Phil Cottrell Legal Attorney Phil Cottrell reveals all about Jeremy Kyle London, Nationwide

I wont get much sympathy for this and many will say what did I expect. But, dear readers, I made a fatal mistake this morning. I watched Jeremy Kyle. Serves me right!But what caused my blood pressure to increase significantly was his sneery contemptuous behaviour (whats new?!?!) towards a young woman who was on the show to determine, once and for all, whether her partner was the biological dad of her baby girl. So the climax of the show Kyle reading the DNA results.

The young womans child was conceived after she got drunk and in her own words was, taken advantage of. I took that to be a euphemism for rape. Kyle, instead, enjoyed lecturing her about binge drinking and that her behaviour should be a warning to everyone out there.Not once did Kyle ask about what happened to her. Again, he made an outrageous and vile comment about bringing in the 6 or 7 men who could be the father and taking their DNA..This is a very serious criminal offence yet Kyle downplays it, or rather indulges in woman blaming.

Nor does he say anything about consent or who was involved (was this woman ganged raped?) he just speculates. She was drunk, shoulda known better, end of. The onus is put on her.So not only is it about her fault, cos she was drunk, shes a slag as far as Kyle is concerned. Lets rip the womans sexual history apart along with her reputation. Lets trash it.Again, he wasnt concerned when she said she was taken advantage of when she was drunk or to hear her side of the story.

Instead it was about reverting to sexist double-standards, making assumptions and honing in on her behaviour.So what, she was drunk, did she deserve to be sexually assaulted, raped? I suppose it is enjoyable for the likes of Kyle to make snap offensive moral judgements about people, to sneer in that middle class manner and to wield power over people.But these programmes arent about insight, awareness or understanding it is about demeaning people and moralising them. 

Gee, thats fun to hold court over people and pick through their f**k-ups, it is a spectator sport. Cruel and nasty.Indeed why do people appear on the show? I dont know the motivations of the young couple this morning other they wanted to know who was the dad of the baby. But I really felt sorry for the young woman, as she was scared and you could tell. Kyle wasnt interested in getting to the truth or even suggesting she should speak to the police or Rape Crisis.

Hed rather pour scorn on the fact she was drunk, in his eyes she had cheated on her partner. And indeed was utterly appallingly dismissive when she said, a couple of times, she had been taken advantage of.Did he prefer to view that as a convenient excuse, clouded by his own misogyny and moralism? Or does he think it makes good telly to make assumptions, moralise and lecture a woman about her so-called binge drinking and sexual misconduct as opposed to listening to her when she is trying to say she was raped?

And they wonder why women dont come forward to report rape.This is car crash telly at its worse, real psychodrama. Why do people go on to tell the world their most intimate and heartbreaking stories about f**k-ups in their lives, do they think they will get resolution? Will it help this couple to know now that the baby isnt the mans biological daughter? Does it matter? Shouldnt the partner be for more concerned about what happened to his partner when she got drunk? Instead he seemed more concerned about his DNA and biological status.

This specific programme really exposed the interplay and dynamics  between traditional gender roles, misogyny and power relationships between men and women. The two men ganging up on the woman was horrible to witness. She was the baddie and she needed to be exposed for it, in their eyes.She was left utterly powerless and in pieces yet bully Kyle had the gall to put his arm around the woman and say, we are here to support youIf thats support then who needs it! Then again, maybe Jeremy Kyle should hook up with Derek Draper. They would make a fine upstanding team..