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The Times - One in ten British men have carried out sexual offences against children, according to a major survey.

62 replies

WandaWomblesaurus · 22/09/2023 13:26

archive.ph/v6q2y

From the article
"One in ten British men have carried out sexual offences against children, according to a major survey. The study involving 1,500 British men was carried out by Edinburgh University’s Childlight unit, a research centre that investigates the risk of sexual exploitation of children and young people, and the University of New South Wales, Australia.
It found that 10.1 per cent of men admitted they had engaged in child sexual offending, either online or offline.
Almost one in twenty (4.8 per cent) of those surveyed said they had had sexual contact with a child when they themselves were aged 18 or older.
The results also showed that 5 per cent of British men had sexual feelings towards children and had acted upon those feelings, while an additional 7 per cent admitted to having sexual feelings towards children but did not act on them.
The findings have raised concerns that there is a “public health emergency” with a rapid increase of child sex abuse online."

There's so much to unpack here but it's extremely worrying and very important to discuss given how much safeguarding has been corroded over the last few years.

OP posts:
ValkyrieAssassin · 23/09/2023 13:13

I’m snot surprised really. I work in a related field so see the worst but I do believe there is a paedophile in every street. In its mildest sense you only have to do the school run and see all the adult make drivers leeching over the girls in their uniforms . But I usually see it at the level when things come to court (work in family law) sand see rage relentless line of dodgy men hooking up with vulnerable women in order to get access to their children. It used to be my everyday work so easy to feel jaded with men.

ValkyrieAssassin · 23/09/2023 13:14

I am on my phone so cannot seem to correct or edit typos but I am sure my meaning is clear

OutsideLookingOut · 23/09/2023 13:15

Does not surprise me. How do you avoid coupling up/marrying such men or even reproducing with them?

And why on earth do many people still look down on women who choose to be single? Everything I read tells me it is a very logical choice.

verdantverdure · 23/09/2023 13:41

Were you still at school?

verdantverdure · 23/09/2023 13:50

verdantverdure · 23/09/2023 13:41

Were you still at school?

Sorry, this is to @Secondaryschoolstress.

And did any grooming happen prior to the relationship?

Disturbia81 · 23/09/2023 17:05

ValkyrieAssassin · 23/09/2023 13:13

I’m snot surprised really. I work in a related field so see the worst but I do believe there is a paedophile in every street. In its mildest sense you only have to do the school run and see all the adult make drivers leeching over the girls in their uniforms . But I usually see it at the level when things come to court (work in family law) sand see rage relentless line of dodgy men hooking up with vulnerable women in order to get access to their children. It used to be my everyday work so easy to feel jaded with men.

So depressing isn't it

IslaWinds · 23/09/2023 17:07

Babyboomtastic · 22/09/2023 13:58

Whilst i suspect the true percentage is higher than we'd expect, I'm taking this with a bucket load of salt. The times article first doesn't link to the survey, so we don't know the questions asked.

For a start having sex with someone below the age of consent is a sexual offence even if both are under 16. Given that about half of kids lose their virginity before 16, a lot of teenage relationships which are perfectly consensual technically involve boys (and girls) committing sexual offences.

We don't know if they are defining 'child' as 16 or 18 here, if it's 18, then a proportion of the 4.8% of men who said they'd had sexual context with a child when they were over 18 would have been in relation to perfectly legal (and socially acceptable) sex between a 16-17yo and an older teen. A 17yo girl having an 18yo boyfriend would count.

The 'sexual thoughts' bit of a bit more tricky, but again we don't know how they are defining 'child'. Is it really a 'wrong' thing for a man, for example, to find a 17yo fully grown, post puberty young woman sexually attractive, even if because of her age he'd never want to do anything about it? I don't see that as a problem as such, more just honesty. The problem is more those that act on it. We don't know if these men are admitting to finding 7 year olds attractive or 17yos, and there's a huge moral difference.

I would be very interesting to see the actual questions asked.

I am having these same thoughts too.

SammyScrounge · 30/05/2024 01:11

Augustus40 · 22/09/2023 13:37

Call me naive but I don't think this can be the truth.

I doubt these figures too.

QueenBitch666 · 30/05/2024 01:21

Well I'm shocked.,, 🙄

QueenBitch666 · 30/05/2024 01:24

Hands up all the underage females who've been perved at, cat called, leered at by blokes. Males as a species are a fucking disgrace

boobingbriefly · 03/06/2024 07:44

verdantverdure · 23/09/2023 00:49

The men that leer and shout at schoolgirls in from their vehicles, the men that like that animated Japanese porn of children I can’t remember the name of, the men that ask you to wear school uniform to turn them on, the men who like “barely legal” porn, the men who were excited about seeing 16 year old Samantha Fox topless, or the kind of porn where the women are over 18 but look older, the men who can’t stop themselves from looking at young girls in the street, the men who chat up the obviously too young girls in the pub or club, some sports coaches (gymnastics?) some teachers, some men at cadets or Scouts or Guides,

We know these men.

This is exactly the point...it's normalised in so many different ways we hardly even question it sometimes. I really hate the Ann Summers/fancy dress 'sexy schoolgirl' thing. I'm a hypocrite in a way because I've done it myself. I wouldn't do it again - and I don't really like to think too much about how arousing one of them in particular obviously found it. Just because it isn't obvious and out in the open doesn't mean it's not more common than we think. There are too many clues.

Deathraystare · 04/06/2024 19:46

Ugh! I remember the dirty old men on the bus would get behind me and you would feel their breath on your neck and their hand on top of your hand. Yeeuch!!

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