Girls don’t go quietly anymore – they become women with a voice

Girls are supposed to disappear – not grow into smart, together women who live in a time of unprecedented access to instant communication tools such as social media platforms, writes Katy Brand

The MeToo movement has helped abused women come forward (AP)

So, maybe at long last the party’s over, chaps. No, not that party. Or that one. Or even indeed, that one. The party I’m talking about is the one where a load of rich middle-aged men turn up to a private island and are offered teenage girls to have sex with.

And instead of looking round at their host aghast, backing away, uttering, “no, no – this isn’t right, this isn’t what I wanted. I was just here for the barbecue. Get me out of here!” and making a dash for the nearest light aircraft; instead of doing that, these men smiled and said: “Thank you very much, I’ll take that blonde one and a hot dog with everything on it.”

This is not a recent problem. Nor is it a narrow one. The horrors that are currently being inflicted on young girls in Afghanistan – taken for prizes by old men – are in the same realm. Virginal girls “given” as rewards for good or brave deeds is not a new phenomenon.