Contrast between treatment of male CSA survivor with female CSA survivors

[ItalianHat]

I found today's news very interesting ... A male survivor of rape & child sexual abuse has received a £1 million compensation payment. As well he should.

But contrast that with the treatment of the many many girls sexually abused & traded by grooming gangs in Rochdale, for example. Or any number of cases of sexual abuse of female children ...

Ach! this is the 'dark knowledge' of being a feminist. You have to deal with the recognition Every.Single.Day just how women and girls are not seen as fully human.

Link to the story? Please.

BBC Radio 4 Today programme interview (today, Weds), at just before or after 7am.

And the Grauniad:
www.theguardian.com/law/2020/aug/11/man-awarded-1m-after-sexual-abuse-by-pe-teacher-speaks-out

I don't know of any women taking councils etc to court which would be the real comparison not grooming gangs. I'm pleased for him as an individual but also it might shake up organisations attitudes to safeguarding.

It’s not treatment per se, but the fact that you can sue an employer for lots of £ for failing in safeguarding in the man’s case but in the case of a criminal gang, no woman has sued for damages because there would be no money to pay any court awarded damages from the criminals.

If you look at female vs Male CSA victims in similar circumstances, they tend to get similar damages awards.

I just did a quick google, and it appears some Rochdale victims have been compensated:

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/two-more-rochdale-grooming-scandal-8366389

Nothing like the sum of money the man received though.

I don't have a link but there was a piece in the Irish times a few years ago about the financial impact of child sexual abuse and how that it has more of an impact on men because women were likely to be out of work and lower paid for parts of their lives anyway. I wish I could remember the words but it was shocking. It focussed on the impact on men who suffered depression and reduced achievement in their careers. This is in a country where the abuse of women was systematic and structural. My mother was abused by her brother and a priest, her parents and her teachers knew, she told people in authorities and she was told to repent and pray.

In every single society, regardless of the amount of male child sex abuse, women suffer far far more but the impact on them is minimised.

I don't know of any women taking councils etc to court which would be the real comparison not grooming gangs

Why can't grooming gang victims sue councils? Or the police? There is plenty of evidence of local councils suppressing any investigation into the problem.

(Genuinely asking, but hoping to get an answer from someone who knows what they're talking about, not from any of the local mansplainers.)

This is in a country where the abuse of women was systematic and structural. My mother was abused by her brother and a priest, her parents and her teachers knew, she told people in authorities and she was told to repent and pray

I was living in Australia in the 1980s when the first wave of investigations & prosecutions were happening re Catholic priests and CSA. The focus was on the priests' abuse of young boys.

However, when you looked at the actual figures, 80% of the victims were young girls.

But - homophobia and masculinity.

Because, as we all know, it's so much worse for a (presumed heterosexual) boy to be abused by a man, than it is for a (presumed heterosexual) girl.

This struck me as well but I wasn't sure what to say about it. What happened to James was horrific, but there would have been others who suffered worse things at a younger age... where is their payout? Or was this a warning to courts not to make absurd allegations against child victims?

@ItalianHat I noticed a similar attitude when the abuse of young male footballers was in the public eye. Unlike female victims there wasn't a narrative that they were lying or trying to get compensation etc as there was in the Savile et al cases. They were immediately believed. As you say it's the idea that male abuse of a heterosexual male is somehow more abhorrent than the abuse of a heterosexual female. Why people can't just accept that any sexual abuse. Males will always rank higher than females. The scale of perception of victims is
Male victim
Male accused by a female
Female victims
Female accused by anyone.

It's not a competition. I'd wager that a good few of the significant amount of men who kill themselves every week were abused in their childhood. Men just don't talk about these kind of things. They're expected to man up.

Not meaning to come across as an MRA. I just think that discussion of female violence already massively overshadows male violence, despite the latter being many times more common. We even have people now talking about how 'lucky' men are to be able to walk alone at night (when they're actually many times more likely to be attacked and seriously injured).

I agree ForrestTrump. The real facts on violence are sobering as men are at much higher risk of injury/death from violence than women. And, yes simply pointing out the facts has gotten me called an MRA on here at times. Sigh. Can’t have a rational discussion about violence and risk without using facts instead of emotion and prejudice.

Why can't grooming gang victims sue councils? Or the police? There is plenty of evidence of local councils suppressing any investigation into the problem

The victims can sue the local authorities if the local authorities had a duty of care to them i.e if the victims were in the care system and were failed by it.

The case referred to in this thread is straightforward in that (a) the employee was the actual abuser not just an employee who was useless at his job (b) the case only had to be proved against one individual's actions rather than a whole raft of useless social workers.

But back to CSA. I think one reason boy victims seem to be more publicised is because they are most likely to be abused by a stranger, but girls are most likely to be abused by a family member. We know that CSA within families is often coveted up and denied by the family in question. Also, even when the perpetrator is convicted, no payout happens because the family has no money or no professional insurance to pay for such legal judgements.

I just think that discussion of female violence already massively overshadows male violence

And this on a feminism board, tsk tsk women you should do better, 🤔

The real facts on violence are sobering as men are at much higher risk of injury/death from violence than women.

What are the real facts you're talking about? The thread is about CSA specifically right? And there is no data saying boys are more sexually abused than girls.

There is data saying that boys are more often sexually abused than the public thinks, but it's still below the frequency girls experience.

I'd agree that both boys and girls sexual abuse needs to be treated equally.

@anotherhumanfemale
I was responding to Forrest Trumps comment in violence in general. Which is why the sentence you highlighted came directly after me saying “I agree Forrest Trump”.

My comment was not about CSA. Yes I agree they went a bit off topic but I don’t like to be rude and so gave them a quick response and my next post is back on the CSA topic.
Hope this helps

I'd agree that both boys and girls sexual abuse needs to be treated equally.

Yes, I do as well. That when doing like for like comparison of CSA situations/circumstances that the victims would all be treated equally.

There is actually sex disaggregated data on child sexual abuse.

What it shows is that while 77% of victims of child sexual abuse are female, when it comes to child rape, assault by penetration (including the attempt), the percentage who are female is 87%.

So, as mentioned upthread, girls and boys are not being sexually abused in equal numbers. Girls are almost three and a half times more often the victim than boys for all forms of child sexual abuse and almost seven times more often the victims of rape and attempted rape.

None of this means that either sex should get preference when it comes to helping victims.

(I have quoted the latest available figures for England and Wales, published in January 2020. You can see for yourself here)

CSA grooming victims have had their compensation reduced because it was decided they had consented or had been coerced into committing crimes, even if they were children at the time.