Men: guilty until proven innocent

From: http://savannahnow.com/node/360206

Men: guilty until proven innocent

Quotes from the article:

Child advocate John Walsh advises parents to never hire a male baby sitter.

The host of Fox’s “America’s Most Wanted” wants to help other parents protect their kids. He’s advocated for missing children since 1981, after his son was killed by a stranger….Is the no-mannies rule male profiling? Or is it just a precaution, no different than mothers dragging their sons into the women’s room with them until the boys are old enough to protest? Or moms standing outside the men’s room, yelling inside to their pre-teen sons “Are you OK in there?”….

Zaslow gave example after example of perfectly harmless men who, fearing they’ll be suspected of being a predator, give up on volunteering to mentor kids; coach a sports team; lead a scout troop; or even help a distraught child.

A doctor in Austin, Texas, Zaslow writes, came upon a lost child in tears in a mall. The man’s impulse was to help, but he feared people might think him a predator. He walked away, Zaslow writes. “Being male,” the man said, “I am guilty until proven innocent.”….

Refusing to hire male baby sitters is not the equivalent of saying all men are sexual abuse predators. It’s about minimizing risk.

But that’s not to say only men are high risk.

Sexual molestations committed by women are seriously underreported in this country, Rice said. Such cases often involve adult women having sex with adolescent boys whom they know. Which, sadly, too many people still don’t consider sexual abuse, but rather good fortune on the boy’s part….

“If men are so dangerous, then you should throw all your brothers, uncles, sons and fathers out of the house,” Rudov said. He is a frequent guest on cable news talk shows and talk radio (i.e. shoutfests), hence the snappy sound bites. He’s using hyperbole to make a valid point: casting all men as villains in the name of precaution isn’t fair.

Rudov says statistics about male sexual predators are distorted because sexual abuse by women is not reported or not even considered abuse. He also cites federal statistics that show physically abused children are more often victims of female perpetrators.

This summer, Virginia’s Department of Health launched an ad campaign for its sex-abuse hot line in the state where 89 percent of sexual abuse perpetrators are male. Billboards displayed pictures of a man holding a child’s hand with the caption “It doesn’t feel right when I see them together” and urged people to report suspected child abuse. Hundreds of men complained….

But one thing is clear: we don’t want sexual abuse education and awareness to result in fewer male teachers, fewer male mentors, fewer male role models; fewer fathers holding their children’s hands.Instead, we need more fathers and children holding hands.

Tighter than ever.

Contact Anne Hart at anne@southernmamas.com.

__________________
Comments and links by F4L:

Quote:

“But one thing is clear: we don’t want sexual abuse education and awareness to result in fewer male teachers, fewer male mentors, fewer male role models; fewer fathers holding their children’s hands.Instead, we need more fathers and children holding hands.

Tighter than ever.”

My question: “Who is we ?” At the very best, “we” is a small minority-sector of the population in the “enlightened” western nations. The vast majority of the population is “enlightened”, so much so that it firmly closes its eyes and minds to the all-out vilification of men. Yet, most of us (including most of all women) know that the vilification of men is unjustified or at least inequitable.

Gender profiling is mentioned in the preceding article. Yes, I was (as many other men were) many times in a situation where a child asked for help and I was too afraid to help. Then I either walked away, or, if possible, I went to ask the wife to come and help.

The gender profiling of men is not justified. The article doesn’t say much about that, other than stating things such as:

“Sexual molestations committed by women are seriously underreported in this country, Rice said. Such cases often involve adult women having sex with adolescent boys whom they know. Which, sadly, too many people still don’t consider sexual abuse, but rather good fortune on the boy’s part.”

Yes that is true. Unfortunately, the article does nothing to clear-up that issue. Let me therefore do it.

Check these links:

Sexual abuse of children

• Health Canada: Adolescent Sex Offenders
• USA: (2003 11 06) A Lansing mother accused of molesting her 2-year-old son and broadcasting the incident on the Internet pleaded no contest Wednesday to a reduced charge.
• Woman charged with raping boy after giving birth to his son
• Political opportunism and grand-standing vs. scientific facts: Women commit at least as much sexual abuse of children as do men.
• The extent of involvement by women in the sexual abuse of children
• Female perpetrators of sexual abuse of boys , by Jim Hopper, Ph.D. (off-site)
• Sexual Abuse of Males — Prevalence, Possible Lasting Effects, and Resources, by Jim Hopper, Ph.D. (off-site)
• The Invisible Boy: Revisioning the Victimization of Male Children and Teens
  by Frederick MathewsPrepared by the Canadian Foster Family Association (CFFA) on behalf of the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence of Health Canada.

  This document provides insight into the issue of sexual abuse of male children and teens. It outlines the prevalence of sexual abuse against boys and male teens in various settings, summarizes data on the perpetrators of the abuse, and identifies some of the effects on survivors. Implications for research, assessment, treatment, and program development are also presented. 1996, 68 p. Full Report (287kB PDF file, off-site)

• The psychological impact of sexual abuse: Content analysis of interviews with male survivors (off-site) [warning, 2 megabyte PDF], Lisak, D. (1994), Journal of Traumatic Stress, 7, 525-548.
• Meet the ‘Women’s Auxiliary of NAMBLA’
• Lesbian Child Sexual Abuse

–Walter
http://fahersforlife.org
http://blog.fathersforlife.org

This entry was posted on September 19, 2007 at 11:47 am and is filed under Men's Issues, Feminist Jurisprudence, Women's Violence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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