The Wireless

Operation Clover

13:36 pm on 15 November 2013

(Some of the things in the following piece could be upsetting.)

The reaction to the case of the young men in Auckland, who boasted on social media about sex with young, sometimes underage, girls, continues to dominate much of the media.

Police have set up a free phone number for anyone with information about the group, and are asking victims to come forward.

The head of the investigation into the so-called Roast Busters group, Detective Inspector Karyn Malthus, is encouraging victims or anyone else who wants to talk to the inquiry team to call 0800 672568 or 0800 Op Clover.

Staff from Child, Youth and Family, the Accident Compensation Corporation, the Ministry of Education, and counselling services, are also helping the investigation.

Victims of all kinds have started to come forward in other ways. A blog has been set up, carrying anonymous stories of "experiences they’d always been made to feel were ‘no big deal’, those times they’d felt unsafe, the ‘near misses’ and the sad realities of sexual violence."

And one anonymous journalist has shared their story with The Pantograph Punch:

I never quite learned how to deal with the panic in people’s eyes as they frantically tried to reconcile the compassion they were obviously feeling with the things they’d had ingrained in them about who rape victims must always be.

Over in Australia, six members of the Army have been sacked over a scandal involving the distribution of explicit emails that denigrate women, the ABC reports.

Army chief David Morrison released a statement saying the six men had been part of the so-called Knights of the Jedi Council group.

You may remember David Morrison from this video, where he says "the standard you walk past is the standard you accept."

Next week, The Wireless will have a series of stories on sexual and reproductive health, starting with a documentary which asks the question "do we talk about sex enough, or too much?"