Can't believe what Sky News reporter just said re child sex abuse victim of Adam Johnson

[ofuckit]

Did anybody else see this? I'm horrified and a bit disturbed tbh.

The reporter was talking to an ex footballer about the case and said 'Do you think it's hard for people to understand how hard it is to deal with the temptations put in the way of footballers'.... 😟
The ex footballer responded in agreement with the reporter, saying how oh yes it's very hard for them, etc....

So we can assume from this that these men see children as 'temptations put in their way'?

i feel sick 😞

As a survivor of sexual abuse this whole case is sickening. I too was blamed and to this day I still feel to blame.
Children who are abused by an adult should never be made to feel like they caused the abuse and any person who in any way tries to blame the victim is disgusting.
I have had to live with years of guilt and shame as a result of my abuse and I will never be free of it. I did not chose it.
This girl is not to blame, will never be to blame for what happend. Any decent man would never have touched her in any way. I can't believe how many woman and mothers think this little girl brought it on herself. Frankly anyone who thinks like that should be ashamed.
What would you really do if it was your little girl?

littlemiss

I'm so sorry that happened to you.

The ideas that some women on this thread have voiced are really worrying, especially in light of MN's various campaigns.

The victim of crime is not to blame. Not even a tiny bit. Criminals are to blame for crime.

I caught a bit of a phone in today on radio two with Jeremy Vine and women were calling in saying how 15 year olds throw themselves at these men and how they feel sorry for him! even Vine was stunned. I know that some girls look older then they are etc, but he must have known he was in the wrong surely? I couldn't believe it today.

My intention was not to proportion blame especially onto the girl in question but rather to try and explain through my own experience that it is impossible to ever truly know what really happened in these instances. No doubt this man was a fool who took advantage of a situation he shouldn't have. As with any such case there is such complexity and spectrums of grey that I don't think anyone is able to fully understand it outside of the two people involved. Someone earlier said something very true about not judging her by my own standards and I absolutely don't, It is obvious this girl was not in my league of manipulative behaviour or willingness to push boundaries but my own standards have allowed me to recognise how complex such cases are and therefore be less willing to throw stones at either party.

That's exactly what you did. Read your fucking despicable and offensive posts!

And read the text conversations between the two. It is abundantly obvious that he was doing the chasing and the manipulating. Not her.

I wish I could send a message of support to that poor girl. She's been through hell. I hope the guilty verdict has helped her in some way.

As with any such case there is such complexity and spectrums of grey

There is absolutely no grey area. This man engaged in sexual activity with a girl that he knew full well was underage. He pursued her and manipulated her. He used coercion to get sexual favours from her. She is a child and not responsible for her actions. He is an adult and abused a position of trust. It is very black and white.

my own standards have allowed me to recognise how complex such cases are and therefore be less willing to throw stones at either party.

Except one party here thoroughly deserves the stones being lobbed his way - he groomed and sexually abused a child. He is a pervert and has broken the law.

Your posts smack of victim blaming.

it is impossible to ever truly know what really happened in these instances.

It's a good job that's not what's expected of a jury then.

All they ask juries to do is to listen to the evidence - in this case over 800 texts - and apply their common sense within the set guidelines for conviction and acquittal.

The defendant has the benefit of the doubt - as he or she should. So if there's anything hard about it, it's getting a conviction.

it is impossible to ever truly know what really happened in these instances.

It is. The text messages between the two of them clearly show that all the suggestions of a sexual nature came from him. He is a predator who will hopefully spend many years in prison.

Please, stop victim blaming. It's disgusting behaviour. I understand why, when you were used in this way, you want to make it look as if she had choices here or agency, but she didn't.

"My intention was not to proportion blame especially onto the girl in question but rather to try and explain through my own experience that it is impossible to ever truly know what really happened in these instances."

Impossible to know exactly, but I think the police and the courts have a pretty good idea after reading through hundreds of messages where the child sex offender Adam Johnson repeatedly kept on turning the conversation to be sexual in nature, in addition to his own admissions of guilt, including that he tried to manipulate her into thinking that she owed him sexual favours.

I guess the victims of the Rochdale and Rotherham grooming gangs were also to blame for their abuse?

That text message, "Year 10. Can I still have a signed shirt". That's heartbreaking. I actually had tears in my eyes reading that. I don't think i've said that more than a couple of times on here in near 10 years so i'm not one of the dramatic posters. It's something about the innocence of it I think. She told him straight away that she was a schoolgirl and asked for the shirt in the same breath. Yet lo and behold, the hard of thinking fuckwits seek to clutter up these types of threads with their victim blaming and bullshit and are intent on making excuses for an absolutely pathetic excuse of a man. We are going backwards we really are. God i'm angry

I hope the victim can move on from this.

