Dirty Dishes	Dirty Dishes Archive

Dawn has been amused reading coverage of a University of Pennsylvania study that reveals that sexual "abuse" of boys is vastly under-reported and that as many as one in five boys is sexually "assaulted."

Of course, neither the Associated Press nor the Scripps Howard News Service blurbs made any attempt to differentiate violent, coercive assault from wholesome (though illegal) sex play; tearful rape and giggly pee-pee touching are all lumped together as "molestation." But that routine journalistic absurdity is not what amused; rather, it was Dr. William Holmes' assertion that it is "shocking" how many "victims" "normalize the experience" and don't even realize anything "inappropriate" was going on! (Kinda like guys who think they enjoy getting fucked up the ass... or South Pacific islanders who think public nudity is okay... or love-struck pairs who think inter-racial coupling is fine....)

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Appalling, too, was the writers' utter inability to question why "abuse" rates were so much higher amongst younger, low-income, minority populations. The unstated, but clearly assumed, explanation was that such kids are damaged goods because of their lack of access to middle-class accouterments. Dawn has a different, and most assuredly more accurate, take: more "abuse" is "found" in homes exposed to meddlesome social workers and "justice" department types; middle class families can escape much of the state intrusion into home-life suffered by the less-monied.

Dawn doesn't mean to be flip; there is a tragedy here-- instead of focusing on the malnutrition, beatings, and lack of educational opportunities endured by poor kids, eggheads are fixated on suppressing all manifestations of childhood sexuality-- children's welfare be damned. All-too-many researchers looking for monsters who exploit children need look no further than their mirror.