“ It’s wrong… but you get used to it”

This ground-breaking report confronts us with the appalling sexual and psychological violence occurring between young people living in gang-affected neighbourhoods. “Boys are predators, girls are prey, innit?” says one 16 year old boy in just one of many quotes from young people that are recorded faithfully.
The report is part of the Inquiry of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner into child sexual exploitation in gangs and groups. It was commissioned because previous reports by ROTA (Firmin 2010 and Firmin 2011) provided compelling evidence that girls who are gangassociated can be treated as objects to be used, abused and discarded and in that process are victims of terrible sexual violence. Yet this problem has remained almost entirely invisible to many professionals charged with children’s care and protection – police, youth justice, social care, education and health. Resources have been directed into dealing with gang-involved boys but little to date has happened to support girls and young women. Our aim was to reverse this trend and look at the impact of sexual violence on both girls and boys in gang-affected neighbourhoods.
Professors Jenny Pearce and John Pitts worked with a team of researchers led by Dr Helen Beckett, uncovering deeply disturbing evidence provided by the young people in this exemplary research. The aim was not to demonise either young people or the gangs with which they are associated. Rather, we aimed to explore the nature of sexual violence these young people experience, either as victims, perpetrators or as both.
Gangs are not simply a big city phenomenon. The Bedfordshire researchers spoke with young people living in gang-affected neighbourhoods in six different areas across England and the messages were similar wherever the gang was located and whatever its makeup. This report exposes the particular use of sexual violence within the context of gangs.
For some of these children and young people, sexual violence – rape – is seen as a simple fact of everyday life, an inevitability from which there is no route out. However, we have also identified that the attitudes expressed in these pages reflect broader societal attitudes of young people who may not understand the meaning of ‘consent’ and may expect relationships to be violent. Our Inquiry has uncovered evidence showing appalling sexual bullying and sexist attitudes across all areas of the country and all social groupings.
We cannot afford to delude ourselves into thinking that the disturbing reality exposed in this report is confined to just a few trouble spots.
It is hard not to feel despair when reading this report. But we cannot afford the luxury of despair. The time for action is now.
Firstly, everyone must face up to the realities of sexual violence committed by some children and young people against other children and young people.
Secondly, adults must stand up and be counted. The belief that, as one girl put it, “we are objects” has not This ground-breaking report confronts us with the appalling sexual and psychological violence occurring between young people living in gang-affected neighbourhoods. “Boys are predators, girls are prey, innit?” says one 16 year old boy in just one of many quotes from young people that are recorded faithfully. The report is part of the Inquiry of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner into child sexual exploitation in gangs and groups. It was commissioned because previous reports by ROTA (Firmin 2010 and Firmin 2011) provided compelling evidence that girls who are gangassociated can be treated as objects to be used, abused and discarded and in that process are victims of terrible sexual violence. Yet this problem has remained almost entirely invisible to many professionals charged with children’s care and protection – police, youth justice, social care, education and health. Resources have been directed into dealing with gang-involved boys but little to date has happened to support girls and young women. Our aim was to reverse this trend and look at the impact of sexual violence on both girls and boys in gang-affected neighbourhoods.
Professors Jenny Pearce and John Pitts worked with a team of researchers led by Dr Helen Beckett, uncovering deeply disturbing evidence provided by the young people in this exemplary research. The aim was not to demonise either young people or the gangs with which they are associated. Rather, we aimed to explore the nature of sexual violence these young people experience, either as victims, perpetrators or as both.