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Rappers' songs are partly to blame for horrific abuse of girls and young women in gangs, a Home Office minister suggested today.

Norman Baker said he had been appalled by reports on the “misogynistic” culture in gangs and the “endemic use” of sexual control and violence against girls.

He said he was shocked to learn how girls were seen as “second rank” to boys in many gangs, no matter what their age was.

And he suggested rappers’ treatment of women in their songs and videos were “part of” the cause of the abuse suffered by female gang members.

“That’s certainly not the whole picture, but there is an element of it which can be ascribed to that — and not all rap singers of course,” he told the Standard.

To tackle gangs, drugs and female genital mutilation, the LibDem minister wants the Home Office to focus more on seeking “cultural change” and influencing people’s “mindset”, rather than relying so heavily on legislation and prosecutions of offenders.

After being contacted by a reformed gang member in jail, who offered to help current gang members behind bars to abandon their violent lifestyle, Mr Baker has asked his officials to examine whether such a scheme could be developed.

“It seems to me a kernel of a good idea there,” he said, stressing how gang members are more likely to be swayed by their “peer group” than politicians and Government agencies.

He also wants to explore whether young women who have been victims of sexual abuse in gangs could play a role in helping to prevent other girls suffering a similar fate.

The Standard recently revealed the appalling ordeal inflicted on some girls who are dragged into a gang and then raped and passed around between its members.

Mr Baker is also encouraging the expansion of a project to try to reform wounded gang members.

Those taken to A&E at King’s College Hospital after being injured in shootings or knifings are immediately offered help in hospital from youth workers about how to break out of the violent circles they have been mixing in.