Letters to the Editor
leftychris
Published Letters: 354 Editor's Choice: 4
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@AKA Smith & Anonymous
[Read the article: Fearful fathers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]AKA Smith (from many pages ago): I'm sorry if it seemed that I was accusing you personally of supporting the "25% of men are molesters or rapists" BS that so many feminists promote. I didn't mean it that way, and I saw your previous post debunking that very idea. I worded the post in question poorly. So, I do apologize for that.
Anonymous (one of the many different Anonymous posters on this thread): The point about female victims of child sexual abuse and pregnancy is a valid one, but I'd modify it. I could support a harsher penalty for an adult male who impregnated an underage girl over an adult male who sexually violated an underage girl but did not get her pregnant. However, I do not support the idea that the man in the latter case should be punished more harshly than an adult woman who has sexually violated an underage boy. But, in almost all cases, he would be. That is a failing and a pervasive bias in our criminal justice system.
A 5-year nationwide tracking study was completed last year by a Kansas State Univ professor that studied punishments imposed on adult male and female statutory rapists--specifically focusing on teachers who'd molested their students. The study found that male teachers who'd been convicted of sex with female students had been sentenced to an average of 20 years in prison, while female teachers who'd been convicted of sex with male students had been sentenced to only three years in prison on average--only a little over ONE-SEVENTH the sentence the men received, and for essentially the same crime. That is rank gender bias, and yet one must strain to detect the feeble voices of the few feminists who've spoken out about it.
Furthermore, if an adult woman has sex with an underage boy and gets pregnant, there have been numerous cases nationwide in which the woman was allowed to keep custody of the child and the boy she molested was taken to court by the state and ordered to pay child support. I'd like any woman on this thread to defend that, please, and explain to me how that isn't a form of double victimization? How can these boys be considered competent and mature enough to pay child support but not competent and mature enough to have consented to the sex in the first place? This strikes me as an example of the child support dogmatism that has developed over the past 20 years trumping all reason and common sense.
Anyway, enough on all that. This thread has gotten seriously off-track, so back to the original point--the fear of adult men of having what many would consider to be normal contact with children, for fear of being falsely accused of something inappropriate. In college, I seriously contemplated getting degrees in education and going into teaching for a career. But some conversations with some male teachers and especially with a friend who HAD gotten a degree in elementary education, and hearing what he went through, helped to change my mind. The many stories in the news all the time of teachers who'd been accused, tried, and convicted of sexual crimes against their students also helped, plus the fact that the male teacher is a dying breed in this country--their numbers are shrinking all the time and especially in elementary education they've become almost extinct. I have some teachers in my family who realy encouraged me, who told me that male teachers, especially in elementary education, are in decline and in high demand, and that with my skills and educaational background I'd make an excellent teacher--school districts would be knocking down my door for my services. But, sad to say, I've heard too many people over the years (men and women) say things analogous to "any man who shows any interest in kids who aren't his own is a little suspicious" to placate my fears. Who wants to work in an environment where he feels that he's constantly on knife's-edge, constantly under intense scrutiny, and with plenty of other adults assuming there's something suspicious about him (thus putting him in the position of "proving" his benign nature)? Not me, and I know of several other guys who were interested in education who made a similar choice. Frankly, the way the culture is in this country now, I wouldn't accept any job in which I had to interact with children on a regular basis. It's just not worth it. Leave those jobs to women--they're probably better suited for them anyway (in most cases) and no one is looking at them with suspicion or questioning their motives when they take them.
It's pretty sad that our society is that sick and paranoid and fearful, but I'm not going to jeopardize my future to prove a point.
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@Anonymous
[Read the article: Fearful fathers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Because for me it should be life for every person who molests a child under 12. Life! No parole.
That's crazy. Maybe for the violent, sadistic rape of a young kid, but not for fondling or touching, which constitute a great number of molestation cases. Plus, many people who kill other human beings in this country get sentences of less than life without parole, and I'm sorry, hysterical propaganda to the contrary, taking someone's life is a far more serious crime than child molestation.
With all due respect, you're exhibiting the very extremist, black-and-white, vindictive, punitive thinking for which this country is now notorious.
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@Anonymous
[Read the article: Fearful fathers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]After 9-11 anyone who questioned any aspect of the right wing agenda was pro-terrorist.
The exact same thinking is common here. Porn, strip clubs, prostitution, flirting with a 17 year old, molesting a 10 year old, ALL are varieties of "sexual predation" and as long as men participate in ANY of these they are ALL complicit in ALL of them.
Yep, Anonymous, it pains me to agree with you, but I've witnessed this type of thinking too many times among too many feminists.