This is horrifying. Anybody who understands how sexual abusers work is aware that children, even teenagers, often have no idea that they are being used. The whole point of grooming is that the abuser claims to be your friend and convinces you to lower your boundaries without you ever realising that something is wrong. Surely an organisation as big as the NSPCC understands this? It beggars belief.
RoyalCorgi They know - they must do, as it is on their website under the section on grooming and it states " Many children and young people don't understand that they have been groomed or that what has happened is abuse. " So why are they going into schools and teaching children an incorrect, and in my opinion, harmful definition of sexual abuse?
As a child who was groomed and sexually abused, I know that I had no concerns or worries about what was happening whilst I was a primary school aged child. My abuser made very sure that I was not worried by anything that was happening. My awareness of how wrong it all was really did not develop until the second half of year 7 and then I felt great shame which allowed the abuse to continue longer.
I found reading what is covered in the Speak Out, Stay Safe programme quite upsetting and very concerning. I think that it places a layer of responsibility and guilt on an abused child to be suitably upset by sexual abuse and it may well make them feel that if they were not upset at the time then maybe it was, as their abuser said, because they wanted/enjoyed it. This will then feed into their 'shame' and will reduce the already small chances of them feeling able to seek help from others.
The NSPCC should focus on acquiring people to work with them that have experienced abuse and can point out what they can do that works and what may cause harm. They should not be focusing on seeking ambassadors such as MB who, as concerned parents rightly point out, comes with a significant history of inappropriate comments and behaviour that makes them unsuitable for the post of advocating for a children's safeguarding charity.