AIBU to think that discussion of criminal acts towards children and who the perpetrators are , are of importance to MN users , and threads should remain in AIBU with polls attached.

[Thevenerableswede]

This refers to the thread about an abuser in Canada which was moved, but has happened with other similar posts to the feminist boards. I imagine that everyone here has concerns , not just feminists.

@AuntieStella

I said important themes have their own topics.

In a subsequent post I gave examples of existing topics where safeguarding would be a good fit.

I have not recommended a separate topic, but did suggest to the poster who asked where to find one with that title his they could go about setting one up, if that was what they want.

I think many themes are better in the topics than in AIBU (whenever I see a 'what would you do if you ruled MN for the day?' thread, I post that I would enforce the use of the topics)

When I asked for MN’s Child Safeguarding section AuntieStella I was clearly being facetious. You were suggesting this story be moved to a topic that suits it. But clearly there isn’t one and nor should there be because it should be discussed far and wide, which is the whole point of the thread. The last thing MN needs is a Child Safeguarding topic, or to be put under another banner like Parenting or Chat where subjects like this can be farmed off to where fewer people can read about it. It’s bad enough as it is, the amount of people who minimise it and think it isn’t important. This week has demonstrated that there is such little regard for safeguarding, and not only does MNHQ funnel things away, there are always posters who say “talk about it elsewhere”. It’s scandalous really.

Maybe that thread should have gone into Chat?

It's equally popular and the topic can be discussed and awareness raised without shoehorning the topic into a contrived 'AIBU to think that this dangerous paedophile who looks like a man and has a penis so shouldn't be called a woman because he isn't one' thread title?

If being “too contrived” means threads get moved from AIBU, take a look at the first page of AIBU right now and tell me how many would stay.

Threads in Chat get deleted after 90 days and you can’t canvas opinion with a vote like AIBU.

You are not being unreasonable. Why would anyone pressure MN into hiding these issues away? That is the question that haunts me.

@Buccanarab

Yanbu to say safeguarding children is everyone's concern but the thread you are referring to had nothing do with safeguarding. It was just another poorly disguised attempt at stirring the trans debate pot.

You're saying that someone raising the issue of a man who's raped a child and the obfuscation of his sex by news agencies isn't a genuine safeguarding concern?

@VickyEadieofThigh

Moving threads about children and safeguarding to FWR is an astonishing thing for MN to do - this entire site was set up initially for mothers, morphed (correctly) into being for parents and is now open to anyone.

But the main thing that draws most people here is concern and care for children. This is not a "feminist" only issue!

The erosion of safeguarding - and trust me, it's happening, all right - is actually furthered by MN shifting such threads away from sections of MN where they get more 'traffic'.

You are so very right. It beggars belief.

Surely this is what AIBU is for? Otherwise what's the point of resticting the poll function?

If it's only for thing that don't fit into ANY of the other topics it would be a very quiet place.

I agree, as long as nothing is said that could be used as a reason to stop a trial taking place of someone accused of harming a child, and justice be denied.

@NotBadConsidering

If being “too contrived” means threads get moved from AIBU, take a look at the first page of AIBU right now and tell me how many would stay.

Threads in Chat get deleted after 90 days and you can’t canvas opinion with a vote like AIBU.

I agree and I don't think many should stay.

AIBU is not the place for 'AIBU to ask you which vacuum cleaner I should buy' or 'AIBU to hold this opinion that every right minded person has and I want you all to tell me how great I am' type threads, yet both sorts make up a great deal of the threads on there.

The voting options a lot of people give are also nonsense and confusing and sometimes skew the results because the OP hasn't set out the two options clearly enough.

Chat is no longer deleted after 90 days so would be a better option for a lot of threads.

This makes me so angry. Just this week we have had stories about:

• A man who bought a school so he could abuse children
• A male who climbed into a jacuzzi naked with a naked 9 year old girl and the girl being told she needs to learn not to look
• a library booking an entertainer for children who turns up dressed as a rainbow dildo butt monkey
• a child being abused by a person whose sex the press aren’t allowed to accurately report

People want to hide discussion about this sort of thing in other places. And people actively petition MNHQ to move threads on these subjects. This is the world we are living in. When people talk about being on the “wrong side of history” I want to be on the side that didn’t try and hush up discussion and disclosure about the harm to children we are witnessing day after day after day. If I ruled MN for a day I would pin these threads at the top of every forum instead of the latest rating for a bloody baby monitor .

