I ran across this on Fark today. It concerns the 23 year old babysitter in Florida who undressed for a 4 year old boy she was watching because he demanded it.
I didn't post this to delve into the quagmire as to her motives or how she should be punished, but rather to share a few insights in the article that relate to the conversation.
Link to the story
Quote:
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Originally Posted by selected pieces of said article
"I understand that it is difficult for most persons to accept that women may be pedophiles," wrote Robert L. Arnold, professional development coordinator at the Hospice Institute of the Florida Suncoast. "We wish to see women as benevolent and nurturing....
News of Slicker's conviction and sentencing spread on the Internet with hundreds weighing in on half a dozen blogs. Many thought she had been treated too harshly. Others thought she deserved her fate.
"If this had been a man with my daughter, he would have been convicted and put away for the 30 years maximum," the mother said. "But because it was a woman and she claims it was my son's curiosity, we don't even have a molestation charge."
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She was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison, but the majority of it suspended. So, 1 year in prison, 2 under house arrest and 10 on probation.
Again, I didn't want to delve too far into the actual case circumstances itself, just to post the relevant points concerning our discussion.
So, it seems that the vast majority of member's experiences are right on the money and truly are indicative of some larger, looming problem about how society views men specifically around small children.
Like I said, I believe we've been conditioned by the massive amounts of media coverage of child molestation cases and such that run rampant on cable news as they try to fill 24 hours of programming. I would be interested in hearing other peoples opinions as to why this is so other than the "just because" justification. In this case, I don't care much if you believe, I want to know
why you believe.
And why is men seem to notice it more? Is it because we're the subject of scrutiny? I mentioned this to my mother and she didn't believe it. She about laughed me out of her house as I tried to explain it. After the ball game, which was the reason I mentioned it in the first place, she had to seriously re-examine the notion after she witnessed it first hand. It was an eye-opener for her, she said. I imagine, with a little discussion it could be an eye-opener for some here as well.