Was she a just a good time girl who couldn't cope when the good times ended?

[thisonehasalittlecar]

... was how R4 signed off the news of Christine Keeler's death this morning. 'Cause heaven knows you shouldn't be allowed to have a good time without being jailed, hounded by the media etc.

indeed

Salena Godden tweeted a poem about CK twitter.com/salenagodden/status/938323456940298243

His mother called me a good time girl. I was a teenager, I thought a good time was a good thing. Her son gave me a good time alright. He called me darling. Later they called me prostitute forever and ever. How fast they turn, quick to betray daughters to protect the good old boys

The Guardian has a nasty meanspirited obit by the former editor of the Catholic Herald while the Daily Mail has two sympathetic feminist pieces about hoe badly she was treated. Weird

How strange! I will have to take your word for it about the DM or I'll get sucked into a DM sidebar vortex for hours, followed by the inevitable period of self-loathing.

What pisses me off about the R4 coverage this morning is that in the last few weeks they've rushed to condemn Harvey Weinstein et al. but happy to depict the fallout from Keeler's teenage affair with an older man in a position of power as all her fault.

There’s a lot we don’t know, and I believe will be kept from us until well after Prince Phillip’s death. It’s clear she was groomed - no girl joins a club at 17 and just becomes a prostitute. She was brought in deliberately and there were probably more.

RIP

I heard it reported that she got a job as a dinner lady then got fired when they realised who she was because she was 'tainted.' She was just a teenager when she got caught in the scandal. RIP Christine.

Poor woman, it blighted her life. I hope she is at peace.

How incredible that in 2017 Christine Keeler is still seen by many as a 'good time girl.' She was used and abused by so many men. Meanwhile John Profumo who lied in Parliament and endangered a national security ended up being honoured by the Queen.

Exactly MissEliza. I seem to remember Profumo's obits praising his charity work; fair enough but unlike CK he had family money which meant he didn't actually have to earn a living.

Plus Op society was apparently ok with him cheating on his wife and lying to Parliament but couldn't forgive CK because it's always the woman's fault isn't it? She 'seduced' him. She never got the chance to redeem herself.

And to top it all off, dismissed by the BBC in her obit as a good time girl. My blood really boiled when I heard that. How little the media have come on since the 60s.

Christine Keeler wasn't even 18 years old when she was exploited by rich and powerful men, but R4 couldn't even give her a little dignity in death.

On Woman's Hour yesterday Jane Garvey quoted CK's son as saying "No woman should be blamed for the urges of men". I agree with him.

I hadn't realised until this week how young she was. Those men (and the bloody media) should be ashamed.

Just read an interesting article about Christine's son. He says It would be nice if we lived in a world where women aren't vilified for what men do. Spot on.
He also says his mum didn't have many boyfriends when he was a child, saying She didn't trust men to be around a child, after what happened to her when she was young. How sad.

Has there ever been a film of her life? I'd like to see one, written from a sensible position of understanding the sexual exploitation/grooming works. i.e. from her POV rather than the politicians/men.

My Dad (who is perfectly reasonable and decent in so many other ways) still believes that all the teen girls who were abused by their 70/80s heroes "threw themselves" at those men

You mean other than 'Scandal'? No. But I think that film was quite fair in that, if I recall correctly, CL and Stephen Ward were shown as scapegoats while the elite figures got away with it all. I haven't that film for years but it made quite an impression. What struck me was how my parents (similar age to CK) viewed CK and MRD as good time girls whereas to my generation they were clearly being exploited by men. My DM wasn't allowed to read about the Profumo affair in the newspapers by her dps because it was 'immoral'!

IIRC the BBC are going to film a mini series next year to be broadcast in 2019.

She appears to have been blamed for it more than anybody else. Really sad that the rest of her life was blighted by this event.

I pity all these highly intelligent, powerful, wealthy men taken in by prostitutes young enough to be their daughters and granddaughters. They had no chance to resist.

I would have liked to think times are different, but old Bill Clinton is still treated as an icon today.