Child abuse and preventing it is everyone's business and threads raising issues should be on the busiest board. If only one person becomes aware of a tactic or scenario that they weren't aware of before and can therefore be alert to it, then that's only a good thing.

Yanbu

@ComtesseDeSpair

Regardless of whether the subject matter is of interest to anyone other than feminists, the thread wasn’t asking if anybody was being unreasonable. There was no reason for it to be in this topic. Topics exist for a reason. Otherwise, where do you draw the line on people posting whatever they like wherever they like, which is just annoying? Why bother having topics at all?

AIBU is the only board where you can add a poll so that’s why it was chosen.

@NotBadConsidering

This makes me so angry. Just this week we have had stories about:

• A man who bought a school so he could abuse children
• A male who climbed into a jacuzzi naked with a naked 9 year old girl and the girl being told she needs to learn not to look
• a library booking an entertainer for children who turns up dressed as a rainbow dildo butt monkey
• a child being abused by a person whose sex the press aren’t allowed to accurately report

People want to hide discussion about this sort of thing in other places. And people actively petition MNHQ to move threads on these subjects. This is the world we are living in. When people talk about being on the “wrong side of history” I want to be on the side that didn’t try and hush up discussion and disclosure about the harm to children we are witnessing day after day after day. If I ruled MN for a day I would pin these threads at the top of every forum instead of the latest rating for a bloody baby monitor .

Everything that is written above. This is so fucking sinister and the shutting down of discussion is what makes it so horrifying. We're supposed to either applaud or look the other way.

If MN felt the need to move it why move it to feminism? It has absolutely nothing to do with feminism but 100% parenting, children, child protection.

The title of the thread is literally 'is this a man or a woman', perhaps that's why.

@Buccanarab

Yanbu to say safeguarding children is everyone's concern but the thread you are referring to had nothing do with safeguarding. It was just another poorly disguised attempt at stirring the trans debate pot.

Exactly this. So many of the comments simply stated 'definitely a man!' And nothing to do with the actual story

Of course it was about safeguarding. It’s about how the press are forced into denial of reality in their reporting of what people can see blatantly with their own eyes. The press writes one thing and a simple question asked of people instantly demonstrates the fallacy in the reporting. If the press can’t accurately report abuse of children despite the rest of us being able to see the reality with our own eyes, how can we discuss the problem? And on top of this, it gets reported as a crime committed by a woman, skewing data and discussion about preventing harm from perpetrators with appropriate risk profiling (of the male sex) a . The question in that OP was a stark indicator of how these issues are being obscured.

But we can’t discuss that here, it has to be a little niche discussion out of sight .

But people have a right to question the reporting restrictions that are imposed on the media as to how they are ALLOWED to tell us about this pedophile.
It would not have been long ago that they would have been reported as a transwoman, but now the individual is reported as being a woman, how do you think the victims feel about this.
Do you feel it impacts on the truthfulness and understanding of the report which may lead to others coming forward if they understood the case.

@MolyHolyGuacamole

The title of the thread is literally 'is this a man or a woman', perhaps that's why.

The offender is only going to be one or the other though

@3Britnee that's not the point OP is asking why the thread was moved to the sex and gender section, that was my reasoning

"Jimmy Savile was eulogised on here (MN) repeatedly, even as posters were raising reasonable safeguarding concerns about him"

My recollection is totally different on this one

And? That doesn't mean you're remembering right. Savile was lauded and applauded before he wasn't. His accusers faced an absolute onslaught of criticism at first. Many were accused of wanting money ffs. Including on here, on MN.

There are none so blind as those who will not see.

It depends.
Has the alleged perpetrators been found guilty? Charged? Or is it simply speculation?
Can discussion affect any future trial or other criminal proceedings?
Is what is being written libellous?

I recall the case of a woman in Bristol (?) who was murdered and the very odd next door neighbour was hounded in the press and on line as he was ‘surely’ the perpetrator. He was innocent. His life was wrecked for no reason other than being a little bit odd and near the scene of a crime.

If someone has been convicted then discuss to your hearts content! Otherwise, no, wait for the legal process to do its thing, because convicting the right people is paramount.

Yanbu. I find the AIBU thing daft anyway. Half the time the threads aren’t an AIBU question so why Mumsnet are so keen to move certain threads is beyond me. If that’s the case then any thread about a dog should be moved to Dogshouse etc. or alternatively just get rid of AIBU.

YADNBU. Just because a thread gets hidden away, doesn’t mean that the problem disappears. I find it really odd why some people don’t want such issues to be so easily seen.