Celebrity Big Brother & David Lee Travis

October 6, 2014, Admin, EVB Analysis,

We are extremely disturbed to hear that Celebrity Big Brother has approached David Lee Travis to appear in the next season. It is completely inappropriate to reward men with convictions for violence against women and girls with public platforms. We have seen this with Jim Davidson, whilst he was under investigation as part of Operation Yewtree, although this did not result in charges being laid. We do not believe that Travis would have been invited to appear as a contestant had he not been in the media following his arrest and conviction for indecent assault.

Whilst this offer may be premature since the Attorney General is currently reviewing David Lee Travis' sentence for indecent assault for being "unduly lenient", it is the fact that Travis' conviction has increased his career potential rather than reduced it which worries us. We do not live in a culture which takes violence against women seriously. If we want to change this culture, we need to start holding the media accountable for victim blaming - this is as true for soap operas as it is Celebrity Big Brother and the evening news. If Celebrity Big Brother does hire Travis, we will be boycotting the program.

This minimisation of the severity of male violence against women and girls must end now.

celebrity big brother, celebrity culture, David Lee Travis, male violence, rape culture

‹ Male Violence; it’s really not as bad as you make out…(Content Note) I Didn’t Realize I Was Raped (Content Note) ›