avoided becoming a victim of sexual abuse and/or drug addiction.

There is no One Size Fits All answer and just calling for heads to roll while leaving faulty systems in place is like sticking a plaster over an infected wound. The whole care and reporting system needs looking at from the bottom up and better systems put in place. The teenage girls' freedom was partly a reaction to the horror at how previous generations of "delinquent" girls were locked up in asylums "for their own safety". Somewhere there has to be a happy medium.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's a good point. We do need to discriminate.

On the other hand, the men who take advantage of the neediness of such girls are criminals and need to be locked up- and the many people in positions of authority who turned a blind eye need to have a change of heart.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

The girls might have enjoyed the experience at first - that's what grooming is all about - but the Rotherham report makes it clear that even after many of them complained, they were still ignored.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Indeed, though from at least one article I read, it wasn't the boots on the ground that failed to report these what was happening, it was made light of and forgotten higher up the command chain, possibly due to the perception that any move against the perpetrators would be seen as institutionalised racism.

But we're back up against the general problem that people have the idea that rape is a crime of violence perpetrated by strangers whereas it's most usually committed by someone the victim knows and may be someone they've had consensual sex with previously. Obtaining evidence that will stand up in court is not always easy and prosecuting without evidence is a waste of time and money because the case will be thrown out.