A recent report by The Argus stated that two children a day are now reporting sexual abuse to the police, which is a 5% increase from 2012/13.

Looking into research conducted in the last five years, it would appear that consistent and full reporting of child sex abuse cases is somewhat flawed. Whilst the figures above are shocking, it seems as though they are underestimated considering that both the NSPCC and the police have different ways of recording individual cases and it gets more complicated when you consider that some offenders are aged under 18 and these are classified differently too.

Whilst it is good that reporting has obviously improved with the media storm following the Jimmy Saville case, there are still many cases that go unreported because of the shame and guilt associated with being a victim/survivor.

Are we surprised when it has been reported that Margaret Thatcher ignored warnings about MP Cyril Smith and Jimmy Saville and still gave them knighthoods?

Imagine being an abuse survivor and seeing your abuser celebrated in such a way?

If you read about pianist James Rhodes and his battle to publish his autobiography telling of the abuse he endured at the hands of his now deceased boxing coach, then it is clear that there is still a big challenge in allowing survivors to tell their stories freely and to stop associating their abuse with shame and guilt.

  • Carmel Offord and Jessica Woodfall are feminists and activists for the No More Page 3 campaign. They founded Cut It Out UK which campaigns against sexism.