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AIBU?

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Original poster

To ask what has gone wrong in the UK

551 replies

Mumof56 · 10/08/2017 01:29

I'm talking about the latest sex grooming case in Newcastle. It's the seventh large scale sex gang scandal to hit the UK after cases from towns including Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford and Bristol

I have seen nothing on mumsnet about this (although maybe I've missed it). This is shocking and outrageous. How has this been allowed to happen in so many areas? What is the solution?

This is "rape culture". Where are the (peaceful) protests and the show of support for these girls?

OP posts:
CherryChasingDotMuncher · 10/08/2017 08:58

The reason why race is relevant in these cases is because they were allowed to get away with it for ages because people were too scared to do anything about it because of their race

I'm not trying to downplay the race issue because I actually think that it is relevant and, dare I say, cultural as these men are from a culture that values women far less than men. I'd rather be a woman in this country than an Asian country any day of the week (and the men with young girls in Thailand gives me another reason never to visit that country that people rave about!)

However, I understand that it was mentioned in the Rochdale investigation that some professionals were afraid of coming across as racist, and I know the perpetrators played the race card. However reading the report I'm not sure if this is also the case in Newcastle or if it's just an assumption?

Skarossinkplunger · 10/08/2017 08:58

While I agree that most of the perpetrators are Asian men we should overlook the fact that one of the Newcastle perpetrators was a white woman.

Lloyd45 · 10/08/2017 09:02

Where these men come from women are worthless, google the worst 10 countries for a woman, most of these men are from there. It has always gone on but not to this scale and passed around so openly. The media wouldn't even report it for the first 10 years in case it caused racial hatred, never mind the poor girls, they didn't matter

CherryChasingDotMuncher · 10/08/2017 09:03

The white woman is charged for trafficking rather than abuse. Still, what a fucking Despicable human, and I hope she rots.

LiveLifeWithPassion · 10/08/2017 09:06

I don't understand the fear of doing anything about it because of their race. what does that mean? Since when do the police and other authorities tiptoe around those of a different race?
There are plenty of Asians arrested and imprisoned due to criminal activities.
I've always heard that blacks and Asians are usually treated much more harshly than their white counterparts when it comes to criminal convictions and sentencing.

CockacidalManiac · 10/08/2017 09:09

Perhaps the Asian gangs don't have high level protection, that's why we hear about them. Politicians and local 'worthies' have strings to pull and influential contacts; I imagine there's plenty of 'white' gangs that we just don't know about.
I'd like to see some research.

Gonegonegone · 10/08/2017 09:10

Britbugs I think teaching sons not to rape goes further than that. Because alot of girls won't say no, because they are too scared too, or too drunk too, or too uncertain, too eagar to please. Teaching boys about consent needs to go alot further than that. It's about teaching them to check consent every step of the way, checking intoxication every step of the way, verbally confirming consent for different acts. All of which works out better if you get to know a person. Which is about teaching boys to value women for more than just sex. It's about teaching them the reality for women in the porn industry, so they can see they are watching victims being victimised and want to step back from that, teaching them not to laugh at rape jokes and to challenge their friends who do, teaching them to step in when they see their friends hitting on the too drunk girl. Male violence is the responsibility of men. Not just the men who take but those who add to and go along with the rape culture. mother's of sons need to teach them to step passed their socialisation and teach their fellow men not to rape.

And yes ofcourse some women are part of the problem too, my mother facilitated my abuse, which included being abused by another female. But predominantly it's males who create and run with rape culture not women. And women are stuck fighting the same socialised mysogyny as males whilst we are victims of it.

Lloyd45 · 10/08/2017 09:11

Did you not see the documentary about Rotherham, the police have admitted they didn't do anything because of racial hatred

Akani · 10/08/2017 09:13

People's willingness to make child safeguarding someone else's' responsibility. A willingness to not raise concerns "because it's someone else's job". And a total misunderstanding of how safeguarding works...

A complete lack of community in raising and safeguarding children.

BannedFromNarnia · 10/08/2017 09:14

I don't think it's something going wrong in the UK. I think it's showing that FINALLY we're doing something right and prosecuting these evil people.

