Reading the Savile report convinced me we should never allow organisations to only have rich men at the top

One male BBC member told the report’s authors that men expected sexual access to women as something which simply came with top jobs

72 people have been identified as having been sexually abused by Savile on BBC premises (PA)

The independent review of how Jimmy Savile was able to abuse so many children for so long during his BBC career has finally been published. It makes for harrowing reading and is a damning indictment of how a “macho culture” at the BBC facilitated horrendous abuse.

It finds that at least 72 victims were sexually abused by the DJ and attacks took place in “virtually every one of the BBC premises in which he worked.” At least 117 members of BBC staff were aware of “rumours” about the crimes but despite this, no senior members of staff “ever found out about any specific complaint relating to Savile’s inappropriate sexual conduct in connection with his work for the BBC.”

In a particularly startling and disturbing passage, likened to scenes “from a Carry On film”, the report describes how staff, conscious of the number of young girls on sets, ran around locking doors and cupboards to keep them safe from Savile.

The report describes a seemingly paradoxical environment in which the abuse was at once widely known and never acknowledged. The horrendous abuse appears to have drifted like smoke throughout the broadcasting buildings, ever present and constantly in view, but never quite grasped or pinned down.

The existence of a “macho culture” is described as being one of the key reasons why this unsettling environment came to be. Although gender ratios were largely equal at the BBC, most women were secretaries or in lower positions of power while senior staff were almost always men.

One male BBC member told the report’s authors that men expected sexual access to women as something which simply came with top jobs: “It was sort of almost that that’s what happened, that men in television, if you got to a certain level of power or status in television… you would have some female member of staff [who] would become your mistress in some way or other.”

Other staff told the inquiry that men would go out to lunch, drink heavily and come back into the office to watch pornographic or sexually explicit videos. Sexualised comments about female members of staff were common and the staff was not made clear of procedures for reporting sexual abuse, assault or harassment.

Diversity is often seen as a cutesy buzzword or unnecessary obsession of left-wing politics. However, the report shows the dark and extreme conclusions of only a select group of people being in charge, unchallenged, unchecked and un-moderated.

The power to act on sexual harassment and abuse lay almost exclusively in the hands of men, many of whom themselves benefited from this exploitative environment either directly or indirectly, or were part of a culture which at an institutional and structural level could not or would not acknowledge the damaging effects of such crimes.

Through this “macho culture”, privileged and powerful men were able to victimise women and children and close off any avenue of escape or protection.

This “macho culture” reveals how both the broadcaster and wider society came to be blind to the power abuses of male staff because it considered sexual access to women, young girls and young boys perks of certain jobs, or at the most collateral damage needed to placate, entertain and reward powerful men.

The report is a horrifying reminder of how masculine dominance in powerful institutions can create toxic and damaging environments in which all those who fall outside this privileged group can be exploited, ignored and silenced.

Above all, the report is an extraordinary testament to the bravery of those who spoke out and reported their abuse despite everything and who made it possible for the truth to finally come out, albeit many decades too late for intervention.

For those who were ignored so long, the least we can do is listen to them now and finally take their experiences seriously to ensure that such harrowing and horrendous abuses of power can never be allowed to occur again.