'Far from an ideal victim'

[TensionWheelsCoolHeels]

Watched the report on the 10 o'clock news about the sexual exploitation of children - Link here and that phrase has just really riled me for some reason. The other comments about the victim that case referred to are all awful but somehow that phrase, coming from the people who were responsible for investigating these cases just sums up why these appalling crimes go unpunished & why victim blaming has such a devastating effect on the likelihood of those abusers ever being held to account.

'Far from an ideal victim'. What the fuck is an ideal victim FFS? I'm so angry for all those children I can't even type anything coherent.

"Ideal victim" is a common term in feminist legal criticism, coined by Nils Christie. An "ideal victim" is the nice, white, middle-class virgin who was dragged into an alley at knife point and raped. "Ideal" meaning that she lives up to society's expectations of a blameless victim.

Yep. Phrase used by lawyers too. Nasty, isn't it?

Ugh disgraceful. Like it's an episode of Law and Order and it's all made up

Nasty it is. I've heard of it & read it before, and it's not like I've been ignorant of it (albeit I wasn't aware of the source you mention vettles - I fully admit I'm not 'well read' on this topic) - but hearing that as part of the legal justification for failing to prosecute a child abuser just infuriates me. I'm not legally trained or qualified but my job deals with reviewing civil stuff where I'm reliant on solicitors spelling out the likely prospects of success/failure of potential and/or actual litigation so I'm familiar with how the 'legalese' works, but even with that understanding, the 'far from an ideal victim' view of an underage victim of sexual exploitation/abuse just astounds me. It shouldn't because we all know that this is the sort of prevailing view point that allows abusers the freedom to continue to abuse, but for some reason this just triggered a quite visceral reaction in me. Victim blaming myths that prevail in society being used as some sort of factual legal argument just seems so obviously wrong yet depressingly acceptable.

Yup, Tension. And that phrase is very much the tip of the iceberg and regarding how young victims of sexual exploitation have been treated for a long, long time. (Oh, and I'd like to say 'survivors', not 'victims'. But since many young people don't in fact survive their horrific experiences into adulthood, it would be silly and disingenuous to use that word.)

Yes. You're right to feel sick to the guts about it.

(Sorry, not a very upbeat little post here. And not much else to say really.)

If lawyers know it, and we know it, and the Police know it, you can bet rapists and abusers know it. Much easier to target someone who is unlikely to be believed. So awful.

Which serves to perpetuate the abuse.

WTF!?!? Thank you for pointing this out. The two words 'ideal' and 'victim' should never be in the same fucking sentence. Another feministy thing to be about, and watch out for.

Tell me about it.

This is the area I grew up in. It is not new. Thankfully I had the escape, of going to university - the central reason I went actually.

So, how do we change the culture and mindset of nearly all men - from my memory it really is - in a whole area?

Its nice to see the northwest acknowledged as a hotbed. I wonder whether other areas in britain are really better. Unfortunately with the victims silenced you don't really know unless you are one of them.