“There is no evidence that predatory and abusive men have ever had to pretend to be anything else to carry out abusive and predatory behaviour.”

Grooming is the process where someone persuades another to lower their boundaries or loosen their defences.

And the bloke who's "just John". "Oh, that's just John, that's just the way he is, you need to treat him differently and change your boundaries and requirements for funny/lonely/disadvantaged characters like him".

He might not be pretending but society is pretending his oddness means he's harmless.

Not that there's anything inherently wrong with being an oddball. It's just people shouldn't abandon their boundaries or safeguarding practices because of it.

I think there is something to be said about how much of this "hidden in plain sight" that people accommodate and let slide, for sure. But that doesn't mean that abusers don't pretend.

The braver these abusers become - due to haveing got way with with it for so long, the more brazen they become. Until the point when the abuse is happening in plain sight but people still pretend they cannot see it.

Quite! Mohammed al Fayed 'hid' his behaviour in plain sight - but because of his power and great wealth - people were frightened to act on their knowledge - and even became complicit in it.

Jimmy Saville hid his utterly reprehensible behaviour behind a smokescreen of charity work and his celebrity status protected him for years.

Countless gurus and spiritual leaders have used their role to abuse women and girls. Most cults, when dissolved, reveal sexually abusive men in positions of ledership and power.

I can't even imagine a scenario where a man would pretend to be so good that he's holy, and then go on to abuse - obviously that would be far too much unnecessary pretending!

Absolutely. Dangerous lie made for her own political gain. Abuse is frequently all about pretending to be trustworthy when you are not.