Phalenopsisgirl to be honest your posts read as if you are totally bullshitting, or at least wildly exaggerating, your teenage behaviour in order to prove your point. If you are.not, then I suggest you need some.sort.of counseling because the way you see yourself, particularly after having been exploited by men much older than you, has obviously been quite damaging.

You also appear to be ignoring the fact.of this case which is that he basically admitted to grooming her, and admitted that he manipulated her into sexual activity by making her feel as if she 'owed him' for the football shirt. He also admitted that he knew that she had just turned 15 and that she had told him she was 'too young to go out'.

All a bit different to your imaginary situation, and so with respect, your posts are entirely irrelevant.

I know, TooOld, it's so sad. She told him time and again that she was a child (saying she didn't go out clubbing as she wasn't old enough etc) and he knowingly took advantage of that innocence.

I really hope she knows how many people believe and support her

Totally agree with Voldetort. Life is mostly grey, rather than black and white. However, there is no grey area with this case - absolutely none. Zero. He was an adult, she was a child. As if he wasn't disgusting enough for cheating on his pregnant girlfriend, he had to go and groom and engage in sexual activity with a 15 year old. And there are still people wringing their hands and saying they feel sorry for him. If that's not an example of how deep misogyny runs in our society, I don't know what is.

For the love of sanity people, he entered a guilty plea! How much more clear cut does it have to be? You should be utterly ashamed of defending such a total scumbag.

Jesus, that poor girl.

The utter cunts who thought dressing up as him and a gang of 'schoolgirls' for a stag party was funny. Speechless.

born agree with you and the many other posters on here

there was nothing complex about this case

he knew her age and didn't care that he was taking advantage and breaking the law

what is so complex about understanding that at times some people just don't give a fuck about others and the laws there to protect children and the more vulnerable in our society

I remember men pestering me when I was young and because I was young, I too thought I knew it all and was a tease was thought myself to be some sort of Lolita (not really understanding the story at the time) to them, I wasn't at all I did not understand the complexities of sexual relationships the power was all theirs I just responded in the way they wanted me to as these men are not so interested when you are older

He has ADMITTED to grooming her. He has actually said that he was trying to make her feel like she owed him sexual favours. There is undeniable proof that she told him her age.

WHERE THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THE GREY AREA?

I'm appalled that there is victim blaming on this thread, especially when the circumstances are undeniable. I'd expected more of people on mumsnet.

She is a child in Year 10 at school or was in year 10 and from that had at least 2 more years to do in compulsory full time education, her parents were in receipt of child benefit if eligible. She goes to school then home, her parents make her tea, she probably has a bedtime. Most major decisions in her life are made for her or with the help of her parents. She maybe growing into a young adult but she has no experience of being an adult.
Why must there be excuses made for the disgusting human beings that prey on children and the vulnerable? There are some sick people out there that think this is acceptable. After the BBC scandal, The carehome scandal and the Rotherham scandal I think its about time we protected our children. It is not acceptable no matter how you dress it up!
And the people that are saying they were promiscuous as teenagers it still gave no one the right to take advantage of you, you might have chased older men but they allowed you to and then if they'd have been pulled up about it would have blamed you for pursuing them you the victim they would have said you lied to them you chased them.
If it were their own child being groomed by an older man would they allow the older man to make excuses against their child?

Today, as every school day, I pass a girls secondary school on the way to pick up my own kids. They finish at 3 and mine not until 3.15 so as I'm approaching parking they are walking along the street in large numbers. I cannot tell you how often they just wander off the pavement and into the road. Or how they frequently just begin to cross side streets without ever looking around to check for traffic. They are literally like toddlers and I'm always surprised that more teenagers aren't killed walking home. Many of those I see wandering into the road are 6th formers (different coloured blazer) So, they're what, 16-18 with what appears to be a dramatic lack of judgement and common sense despite their age. By 21 I'm quite sure they'll be checking roads before they cross but for now, their physical development far surpasses their emotion maturity and ability to make adult judgements.

Were those the actual words the interviewer used?

He is a shitbag.

He was 28, she had just turned 15, he is nearly twice her age.

As with any such case there is such complexity and spectrums of grey that I don't think anyone is able to fully understand it outside of the two people involved

What complexity? What spectrums of grey are the rest of us missing?

Do tell