Jimmy Savile

I have just read Ann Atkins' appalling article. I was glad to see that the huge majority of comments told her that she had probably allowed many more young people to be harmed by this man and that her 'explanation' was
unacceptable. She seems to think that if a man is 'respectable' and in a position of power she cannot risk being accused of spreading 'malicious gossip'. What a dreadful woman.

Absent it gets worse as these child brides go on to have horrendous births which many do not survive (fine for the husband as he can procure another young bride, ). For those who do survive, subsequent/frequent pregnancies become a nightmare.
The lovely Karen Woo had highlighted the plight of these young women, in Afghanistan, and was running clinics when she was murdered.

Young brides, rather than return to their family homes, are sometimes taken to be unpaid domestic servants in the in-laws' homes. But it would be wrong to generalise and I am sure it's only the worst cases you get to hear about.

specki I sometimes wonder how one of these macho men who think it is OK for girls /boys/women to be molested would feel if it could be engineered that they wake up one day to find themselves enlisted while they were asleep into a unit of super-fit, musular, seven-foot predatory homosexual commandos, and as the smallest and weakest of the unit they were the one who was touched intimately all day and raped every night. And if they tried to complain to the CO they were either not believed or told to report to him at nightfall with the frilly knickers on.

BTW I am not suggesting that any existing commando unit would be anything like this - merely showing the inequality of strength and authority.

I wish the news media would stop publishing pictures of Savile. Thought it was just me who minded, but I noticed similar calls on Twitter this morning. Pity the victims.

Yeah, I know. Freedom of expression. Freedom to be nauseated.

Yes Bags they seem to be searching for every different, revoltingly lecherous picture of that creep that they can find. It's disgusting and must make those poor women feel sick every time they see one.

Just catching up with all the conversation about this. My heart really goes out to all the victims and I hope those whose perpetrators are still alive will get justice. But really I am happy that someone is finally listening to them and believing them at last. It is terrible to not be believed and possibly even worse to know you won't be believed and therefore not to even try. We are slowly developing a more open and compassionate culture that enables children to speak out when adults behave I appropriately. Back then, many adults thought they could treat children just as they liked and some crossed the line and abused their power - sometimes in a sexual way. Horrible and disgusting, but it happened and we have to listen to the stories of these survivors so that we can learn how to prevent it happening again. Teaching our children how to recognise inappropriate touching and how to speak out when something doesn't feel right is a huge part of that

Don't want to throw a spanner in the works, and I have always despised Savile, but I'm conscious that he must have been horribly abused and corrupted as a child to turn out like that.

Is it always the case? Aren't there any foul and depraved individuals who were not abused as children, and were brought up within an ordinary family environment?

I wouldn't have allowed my daughters anywhere near this deeply weird individual - Jimmy Savile. Surely it was obvious to many there was something very wrong going on - so many pointers and obviously many people knew - I wish articles written about him and obviously this is going to continue for quite a while, could omit his photograph which is usually grinning smugly with a look that says "I've got away with it"

No Ana all the research over many years and in different countries has found that abusers were abused and/or neglected themselves, but with this level of corruption, stories of targeting disabled and vulnerable children, his alleged interest in necrophilia, and the sheer investment in his abusive lifestyle, any professional involved in the treatment of sex offenders would say the same - this was a man whose earlier years must have been highly sexualised and distorted to the extent that he normalised sexual abuse, never settled into an intimate relationship that lasted, gravitated to children/teenagers, groomed everyone around him to accept his bizarre behaviour, and was able to separate children from their carers and the authorities.

Imagine any of us trying to take children away without being challenged. He clearly had no empathy for his victims, something we all usually develop in a nurturing, loving family home. I wonder what prevented him developing empathy, and would guess its because he was corrupted.

There is mention in the press of his somewhat odd relationship to his mother.

'with' his mother?

It would partially explain things bags. We don't know enough. His absence of warmth towards people, constantly threatening violence, claiming to have IRA links to silence victims. Makes you wonder what happened to him....but it will never justify what he did to others.

never cared for him but still find it very sad that the man is dead and cannot speak for himself, wonder why his great niece for example has now come out and spoken up?

He had a very close relationship to his mother apparently but that is quite normal for mothers and sons surely??
I believe he called her the duchess.

Did anyone else read article by his great niece and hear her on tv today?
As said before the most appalling thing to me is that her grandma Savilles sister knew and covered it up for fear of losing the material benefits he provided!!

If as when says his early years were highly sexualised and distorted, it follows that his sister had an equally damaging childhood. It is therefore tragic but not entirely surprising that she failed to protect her own child from abuse. Children who grow up in such families learn that their survival depends on being able to compartmentalise their experiences. With this kind of familial abuse there is usually no need to threaten the children they just know that the secrets must be kept. What is remarkable is that many of them rise above it and become good and loving people. As when says, the evidence suggests that all abusers have been victims, but it is important to remember that most victims do not become abusers.

The man is dead. His victims are not. The living are more important to me. He doesn't need to 'defend' himself. In a just world, a proper inquiry into the allegations is all he would have got if alive so it's perfectly allright for it to happen now he isn't alive. Nothing can hurt him now. The victims are still hurting.

Is his father ever mentioned?

Also, the inquiry isn't just about him, but about the environments in which his alleged misbehaviour took place secretly. All that needs to be aired and where improvements can take place, they need to be implemented.

Yes, nightowl far more youngsters than we know about have survived childhood abuse and have grown into decent, respectful people. It's that tipping point of corruption, which so many sex offenders have accommodated in order to cope with their experiences, and is almost impossible to overcome once they become so predatory and dangerous.

Apparently arrests are imminent. Other abusers who are still living must have been implicated by some of Savile's victims.

One of my friends was abused by her grandfather - he had also abused her mother, who still allowed her to be left alone with him. After a difficult marriage, she finally found happiness in a relationship with another woman, which has lasted for more than ten years. Her own daughter actually went to stay with her grandparents and told her that she did not like it when 'grandpa' came out of the bathroom wearing just a towel round his waist. Of course we asked her why she risked her daughter being abused by her great-grandfather and she said she could not believe that he would still be a danger at the age of 85. She had told her mother about the abuse many times, but even though she had been abused herself, her mother refused to believe her for many years or at least would not admit it.
It is hard for those of us who have had normal relationships within our families to understand the terrible power that abusers seem to wield over their victims, even after they have left home as adults.

It seems that many more powerful and famous people are being investigated - I would not be surprised if there were some suicides.

Greatnan what a sad and sorry state of affairs.

I've been thinking about that, too Greatnan. Famous celebs with unblemished reputations who are waiting for that knock on the door. There could be suicides. I have known quite a few sex offenders to take their own lives, rather than face the shame of publicity and court.