Even in places where you might expect most awareness, my experience tells me paedophilia doesn’t get taken seriously

The revelations about Jimmy Savile have rightly induced soul searching among those who dealt with him in the media. How did he get away with it for so long? Why was he shielded? Some people have even asked if he was protected – or helped – by people in full knowledge of his behaviour. But what if Savile was protected, not by a knowing network of big players making big decisions but by endless small decisions to protect the status quo? What if these are the kind of low level decisions – about finding the subject of sexual abuse embarrassing, uncomfortable and disruptive – that go on every day and which mean Savile’s activities don’t belong to a dim and distant, sexist past but very much to the present?

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/18/jimmy-savile-protected-media