This week I was featured in a Channel 4 news report on the Rochdale scandal investigation findings. I wasn’t involved in that particular case but it was relevant to my life in multiple ways.
Firstly as a survivor of CSEA and a working class girl I resonated with the attitudes around that case. Also because I decided to do my first university course in youth work precisely because it was the youth workers in Rotherham (not the police, teachers, social workers, local authorities or politicians) that helped the victims. It was their work that was effective and ongoing. It was the youth workers who were there for the girls like me.
The main reason I was interviewed was my own work in the area of MVAWG. To be asked if in my opinion things had changed and improved since this investigation had began. The police, local authorities and children’s services all claimed lesson’s have been learned and things had changed. Did I agree with them?
No. I do not.
Why? Because the simple fact is that if we were making progress and/or getting better at addressing MVAWG then it would be reflected in the numbers. Violence against women and girls are serial and escalating offences. The men who murder women always have a history of violence against women and girls in their history. But it was not taken seriously so enabling him to do it again and worse, and again and worse, and again until there’s some other man in power claiming lessons have been learned.
We will never make progress in stopping violence against women and girls until the priority is no longer men’s feelings over women’s lives.
Gemma Aitchison – 2023
The patterns of perpetrators are the same and yet the practice of professionals does not change, the justice system does not reflect this, victim blaming myths are still perpetuated by the media, victim services still don’t meet needs and the number of women killed by men is not reducing.
Infact now we have online to contend with too. With the average age of exposure to pornography in the UK currently being 7 years old and that pornography increasing in violence and social media reinforcing gender stereotypes at every turn – things are worse than ever for young people.
Add into the mix a cost of living crisis in a society that equates wealth with character, cuts to mental health and public services and Ofsted finding children don’t feel safe at school – we have a lot to answer for. Children and young people don’t ask to be here. We create a world and we bring them into it. If we haven’t made that world a safe one, the least we can do is listen when things go wrong.
Unfortunately I don’t think we are listening. I think we are playing the same record over and over again and nothing is changing for the better.
G. Aitchison 