I just put in an @Ofcom complaint about the GB news programme “Grooming Gangs: Britain’s Shame”. It clearly breaches the Ofcom code on due accuracy and due impartiality. It promotes racist tropes, is harmful to abuse victims & survivors and is likely to fuel yet more hate. 1/2 If you are also concerned, please consider letting @Ofcom know. Normal deadline for complaints is tomorrow - form is here ofcom.org.uk/complaints 2/2

Every woman I know has been sexually harassed from teens onwards. Flashing, groping, lewd comments, intimidation, being followed home. I’ve had to push people off me a few times. Once I ended up in hospital after being knocked out on the pavement for daring to defend myself. 1/ Trust that it’ll be taken seriously is so low. I’ve called the police once - & wasn’t even after that physical assault. I was sexually harassed & followed home. Told my husband & he went out & found the guy now harassing a much younger woman. I’d had enough & called it in. 2/

Listening to the “grooming gangs” debate. So wildly disheartening hearing a politician talk about an issue they clearly don’t know - or care to know - the basics about. Oh Jesus, he’s just pulled out the “our girls” line to refer to white girls. Straight out of far right playbook

Today marks ten years since Andrew Norfolk @thetimes propelled the inaccurate, racial stereotype of “Asian sex gangs” into the mainstream. It’s shaped the past decade & caused numerous harms. It’s also been debunked both in academic research & the government’s own research. 1/3

https://twitter.com/DrEllaC/status/1214183318989791232

The recent Home Office report & associated literature review showed that group-based child sexual exploitation cuts across all cultures/ethnic groups. It also dismissed the notorious @QuilliamOrg “grooming gangs report” as unreliable evidence. See twitter.com/drellac/status… 2/3

❗️New article looking at how the ‘Muslim grooming gangs’ narrative evolved & became entrenched over past decade, its beneficiaries & its harms. Free access at journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.11… . Great working with @_WaqasTufail on this for @Race_Class Cc @MsCaitSpencer @Hollyarcher_cse @KateElysiaNWO @CasuallyQ thanks for letting us quote you. X

THREAD (PART 4 of 4): Why you shouldn’t trust @QuilliamOrg ‘s report on #groominggangs & the claim that 84% of “grooming gang offenders” are Asian. An evidence-based critique. 1/ More specifically, relative to the general population, Asians were actually underrepresented (at 4%) among the approx. 6,200 defendants prosecuted in 2015/2016 for sexual offences flagged as related to child abuse. (bit.ly/2MRsQQV) 2/

THREAD (PART 3 of 4): Why you shouldn’t trust @QuilliamOrg ‘s report on #groominggangs & the claim that 84% of “grooming gang offenders” are Asian. An evidence-based critique. 1/ It ignores well-known biases in crime data, such as whether victims disclose (‘self-selection bias’), whether reports are investigated/prosecuted (‘institutional bias’) & whether convictions make the news (‘media bias’) 2/

THREAD (PART 2 of 4): Why you shouldn’t trust @QuilliamOrg ‘s report on #groominggangs & the claim that 84% of “grooming gang offenders” are Asian. An evidence-based critique. 1/ The report’s own definition of “this specific crime profile” is far from specific. The two supposed “distinguishing factors” could and do apply to numerous forms of child sex abuse: “typical grooming techniques” & groups of two or more offenders. 2/

THREAD (PART 1 of 4): Why you shouldn’t trust @QuilliamOrg ‘s report on #groominggangs & the claim that 84% of “grooming gang offenders” are Asian. An evidence-based critique. 1/ First, let’s be clear: some Asian men have committed horrific sexual offences against children.The offenders we’ve seen on the news are real & they are certainly not the only ones.I’m not downplaying their vile crimes or the harms caused.I truly mean no disrespect to survivors.2/

Some key messages from my presentation @ukhomeoffice today about my research on six so-callled “grooming gangs”. 1) Crimes horrific but offenders not very sophisticated or organised (opportunism key);2) No evidence white girls deliberately targeted (& many victims were BME) 1/3 3) Don’t reduce victims to passive objects - they have agency & often make tough decisions amid limited choices ; 4) Victims might be “vulnerable” but doesn’t mean not credible as witnesses; 5) Successful prosecution *is* possible but it’s challenging, complex & costly; 2/3