Needing to add another $0.02 here. The growing trend of argument here is that people in general (and male sportsfans in particular) are rallying around the victims in this case because they are little boys instead of little girls, due to the empathy factor, and yadayadayada. As far as that theory goes, I'm here to tell you, that dog don't hunt. In fact, I'll go further and say that if it were little girls, I would be even angrier. Let me explain. See, in the South (and I'd dare say other places), we're taught that women are special. We worship them and give them considerations we don't give males. Chances are that parents will send their sons to public schools before their daughters. Fathers worry over them, dote on them, and do everything in the world for them (in general). I was always taught to be chivalrous, and to place women higher than myself. In short, women, and their safety and virtue, are looked after to a fault. So imagine someone being told that a scumbag motherfucker had sexually abused a little girl in the shower. If it were my sister, or wife, or any woman I loved and cherished, then game's over. That bastard's life is over, and anyone that says he's a good guy is beaten without mercy. I believe that protecting all children from abuse of any nature, especially sexual, is of the utmost importance; however, I feel that we need to go even further to keep females from being abused in such a way. The reason I feel this way is a personal one, I confess. My mother and her sisters were all sexually abused as children. Their lives have been rather fucked up, to put it bluntly, with one sister having a nervous breakdown 20 years ago, leaving her unfit for any normal life. Another sister has been in a very unhealthy common-law marriage for 30 years, while being the mistress of a prominent lawyer throughout that time. As far as my mother, I would say it was a contributing factor to her abuse of myself and my sister, as well as the chaos and violence towards my father before their marriage ended. Children need both parents, but they need a mother to be a mother-soft and maternal and loving and always there. They need this maternal figure throughout their lives, and when it's lacking, it creates a scar in the psyche that will never heal. To those that feel women being sexually abused are being given short shrift and that we're reacting how we are because the victims are boys, I say this: I am outraged at what Jerry Sandusky did, yes. I am moreso outraged because of the scale on which he did it; because he abused children that had already been abused; because he wrapped himself in angel's clothing when he was a monster and scumbag of the worst order. I am outraged at all the major players in this scandal that turned a blind eye so the "Penn State name" could be seen as all good, and that, in turn would benefit them and the Almighty Dollar. I am outraged at Joe Paterno for wrapping himself in his "Great Experiment" when he was nothing more than a sanctimonious glory hound. I am outraged that all these idiots say Joe Paterno deserves to still be the hero. I am outraged that so many people knew, and did nothing. So no, your theories about men's empathy and why this has struck a chord, and your wanting to seem above those of us frothing mad about this one case when there are untold amount of others like it, and your smugness.... They. Don't. Hold. Up. If you don't like what I've said, then red-dot me. Or better yet, kiss my ass.
Well imagine that. Penn State is not the only one guilty of wrongdoing. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/13/us-crime-citadel-abuse-idUSTRE7AB12F20111113
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/1...d-abuse-is-required.html#my-headlines-default Girls: 1 in 4. Boys: 1 in 6. By the time they're 18. By someone close to them in 90% of the cases. It isn't clear if she's referring to national stats or just Texas.
When I was in basic, the females I shared a bay with all sat down one night, at the end of a long week, and we just talked. All of them..every single female in the bay...had a story of sexual abuse. I wish to God I were exaggerating, but I'm not. 63 women across varied ages and demographics...all of them had a story. Whether any of them were lying or not...just to fit in with the group maybe...I don't know. But yeah. 63 women. All of them talked about a babytoucher touching them at one time in their lives or another.
You legislate it with mandatory reporting laws, which Pennsylvania and nearly every other state has. If you feel there is a possibility that a child is being placed in danger, has been placed in danger, or will be placed in danger, it is mandatory that you contact either the police or child protective services so that the proper authorities can investigate the validity of your claim and assess the situation. Not go talk to your father and fumfer around through the administrative hierarchy while someone is out there raping kids. In that regard, anyone involved in this whole stew of shit that didn't say anything to either agency broke that law and should be punished. There is no sliding scale. You either did or didn't report something.
