What’s worse, rape or racism? I found myself posing that question after the Operation Sanctuary investigation was finally made public, revealing horrific abuse of girls and vulnerable young women in Newcastle. I had been moved and inspired by the courage of the victims, testifying, sometimes multiple times, to the most appalling and intimate crimes. And I felt overwhelming anger at the men who had done this, men in my constituency, men who used girls and women as their property without respect for them or thought for their futures.

But I was also angry at rightwing attempts to make this abuse and exploitation an issue of race and religion. On Saturday the EDL will be marching in Newcastle and I have been told on social media that I was little better than a pimp for not warning white working-class girls against Muslim men.

And then I was angry at those – mainly men – who seemed intent on turning the rape of girls into a minor skirmish in the great war on imperialism, talking only of rightwing racism, not rape. Having been raped and abused, disempowered and exploited, were these survivors now going to be written out of their own story?

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And then I became tired of my own anger. It is horrendous that with this recent destruction of so many young lives there should come a sense of deja vu. But we as a society have been here before. We have seen violence against women reduced to the crimes of a particular group of ethnic minority men against a particular group of white women, with everyone else either sidelined or forced to take “sides”.

When I was growing up in the 80s it was the supposedly overpowering lust of African-Caribbean men from which no white woman was safe, with black women urged to call out the loose sexual morals of “their men”. These were the racial and sexual stereotypes that had been at the heart of so many lynchings in the United States. Fighting that stereotyping while at the same time condemning misogyny and sexism wherever it was to be found risked being called a traitor to both gender and race.

Cultural sensitivity means serving lamb instead of pork. It is no reason to stand by while children are raped

What I would have hoped we had learned over the decades – indeed, centuries – of documented sexual violence is that rape is about power, and power imbalances can form part of any community, culture or religion.

It has been claimed that some cases of sexual abuse have not been reported or taken seriously because the perpetrators were from ethnic minorities and the authorities wanted to be culturally sensitive. This is quite horrifying. Cultural sensitivity is a justification for serving lamb instead of pork. It is no reason to stand by while children are raped – and anyone who thinks that or anything close to that is themselves being racist as well as perpetuating abuse. It also undermines the thousands of hours of investigation by officers of Northumbria police and local safeguarding teams, who poured limited resources into bringing the perpetrators to justice.

But to say, as Sarah Champion did, that “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls” is either saying that Pakistanis are more likely to rape and more likely to rape white girls, or that the rape of white girls is more of a problem than the rape of, for example, white boys or brown girls. We have a huge problem with sexual violence against children and vulnerable adults. After tabloid headlines about “Muslim rapists”, one of my constituents who was himself raped as a child expressed concern that his abuse did not raise the same kind of outrage and therefore the same level of awareness.

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Many of the perpetrators were identified by family and friends – members of the communities accused of supporting these criminals. Almost all the perpetrators were of Asian Muslim descent, and it is right that the serious case investigation should consider what shared values, background, employment or interests brought these men together, whether there was a criminal culture that “normalised” this abuse, and how that culture was formed. I will be writing to the investigating officer to ensure he does so.

The idea that Muslim immigrants and their families have brought sexual abuse and violence against women to our shores is an insult to them, as well as to the generations of women and sexual abuse victims who have lived among us for centuries and whose suffering had no name or voice.

Nor does it help safeguard our children. In the north-east it would appear that the majority of those convicted of online grooming are white men. Should we be teaching our children to beware of white men online and Muslim men offline? Does that mean abuse by black Christian men is ignored? We know that the most likely perpetrators of child abuse are family members. Should we be attacking the family unit? Stereotyping does not safeguard the vulnerable, it merely makes them more vulnerable. What is needed is raised awareness, mandatory PSHE, well-resourced community policing and youth services, and mandatory training for all relevant agencies in identifying and reporting grooming indicators.

So which is worse, rape or racism? The answer, of course, is to reject any such choice. We must seek out and eradicate misogyny and sexism wherever it may be; condemn absolutely those who would judge or disrespect women and girls on the basis of their appearance or background; recognise that male violence against women has no race and no religion; invest in the measures necessary to prevent others becoming victims; and protect, champion and honour the survivors who, through their bravery, are helping to make our imperfect society safer.

• Chi Onwurah is Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central