Child abuse has been endemic and prevalent in all cultures for years and years and it's been pushed under the rug and ignored as many PP have said. We're FINALLY starting to see a little bit of organised pushback and people actually taking these poor young girls and women seriously. Prosecutions of all sorts of child abuse are on the rise and that's because it's starting to be taken seriously and women are starting to be listened to.

brasty · 10/08/2017 09:16

Unfortunately a lot of girls and women are raped by men. This is not uncommon - although actual grooming gangs are rarer.
But still on MN I read people posting about how their partner, brother, male friend has been accused of rape, and the girl/woman is obviously lying as there is no way he would do that. We have to understand that men who do this are not monsters in public, they are ordinary men that women like and love.

Helendee · 10/08/2017 09:16

I really didn't need to teach my sons to not rape women! How patronising is that! Just because men have penises it does not mean they are an automatic threat to women fgs.

These young girls were deliberately selected and groomed by these filthy gangs because they were vulnerable in some way and therefore easy prey.

The vast majority of men on this planet wouldn't dream of doing the same.

Neutrogena · 10/08/2017 09:16

Vast majority of rapists in the UK are white men.
It's our husbands, fathers, brothers, etc

brasty · 10/08/2017 09:16

No sadly not the vast majority of men.

brasty · 10/08/2017 09:17

Sorry my comment was to Helendee

Helendee · 10/08/2017 09:18

Sorry Bradly, not sure what you mean.

MaryTheCanary · 10/08/2017 09:18

Frankly, I have seen quite a lot of hypocrisy on both sides, and this is very much one of those issues where people's political biases tend to show up very clearly.

You get the people who are all "NAMALT" about sexual abuse in general and show no interest in protecting young women from working class backgrounds as a general issue, but then choose to get upset ONLY about the grooming gangs issue because it's South Asian men.

And then you get the people who are happy to talk about racial dynamics in some situations (example: predominantly white men abusing predominantly Southeast Asian girls on holidays in places like Cambodia), but then they insist that the grooming gangs issue had nothing to do with race or religion and was only about men abusing women. Of course race/religion/ethnicity were an important part of what was going on. The inquiries and reports that have been conducted into these affairs have said so, explicitly.

Not sure which set of hypocrites I find more irritating, TBH.

Helendee · 10/08/2017 09:18

Brasty I mean

MaryTheCanary · 10/08/2017 09:19

"I don't understand the fear of doing anything about it because of their race. what does that mean?"

It means that they were afraid of things "kicking off," as in the race riots we saw around Bradford in the early 2000s.

CockacidalManiac · 10/08/2017 09:19

Personally, I'd think there are lots of reasons behind this. Male violence in society generally, the perception of the value of women within some minority communities, reticence of professionals to act due to sensitivities of accusations of racism, problems inherent in our care system, problematic safeguarding procedures (involving professionals not communicating), and the low value placed on the lives of children with difficult backgrounds who have the potential to behave chaotically.

Lloyd45 · 10/08/2017 09:20

I'm sorry white men rape yes but certain cultures it is always the woman's fault and then it brings shame to the family. Did you know in Afghanistan women's names are not to be mentioned not even on their tomb stones, they have no identity

Helendee · 10/08/2017 09:20

Cockacidal... well summed up.

MargaretTwatyer · 10/08/2017 09:20

In Newcastle it seems to be less of an issue but there do appear to be questions to be asked about the length of time they were allowed to operate and missed opportunities to stop it by the police as per this Guardian article:

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/09/newcastle-sex-grooming-network-operation-shelter

We won't currently be hearing too much about that as it wasn't the police on trial. If there is an inquiry we might find out.

UrsulaPandress · 10/08/2017 09:23

Gonegone

Horrified to read that. Did you ever get justice?

user1497863568 · 10/08/2017 09:23

There were unspeakable acts being committed against young children in my great-grandfathers time. He was sent out to Australia, by himself, at ten years of age. Loads of abuse against poor white kids (usually Irish) and Aboriginals by disgusting rich old white men. And everyone knows how they operate to enrich themselves with the full collusion of their loved ones because they are at it again!!!