On the 29th of October, 2011, Jimmy Savile - English DJ and TV personality - passed away as a result of poor health. The nation wept, and the broadcaster’s golden coffin was carried through Leads, on a sort of “farewell tour”. Over 700 people came out to mourn him [1].
However, almost a year after his death, allegations began to be made against Jimmy Savile, allegations of sexual assault and paedophillia, allegations that were proven to be true. An ITV documentary, called Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile [2], aired in October 2012, which gave the perspectives of two girls who claimed that Jimmy Savile sexually abused them.
Once the documentary aired, people became aware of just how widespread the accusations against Jimmy Savile were. By October 11th, 2012, 13…show more content… Perspective 1: Dame Janet Smith
Dame Janet Smith carried out an inquiry into the culture of the BBC during what she refers to as “the Savile years,” conducting interviews with over 500 witnesses and investigating for over 3 years [7]. Her subsequent reports were approximately 1,200 total pages long [8], and had many different points of interest as far as potential reasons for Jimmy Savile’s behaviour going unchecked.
Dame Janet believed that part of the reason Jimmy Savile’s actions were not reported was due to a sexist culture within, specifically, the Light Entertainment Department of the BBC. At the time of Savile’s fame, some people saw this kind of behaviour as ‘unavoidable’. Young girls wanting to sleep with their idols was seen as a normal attitude, and so the importance of an age of consent was lessened.
As well as that, the general attitude towards sex within young people had become more positive and accepting, leading a lot of people to believe that the age of consent should be lowered - unsurprisingly, Jimmy Savile himself had expressed a desire for the age of consent to be brought down to as young as