No excuse for child abuse

Eddie Shah is a disgusting and vile excuse for a man for suggesting that under age girls are to blame for abuse if they consent. He was recently cleared of raping an underage girl between 12 and 15 in the 1990s, and is quoted in various newspapers today (11th August 2013) as saying in a BBC Radio 5 interview:

     "Rape was a technical thing - below a certain age. But these girls were going out with pop    groups and becoming groupies and throwing themselves at them. Young girls and young men have always wanted a bit of excitement. They want to appear adult and do adult things...If we're talking about girls who just go out and have a good time, then they are to blame. If we talk about people who go out and actually get 'raped' raped, then I feel no - and everything should be done against that."

WHAT THE HELL!!! An underage girl MAY APPEAR TO CONSENT TO SEX but that doesn't mean that an adult should take advantage of this.

For all they know, the child may have such a low self esteem that makes him or her feel totally worthless, and equates sex to love. Or could be under the influence of drink or drugs. Or have mental health issues. Or feel pressurised. Or feel in awe of an older person's celebrity status, and this celebrity happens to be a pervert. Or have been groomed by the pedo.

Even if the girl flings herself stark bollocks naked at the older person and begs for sex, if she is UNDERAGE, it is up to the adult to do the right thing and say NO. Sex with a child below the age of consent is STATUTORY RAPE.

Eddie Shah may have been cleared by the law of the accusations against him. According to the law, the offence of which he was accused of did not take place. However, his comments are absolutely revolting.

These come in the same week that the judge a similar trial, Nigel Peters QC, called the 13 victim in this other case a 'sexual predator', and described her as looking and acting older than her age. The child was playing truant from school, and approached Neil Wilson and asked him for cigarettes. He gave her a whole packet and then took her back to his flat for coffee. She was dressed in her school uniform, so it was obvious that she was still a child, even though she initiated sex. Wilson abused the child for 2 weeks, and he also kept calling her and sending her text messages.

The lawyer for the prosecution, Robert Colover, said during the trial that the sexual activity was 'not of Mr Wilson's doing', and 'you could say that it was forced upon him, despite being older and stronger than her'.

Despite being found guilty, the pervert, Neil Wilson, was only given an 8 month suspended sentence, even though sick images of child abuse AND bestiality were found at his home during a police search.

Mr Colover has now been barred from prosecuting any sex cases by the Crown Prosecution Service, and the Judge, Nigel Peters QC is also being investigated by the Office for Judicial Complaints.

The attitude of the judge and prosecutor in Neil Wilson's case makes me think that, if this is the sort of opinion that our judiciary share, it calls into question other cases in which the accused been acquitted.

Ask fm and the question of censorship

Maybe I am a fuddy duddy but until a few days ago I thought that ask.fm was just a radio station. But then I read this story about a young girl who had apparently committed suicide because of cyber bullying she had received on that site. This has brought up a huge debate over Internet censorship, with calls from politicians and the press for the site to be banned. Politicians from all sides of the political spectrum,  the companies which have pulled adverts from the website and the mainstream media, from the Daily Mail to the Guardian, are quick to place the blame on ask.fm, However, no one knows if this poor child had issues that led her to commit suicide. There is also the fact that increasing pressure is being placed on young girls to look and dress a certain way in order to be accepted by their peers.....but that is a subject for a future post.

Coincidentally, a few weeks ago, the government were talking about bringing stricter controls to our Internet content, something that I totally oppose.I consider myself to be a free thinker and censorship is usually an anathema to me. But having a look at the site in question has made me think.

Trawling through the site I don't really see much evidence of cyber bulling, although I did see instances of insults being traded back and forth, much in the same way as normal playground banter. However, the problem as I see it with ask.fm is not bullying  but rather that this site is a paedophile's wet dream come true.

The site appears to be popular amongst young teenagers of school age. They create a profile with a little bit of information about themselves, add pictures and then invite visitors to the site to ask them anything. The person who asks the questions doesn't necessarily have to have a profile, and this is where the problem lies. Below are some screencaps I just took at random from some profiles so that can see for yourselves.

But how can we, as a society, solve this issue without taking draconian measures? The kid in the second screencap makes the suggestion that anonymous posting should be stopped. That is quite a good suggestion, but in reality, it is extremely easy to set up a fake profile, and even use a proxy server to hide your location. In my opinion, we need to look at how we live our own lives and take responsibility for our own actions and that of our children. Why don't parents monitor what their children get up to online? Or is it much more convenient to let your child loose on the Internet whilst you are watching the latest episode of TOWIE?  I will leave you with that thought.....