I have no idea where I got this. I don't even know how it relates to this post.
Today my mind is swirling.
I got an email from a legal team (or a spammer) telling me I was eligible to join a class action lawsuit against Netflix and Wal-Mart. The email contained inclusive dates of my Netflix subscription. [Yes, I was one of those who canceled.] I know that my address is traded in data base sales, but I have to wonder who had my email address? And how did the "lawyers are us" firm know the exact dates of my Netflix subscription?
I got an email (again) from Newsweek offering me a 90% discount if I would just come back. You see? They miss me! A fifteen-year subscriber to the magazine, I canceled my subscription the instant I heard they were hiring Karl Rove to write columns for them during the election. That was several years ago and my email address has changed at least four times since then. So how did Newsweek get my email address?
Since I told you I was rambling, I want to ask a question related to the recent allegations of sex abuse against a prominent former defensive coach in Pennsylvania. I have listened to far more rhetoric than I wanted. I have listened to former jocks tell me I just don't understand the relationship between a coach and his players; that I don't know that"what goes on in the locker room, STAYS in the locker room." I have listened to alumni explain that the head coach did what he was legally obligated to do. I've been told that the eye-witness was a grad student coach and had a close relationship with the abuser. I've been told that there is no way I could predict what might have happened were I the witness to such an incident. I have listened to it all. I freely admit that there are facts that have not been given to us.
Oh, I promised a question after this ramble. Here it is:
However you may feel about this entire incident and the circumstances around it, would you feel any different had the victim been a ten-year-old little GIRL???
Another question: Do you think it would have been handled differently by the parties involved had the victim been a ten-year-old little GIRL???
15 comments:
A pedophile is a pedophile, the sex of the victim makes no difference. It is always one of the most horrific betrayals an adult can commit on a child.
Hi there, As I watched the interview on Monday night and he had to pause before answering if he were attracked to boys, I knew instantly there was a problem. It shouldn't matter what the sex of the child is, it was horrendous. Those boys/young men are going to be tramatized for many many years.
I think the public and other staff would have reacted much stronger and sooner if it was a girl.
So that's my two cents worth.
The sex or time make no difference. A crime is a crime!!! It is a crime when an adult performs a sexual act on a child!!! No matter what!!!!
xx, Zoie & Fern
I would have been no more or no less disgusted if the victim had been a little girl. I can only wish that it had been handled differently, hope that it would have been if the victim had been a little girl. I have no sympathy for anyone who abuses a child, boy or girl. And to know about it and not report it to the police? There is no punishment too severe for the lot of them. I hope this will cause a national reassessment of the role athletics play in all of our schools, but I'm not optimistic. Penn State has an opportunity to lead here!
Sexual abuse is sexual abuse, regardless of gender. If he is convicted, I hope he gets a taste of what the kids endured, while he sits in prison.
Too many people are giving slack, because they are monied or of "celebrity" status. A criminal is a criminal, period.
I agree that people would have been able to sort out their responses more clearly had the victim been a young girl. And I think that is exactly part of the issue--not an excuse, mind, but an explanation. I suspect that one of the things at work here is deep-seated homophobia. All the principles involved are men--and what they encountered was male sex on male. They wrongly overlooked that it was in fact pedophilia, not homosexual sex.
As someone who has gone to many Penn State football games, I am just sickened by these revelations. I cannot even think how this might all turn out.
Sex abuse is sex abuse. Period. And this is all so disturbing to me...I just don't understand this kind of sickness.
Hey, I really like it when you ramble, you still make really good points and I LOVE THAT SIGN; what a rebel!!!
Regardless of whether it was a boy or a girl, I'd be disgusted. I hope that everyone else would be too.
The Runner's dad had Newsweek. For some reason, for several years after his dad's death, Newsweek kept sending us mail saying "Welcome back, ___ ____" (insert his dad's name). We had about a million questions, like how did they know our address but not that his dad had died? How could they make such a callous error?
Anyway, I understand the swirling thoughts!
No, I don't think the gender matters at all when it comes to pedophilia. The people who had knowledge are a complete disappointment. As educators, they had a legal obligation to report abuse. If the stories are true, the whole despicable lot are as guilty as the abuser.
I just got an invitation to join in a class action against Apple for my battery charger that hasn't given me a lick of trouble in all the years I've owned it. I don't think I'll be joining.
I agree that abuse is abuse and gender shouldn't matter, but you have raised a good question. I do wonder how differently the media would have handled it.
All Children are treasures on loan from God. They should all be loved, respected and be able to live a happy carefree childhood and NEVER EVER have to be around such a horrible person who will pay for his crime twofold!!
C
No matter the age of the victim he is still a victim. Sin is sin, a crime is still a crime.
He'd be locked up if it was an innocent little 10 year old girl.
"Nuff said.........
God bless and enjoy this beautiful day!!! :o)
I know of pedophiles that have abused both genders - and I understand your question. Though gender itself matters not, public perception matters. As someone (a man) said to me recently when I was going on about sexual harassment in the work place, "You have no idea how many men WISHED they had been harassed." A student comment born of sheer ignorance. Similar to comments about female teachers abusing minor male students. Boys are just as injured by the crime as girls; the whole thing saddens me greatly.
Oh? And the pizza-man's "pause?" Oh please. What a joke he is. As Jon Stewart says, his PR team WISHES the news was back to talking about his sexual harassment allegations! Snort.
Thanks for your comments, everyone. I posed this question because of some of my men friends who seemed to think the grad student coach was correct in leaving the showers and telling the head coach about the incident. Many of them indicated that I simply did not know understand the strong bond between coaches and players. Almost every one of them became a bit flustered when I asked if they would have felt the same way had the victim been a ten-year-old girl. For whatever reason, almost every one of them felt the grad student coach should have intervened had the victim been a little girl. I think perhaps Donna may be right in that they saw the incident as male sex on male rather than the horrid pedophilia assault that it was.
I like to believe that I would have called the police, whether it was a boy or a girl or a sheep being abused like that. And I suspect that you're right -- the reaction would probably have been different had it been a little girl.
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