Dignity and innocence are two things that are dear to every person, so when they are snatched away from someone they have far reaching affects on the individual and society. When those affected are the most vulnerable in society then the problem is exacerbated.

The convictions of two men for the ‘grooming’, abuse and rape of young girls in Derby has brought the issue of vulnerability of young girls in society to the forefront.

It prompted Jack Straw to echo the BNP with comments more familiar to Nick Griffin, saying that the convictions of Mohammed Liaqat and Abid Saddique show that “there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men… who target vulnerable young white girls”.

There can be no denying that it is abhorrent when anyone takes advantage of young vulnerable girls for their depraved version of pleasure. But sexual exploitation cannot be said to be limited to cases like the one in Derby; and is certainly not limited to men of ‘Pakistani heritage’ in Britain.

Jack Straw should know better than anyone how widespread this problem is in Western society. Straw’s brother William Straw was found guilty of indecent assault on a 16 year old girl, back in 2000. William who perpetrated the assault on none other than a family friend who trusted him was fined and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for five years.

Western culture increasingly exploits women by treating them as commodities through ‘top-shelf’ magazines, lap-dancing clubs, advertising, gangster rap…the list goes on and on. Indeed, the exploitation of particularly younger girls and even children is the latest nuance in this ingrained western menace.

It is a sad state of affairs that engulfs all strata of society. The arrest this week of a nursery worker in Birmingham for the abuse of very young children in his care shows that no one is  safe white or not.

The men convicted are all products of Western society. As Jack Straw put it “These young men are in a western society, in any event, they act like any other young men, they’re fizzing and popping with testosterone, they want some outlet for that…..”.The fact that the convicted did what they did is therefore more a reflection on Western society than their ‘heritage’, or their religion.

For Straw and others to raise this as an issue particular to this community, deflects as it does the far wider problems women face in this society, is frankly mischievous and seeks creating divisions in the community, much like the racist BNP.