Trigger warning – This work contains a discussion of child sexual exploitation.
Police Appear to punish victims
Thirteen year old girl, “with disrupted clothing”,
found by police in a house with a group of men who’d given her vodka
A neighbour had heard the girl screaming
The teenager was arrested for being drunk and disorderly
The men were not questioned
The MEN were not questioned
The victim was Arrested
Twelve year old girl found plied with alcohol, with a 22-year-old man. Indecent images of her on his phone
No action was taken
No action was taken
In court, the prosecution barrister said: “He had been humiliated in front of others by things that his girlfriend had said.” And then.
“They had a stormy relationship and argued frequently, sometimes about her relationships with other men”.
She was twelve
A victim
Not a girlfriend
legally incapable of consent
legally incapable of consent
Victims are commonly teenagers in the care system, backgrounds of abuse and neglect,
learning disabilities,
mental health problems,
As vulnerable as you can get
‘Kids like me deserve this.’
‘Kids like me deserve this.”
Found these words in the public domain
It shames us all, it should cause you pain
Not saying this merely to provoke or question your substance
But it’s time to wake up, before more children suffer in silence
Copyright John de Gruyther 2018
Found poem using the following news reports investigating the victim blaming culture of child sexual exploitation. There is help out there, charities, friends, talk to someone if you can. You didn’t deserve it and it’s not your fault.
The Guardian
https://dailypost.wordpresss.com/prompts/provoke/#like-256548
The World Outside the Window 
Some things just break your heart. This one broke mine
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