Shocking new data compiled by Children at Risk in Ireland reveals that girls as young as 11 years old are too often becoming victims of gang rape and other sexual exploits.
The Irish Examiner reports on the upsetting new finds. Children at Risk clinical director Dr Niall Muldoon commented on the research, which he believes is becoming “normalized,” and whose prevalence has increased with the growing accessibility to pornography by youths.
Dr. Muldoon noted how gang rape is becoming more common but is not being reported to gardaí due to the stigma attached in Ireland. His comments came after Sue Berelowitz, Britain’s deputy children’s commissioner, delivered her findings to a shocked House of Commons in Britain. Her full report is due out in September.
Berelowitz said that girls as young as 11 years old are expected to perform oral sex acts on rows of boys for up to two hours at a time in some parts of London. She added that an in-depth study proved that there "isn’t a town, village, or hamlet in which children are not being sexually exploited.”
Berelowitz added that it is now "quite common" for girls to be lured via online chatrooms to meet a friend, only to be met by a group of boys and gang-raped in a park.
"Then another group of boys come, they take her to another part of the park and she is serially raped again," said Ms Berelowitz. "I wish I could say to you that such things are uncommon but I’m afraid they are quite common."
"We see situations where a girl might fancy a boy and then consents to something and then a friend arrives, and another.
"We also then see situations where a friend might be videoing them and the girl doesn’t realise what’s going on until its too late. Very often, it’s all cloak and dagger and the girl is treated as a commodity.”
"Pornography needs to be seen by parents as another danger their children need to be aware of. Parents need to communicate with their children. They need to make them aware that this is going on and that if something happens to them, that they can talk to them about it.
"Also, teenagers need to know that pornography can be harmful. They need to know that there is stuff that they are not allowed to watch. There are things that we don’t allow them to see in real life so why would we allow them watch it on our screens?"
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