AIBU that Giles Coren’s back to school tips column that includes “minor sexual abuse” is not funny?

[TulipRevolutionary]

I finally caught up on the weekend papers and Giles Coren wrote a pretty standard (fairly dull) back to school tips listicle column in the Times that was directed at his son who is starting a new secondary school. However, the idea that “minor sexual offenses” committed by teachers within schools are “just a fact of life” is totally wrong. The fact that the teacher who “taught me how to write” also “touched me in unwelcome ways” seems to insinuate that as long as they are a good teacher a bit of light pedophilia isn’t “necessarily anything to be afraid of”. It reminds me of the plot of The History Boys play in which pedophilia is also treated as fairly innocuous/a bit of a joke and something to be tolerated if the teacher is otherwise inspiring and will secure you a place at Oxford. My cousin was abused by a fencing tutor at his Catholic boarding school and although Giles Coren would probably consider it to be “minor” sexual abuse since no penetration ever occurred I think it completely ruined his teenage years and much of his 20s and arguably he is still negatively affected by it.

I don’t think laughing about pedophilia or sexual offenses committed against children in schools is funny or that people should be encouraged to joke about it. There was quite a sad comment from someone whose life and teaching career had been ruined because they were the subject of such rumours and jokes. But I guess you think they should start looking for a bridge.

Isn’t it Giles Coren who started the rumour about Prince William’s affair?

…..he’s an unpleasant little creep.

I think he's funny, but this is quite a thought provoking piece really.

Just because a teacher is a good teacher and you like them doesn't mean that you should ignore any time they make you feel uncomfortable.
For his generation they did little but gossip about such things and then be relieved to hear later that something had been done. His hope is that his DC 's generation are more upfront and indeed his DC are already seeing teachers removed from the profession on a 'weight of evidence' approach rather than waiting for something really horrendous to happen.
Isn't that the reason cited by so many? 'being made uncomfortable or just being touched inappropriately didn't seem enough to complain about and it could have been an accident or misunderstanding and no one wants someone to lose their job over a misunderstanding' : but when the first person stands up all the others do too and that's when it comes to light that much worse things were in fact going on.
I think what Giles is saying, albeit wrapped in his trademark hyperbole, is that he'll be telling his son that the nicest teachers can still be paedophiles and it is never OK; if something seems off you should trust your gut; make space, tell someone who can do something, not just your schoolmates.

Yes. According to Twitter.

I am allergic to Giles Coren. I have no idea why he gets writing work.

I’m very sorry that your cousin had to go through that as a child, OP. And I think like most people do that minimising or normalising or joking about kids being abused at school is absolutely beyond the pale. It’s just not a lighthearted subject. People’s lives are ruined by it.

The confusion over understanding this column is a really good example of how poor a writer he is. As well as a complete arse.

Giles Coren is openly a cunt (or would be if he had the warmth or the depth) and it amazes me that he's still getting published.

He's not laughing either. However, what you are doing is searching the internet and other pieces of Giles Coren to pretend to be offended by, the 2024 equivalent of clutching your pearls, his articles and attempting to rally, rather badly, your troops into mock outrage. Get a grip or alternatively stop reading Giles Coren

I think Giles has lost all of his TV work as a consequence of mocking and celebrating a young journalist’s death on social media if it makes you feel any better.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11062739/Giles-Coren-BBC-2-Amazing-Hotels-presenter-following-Twitter-spat.html

I don’t have any troops. This is the Mumsnet AIBU? board not a war! It is a topic I happen to feel quite strongly about.

Ignore them, the man is widely considered an arse. You could complain to the times but I suspect they continue to overpay for his crap outrage bait because they like how it riles up readers. I expect he will say something beyond the pale enough at some point, he doesn’t seem to have much impulse control

But you are never going to consider you might be being unreasonable and its not really a question of reasonableness is it. Its just rather a pathetic attempt to attempt to curry agreement with your view.

Errr no, the words he has written are extremely creepy

Oh yes it's all such jolly japes.

Because his daddy is Alan Coren, who, by some kind of astonishing coincidence, also writes in The Times.

Its an opinion piece, quite clearly written, but can be deliberately misconstrued if you wish to. Enjoy your miserable existence

First post highlights the fact he was abused as a child.

What a cunt eh?*

• I don't like him and not seeking to defend him, he is a cunt, but he's a self confessed victim of CSA and your main focus is not on the abuser or the abuse but the fact that he made a joke about it.

He'd have a job - he died over a decade ago!

Ha thanks! I'll do my best, while also avoiding an arse like GC who has a terrible history of being pretty dodgy.

I concur, pulling bits out of context from the rest of the article will give the wrong impression of what he wrote, he can be an arse but not every thing he writes is wrong

He ran out of things to write about ages ago. Now he is forced to cannibalise his life, but he hasn't had a very interesting one, so he also has to be the agent provocateur.

Excellent, Well if avoiding GC maybe avoid posts about him on Mumsnet

I've always absolutely loathed Giles Coren.

He's also the one that took great pleasure in the death of Dawn Foster, and the one who created a fake SM account to send himself antisemitic abuse so he could act the victim.

Isn’t the point of the AIBU? board though? presumably that’s why Mumsnet have provided a forum for debate and a voting option. You are arguing against my perspective on the matter. If you think the debate about this topic is so “pathetic” why don’t you start your own thread called “AIBU to think that joking about pedophilia in schools is hilarious and that Giles Coren is a really great guy?”