Jumping on the Savilewagon

A year after Jimmy Savile was laid to rest, he went from much loved comic treasure to public enemy number one.

The cause? Groping.

It's a wonder people didn't see it.

Call it sexual molestation, call it abuse, call it what you want, the definition remains the same: unwanted and unwelcome touching by another person in an inappropriate manner.

Being a woman, I have had to deal with my fair share of inappropriate touching, especially on the tube which, as the legends go, is full of perverted men. Only the other week, a man insisted on touching my leg the entire N5 bus route. And what could I do? I was alone, he was drunk and there was no way I could have defended myself if he had gotten aggressive. So I sat there and dealt with it.

And I'm not the only one. Thankfully this is a relatively harmless tale, but women all over Britain fail to report sexual molestation, and even rape to anyone at all, including the police. But it seems there is not one woman in England that was alive in the 80s that is not claiming that they were harassed by Jimmy Savile.

That is not to say that everyone who has come forward is lying, Savile was obviously a lusty pervert, that much is clear. But has it been over exaggerated? The Telegraph actually wrote an article describing how David Walliam's unanswered letter to Jim'll Fix It was, in fact, a "lucky escape" from the sexual abuse that he was bound to have incurred had he been on the famous '80s show. I mean, really. Whether it be the media, or the numerous people coming forward with "the new scoop" on Sexually Savvy Savile, the whole Savile Affair has been whipped into a whirlwind that is exponentially out of proportion.

If true, the recent allegations that Savile abused young girls in hospital, and molested a 9-year-old boy in his dressing room is appalling and something that he should have been held responsible for, gone to prison for, and apologised for. But, unfortunately, it's too late for that.

The Savile Affair is out of proportion, not because the allegations may not be true, but because he was one of many.

As Calvin Harris so eloquently put: it was acceptable in the '80s. That's not to say it was right by any means, but it was accepted, at least accepted enough for those who knew about it to turn the other cheek, and that's why no one came forward at the time. Was it hushed up? Probably. But what does anyone seek to achieve in holding a trial against a dead man?

Busted Obama

The media are wrongly, however inadvertently, painting Savile as THE pervert of the '80s. To behave like Savile was the only one and, more crucially, to behave like it doesn't happen today is a gross misinterpretation. What about all the rest? The rest that are still alive and able to be held accountable for their actions? What about the people that knew about it and didn't do anything? And what about the people who are still doing it today?

The point is, maligning Jimmy Savile isn't helping anyone, especially not those that were the focus of abuse. It was a different time, and the attitudes in 2012 are a lot different to the attitudes thirty years ago. Rather than focus their attentions on Jimmy Savile, the media should instead work towards making the world safer for women and young girls today.

Joking aside, this is a serious problem in the work place with most cases of
inappropriate behavior from a colleague going unreported.

Men today should know that groping is not okay, as apparently, they need to be reminded.

So in summation: Not all men are perverts. But it's not just Jimmy Savile.