[no subject]

What attracts male entertainers to child sex abuse?

Muriel Gray says it's too simplistic to just blame the
internet

THIS is getting silly now. If the current trend for
male television personalities being accused of drug
taking, using prostitutes, drowning party guests,
raping and child abusing continues, the TV schedules
will have more holes in them than a cat-handler's
cardigan. All we need is a revelation that Eamonn
Holmes is a white slave trader, Alan Titchmarsh an
arms dealer and Richard Madeley is over-friendly with
donkeys and we will have destroyed what's left of
British light entertainment. 
It's hard to know how to react in these baffling
times. The nauseating paedophile scandal in the
Catholic Church was perhaps to be expected, given the
severely dysfunctional nature of its hierarchy and
administration, and the British political system would
be unique in the world if it didn't number amongst its
honourable members gentlemen who bonk, steal and take
drugs. But the steady stream of misdemeanours from the
world of entertainment, top-heavy with the emphasis on
child abuse, is more perplexing mainly because it's
unprecedented. One of course can't comment on Matthew
Kelly's recent arrest, since no charges have been
brought, no trial has taken place, and in this country
thankfully we are all innocent until proved guilty.
But following Gary Glitter's child pornography
conviction, and Pete Townshend's confession that he
downloaded and paid for it, many people must be
wondering what's going wrong. In the same way that
male TV stars used to be, at worst, alcoholic woman
isers, pop stars are supposed to bed busloads of eager
groupies, smash up hotel rooms and die untidily of
drug overdoses. We like clich in the failures of our
public figures. It makes us feel comfortable. Sexually
abusing children, however, was never part of the deal.

A suggestion was put forward in one of the broadsheets
last week, that the internet is partly to blame for
this disquieting trend among entertainers; that the
maddening isolation of the star in his hotel room,
once dealt with by drink, drugs and creative sex, has
now been replaced by the placebo of the laptop, and
the access it opens to new and considerably more
sinister pleasuredomes. 

While this is certainly an interesting theory, it does
not apply to Townshend, who downloaded depravity from
the privacy of his home. And the as-yet unproved
allegations against Matthew Kelly refer to crimes
committed in the 1970s, when, once again, the internet
held no sway.

Nevertheless, it's essential to keep debating whether
the unspeakable crimes against children are increasing
as a result of this electronic tool, or whether it is
merely that we are quicker to report, discuss and
condemn the actions of paedophiles in a society no
longer tolerant of cover-ups.

Pete Townshend's story is a sobering one. His claim
that he downloaded and paid for child pornography for
'research purposes', while trying to write a book that
encompassed memories of his own abuse as a child,
throws up a number of difficulties. When the repugnant
Rebekah Wade launched her disgraceful rabble-rousing
crusade in the News Of The World, naming and shaming
those who had abused children, actively encouraging
vigilantes to seek out the culprits and in error the
innocent, I was prompted to write a piece about
internet child pornography. 


Like most people, I've thankfully never seen any. It
took me seconds to realise that this would not be
possible on my own computer without committing an
offence, and so I took the decision to ask a friend in
the police force if I could come to a police station
and be shown some typical examples, chosen by the vice
squad and viewed with their supervision, for the
purposes of writing the article. That's how
above-board research is done. It's not rocket science
and Pete Townshend who is an intelligent and educated
man, must also know that this is the way it's done. 

In the end I couldn't go through with it, since after
much thought I feared that what I might see would burn
itself into my soul for the rest of my life, and why
do such a punishing thing to yourself if it's not 100%
necessary? 

Cowardly perhaps, but since some allegedly
'consensual' adult porn I'd endured as a student had
twisted a knife in my heart for years, when a dozen
rowdy male students showed a group of us blushing
girls an ugly, violent and horrific sex video, I
didn't dare risk the damage to my psyche that
witnessing the unimaginable suffering of darling,
innocent children would have undoubtedly done. 

Perhaps it's unfair of me, but because I went through
the similar process of considering research important
before dismissing it as too personally destructive, I
simply don't believe Pete Townshend's story, and I
think that unless they can find a record of the
phonecall he claims to have made to the police
immediately after this massive error of judgement, he
should be charged and punished accordingly. It's not
good enough to draw a line between those who do damage
as well as watch it, and those who only watch. Ask any
vice squad detective. If nobody paid to see the
degradation and torture of children, then there is not
a shadow of a doubt that fewer children would endure
the nightmare as a result.

It's not illiberal to believe we're affected by what
we watch, what we consume and what we passively
devour, and in the case of child pornography the
professionals in the know believe that for those men
foolish enough to be tempted by it, it's like looking
into the face of the Gorgon. 

Talking about Rebekah Wade, that great defender and
upholder of family values, it's great news she's
keeping page three in her new job as editor of The
Sun. For those of you who've forgotten, it's the daily
picture in a 'family' newspaper seen by children, of
naked 19-year-old girls, the sole purpose of which is
to assist men to masturbate. 

As Matthew Kelly himself might have said: 'And who are
you going to be this week, Rebekah?' 'I'm going to be
a screaming hypocrite, Matthew!'


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com
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