In Feb 2009 Wendy Murphy did an article for the Patriot Ledger. I wanted to comment/post a few parts of that article here:
Like most parents, I relish the myth that blonde female fifth-grade teachers aren’t dangerous. It helps me feel good about sending little Johnny off to school every day.
But feel-good cultural pablum distorts the disturbing facts:
According to the Department of Justice, females account for 6,000 sexual offenses each year. A total of 1.6 million men and 1.5 million women were sexually abused by women when they were children. The majority of female offenders are between 22 and 33 years old and are not mentally ill. They are typically employed in professional jobs or as managers and a high percentage of their victims are “close” contacts, such as students, family friends and children they advised in some fashion.
It is refreshing to see articles like this. Though I wish she had made some mention of the fact that the "reported" offenses are low compared to actual offenses, especially when it involves a female offender.
When they offend against boys, we either ignore or discount the harm because it seems impossible for a boy’s parts to get, um, tingly if he’s truly being harmed. Truth is, boys suffer terribly, even when their parts are tingling. But because we high-five them as “lucky,” they aren’t free to talk about the experience as painful. This silencing adds to the psychic pain for male victims and so long as we continue to view male sexual abuse through the prism of an orgasm, it will continue.
If we really care about boys, we need to mind the research that shows how they suffer as men. As adults, they often suffer from PTSD, drug addiction, failed intimate relationships, etc., and they don’t heal easily because they have to find a way to connect the dots between adult symptoms and long since-ceased abuse.
So very true. So many people call on men to "stop the abuse" yet how many think about how "the abuse" that was done to them by men and women plays a part in this? We should call on all people to stop the abuse. The gender politics and battles that occur over this are selfish and hurtful of all abuse victims.
That McCallum was ordered to post only $1,000 cash bail and faces no mandatory prison time is proof that our legal system is part of the problem. - Read the entire article here
Considering she is alleged to have sexually assaulted the 12 year old 300 times in 18 months you have to wonder.
Monday, March 30, 2009
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