So this discussion is verging on beyond-saving, but I have a question. Let's suppose that Campbell-Soupy-G was speaking in a bit of hyperbole, and that there aren't NO cases of highly publicized cases of female child abuse. But they are less common, right? We can agree on that? What I wonder is whether that is mirrored in terms of sex offender convictions. What is the breakdown re: gender of victims as far as conviction for crimes? Given that actually abuse is statistically more common among female victims by a significant margin, one would expect more female-diddling sex offenders. Is this the case? Paging Pink-Candy to the white courtesy phone.
You know, I was originally pretty whatever about the whole situation. Not pretty, but there it is: didn't apply to my life, didn't give a shit. But there is something particularly sickening about the veneration this man and this institution was and is given, and the pseudo-religious bent of some of the aftermath of and reaction to this crime. I've defriended more Penn Staters on Facebook recently than I care to admit. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7233704/the-brutal-truth-penn-state" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/723 ... penn-state</a> This shit, right here.
I'll be the first to admit that man/little boy cases get an exceptional amount of press - much more than a man/little girl case. I have my theories on why this is. I think (and this is only my opinion) it's because it's the abnorm on top of the abnorm. I've got no issues whatsoever with someone being gay, but it goes against the "norm" of a man and woman being together, right? And it gets even stranger when the men that are raping small boys tell us that they're heterosexual and have active sex lives with women. I couldn't understand it. Men that sexually assault boys used to get assessed much higher because their compulsion runs deeper. My ex-boss put it simply: those are the predators that can't stop. Why it has to do with men attacking boys, I truly have no clue. However, the cases that got the most convictions that I saw were usually a man sexually assaulting a little girl. A lot of the boy sexual assault cases either got thrown out or would result in some ridiculous plea bargain. Many parents didn't want to put their children through such trauma, and while I saw a fair bit of it with girls, it seemed to be so much worse if a little boy had to get up on the witness stand and talk about how someone they trusted touched their weewee. The men that had convictions for assaulting boys seemed to be more shameful and remorseful about their crimes, whereas the men that assaulted girls had more tendencies to deny it happened or outright blame the girl. I have my ideas on this behavior, but that's gonna go into another spectrum. I only came across two women sex offenders when I worked in Special Assault. One actually raped another woman (that's not a joke, like, broke in and raped her with a sex toy) and the other (this is pretty bad, I'm warning you) was in bed with her boyfriend and the boyfriend invited her 10 year old daughter to join them and asked if the mother and daughter would get it on. Mom was willing. Daughter ran away screaming. She got charged with attempted rape of a child. Yet look at the majority of female teachers that go after young boys and get caught...there's a fair amount of press involved (Mary Kay LeTourneau anyone?) but I agree, it isn't even in the same league. There's disgust surrounding Sandusky's behavior...not so much LeTourneau. In the end...and either way, man attacks girl, man attacks boy...a field, my .40, a bullet. It may put a lot of my WA friends out of a job, but I think a lot of them would agree with that course of action.
Can we stop pretending the Letorneau and Fave stories are disgusting I'd gamble my adolescent innocence for either of them any day. What's more traumatizing, sleeping with your teacher or getting caught by your grandma jacking off with an NES Power Glove?
What if the barely pubescent child was gay? Would it be ok then? What if he was gay and the adult was hot? What then? What if the kid wasn't gay, but had a hardon while the adult was assaulting them? Obviously he liked it then... Quit being ridiculous and saying that you wouldn't mind being taken advantage of by an adult who you find to be attractive now, as an adult.
Trust me at 13, Debra Lafave could have been teaching feminist liberation of early Mayan subcultures and I would have had a raging hard erection every class. Unless she was wearing flats, nothing kills a 13 year old permaboner like a girl wearing flats.
My middle school health teacher was young, single, hot and didn't wear a bra on many days. I vividly remember fantasizing about her. I know it's the PC thing to treat female teachers screwing their male students the same as the inverse, but we still have far too much cultural baggage about the differences we attribute to female sexuality and male sexuality for it to be the same in reality. Of course this is probably a conversation for another thread.
Do you people think girls don't fantasize about their teachers too? That your school didn't have a male "hot teacher"? Or that a girl doesn't occasionally get into this sort of situation "willingly"? The difference is that looking at it as adults, we don't treat 13 year old girls like they are autonomous adults mature enough to make sexual decisions. Yet we somehow suspend this rule when it's a boy.
I found it rather boring. Too meandering for my taste, though it was punctuated with some clever witticisms.