Everyday Victim Blaming

challenging institutional disbelief around domestic & sexual violence and abuse

Blame shifting headline following Jeremy Jackson’s sexual assault of Chloe Goodman

The following headline appeared in the Independent on Sunday 11th January 2015:

Celebrity Big Brother housemate Jeremy Jackson removed following Chloe Goodman incident

This headline clearly shifts the blame of Jeremy Jackson’s sexual assault of Chloe Goodman by referring to it as ‘Chloe Goodman incident’.  Nowhere in this article does it mention the words ‘sexual assault’, which is what Jeremy Jackson is guilty of.  It is not an ‘incident’, ‘fondling’, ‘groping’, ‘explosive events’ or any of the other euphemisms frequently employed to minimise and normalise male sexual violence.

For those who wish to deny this for what it is, here is a reminder of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 definition of sexual assault:

Sexual assault

(1)A person (A) commits an offence if—

(a)he intentionally touches another person (B),

(b)the touching is sexual,

(c)B does not consent to the touching, and

(d)A does not reasonably believe that B consents.

(2)Whether a belief is reasonable is to be determined having regard to all the circumstances, including any steps A has taken to ascertain whether B consents.

The article continues to refer to the sexual assault as an ‘incident’ three times and goes onto state:

Fellow contestant Perez Hilton, a celebrity blogger, had questioned the wisdom of Jackson participating in the show, saying that the actor was not "mentally stable" and "borderline scary".

It then goes onto mention Ken Morley, a self- confessed sexual assaulter, who according to the Daily Mail, admitted to his assaults before entering the Big Brother House.  Yet, the producers of this programme felt no compunction about him being confined in a space with women.

Celebrity Big Brother has form when it comes to having violent men in their programme.  In 2012, Justin Lee Collins was due to appear.   Last year, self-confessed domestic abuser, Jim Davison won this awful programme.  In his 1993 autobiography, he wrote:

"We’re like a couple of boxers. On the first occasion, I poked her in the eye by accident. I actually went for the mouth. Thank heaven I missed, I’d have fallen in. I just took a playful punch. Unfortunately I caught her completely wrong. The second time I gave her a shiner. I threw a bunch of keys which whacked her in the eye. Just for a giggle she kept blackening it up to make it look worse."

He is also a known racist, ableist, homophobe, sexist and misogynist.

What a depressing indictment this is of so called reality TV and a culture that not only tolerates misogyny and male violence against women, but also rewards it.  It also demonstrates how men’s lives and careers are manifestly not ruined by allegations of sexual violence.

 

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One thought on “Blame shifting headline following Jeremy Jackson’s sexual assault of Chloe Goodman

  • Hecuba says:

    More sexual entertainment for the male viewers of CBB due to increasing numbers of male sexual predators joining CBB. Also having these serial male sexual predators on the CBB show increases likelihood of males sexually preying on the females invited on to the CBB show. All excellent male entertainment and certain to increase CBB’s finances.

    Proves that male sexual predators’ lives are not ruined when they are held to account and instead these male sexual predators see their financial rewards increased!