Everyones input please! Child predators

[Jennifer5]

Emproph.... once again you're loaded with all the information that could ever be used... which is great, but do you ever take a break?

[Jamie McDaniel]

Originally Posted by Lesbian family in Kansas

This time I told a Pastor and he fought a huge battle for me. He removed me safely from what had been my home and found my Mother.

Jade, if your story were turned into a movie, it would be hard to watch, yet at the same time, very moving. Thank you for opening yourself up and sharing it. I am glad that a minister helped with ending the abuse.

While we are on the subject, have any of you been watching Dateline's To Catch a Predator? I've caught a couple of episodes and it was troubling to see the number of men coming to the house seeking sex with underage boys, ages 12-15. What I mean by that, of course, is we homosexuals, as a group, have been wrongly accused of being more likely to abuse children. (And what an effect it has had. I remember one Soulforce action where a lesbian couple brought their young son and a gay man gave him a hug. Later, the man was very emotional over this simple hug. He told us that he used to feel like people were monitoring him closely when he was around children because of their knowing he was gay, and so he made himself standoffish to kids.) So I was concerned, because a good number of the people being caught by Dateline were men looking for these boys, ages 12-15. Then I answered my own question. When fishing, the bait one uses determines the fish one catches. So when they went online posing as a boy, they caught a homosexual man. When they went online posing as a girl, they caught a heterosexaul man.

I'm not well read on sexual predators, but I found it interesting that no women were among the offenders -- heterosexual, lesbian, or bisexual. It seems, at least from the Dateline sampling, to be mostly a male problem. Anyone with numbers care to comment?

[Vortex]

Yes I too have seen Dateline’s investigation into tracking child predators online, and yes by the looks of their investigation at least it would appear to be a predominantly male problem. Here are a few of my observations.

Originally Posted by Jamie McDaniel

When fishing, the bait one uses determines the fish one catches. So when they went online posing as a boy, they caught a homosexual man. When they went online posing as a girl, they caught a heterosexaul man.

Perhaps the method of the ‘hunt’ too plays its role in why the sampling of predators caught were all male. The ‘online rendezvous’ may not be an effective means of showing the segment of the population that is female. The stories we hear on female predators are often times associated with teacher student type relationships. To use your analogy ‘when going fishing, you will only catch fish’.


Another observation worth pointing out. We often times think of child predators as strictly being the consequence of social or environmental factors (ex. ‘they were once victims themselves’). It would appear though that in the psychological and behavioral science community that there is a consensus (or an overwhelming majority) that believe that pedophiles can not be ‘cured’ or at least counseled out of their condition. While unpopular this would seem to suggest some sort of biological connection. I point to the example of schizophrenics and others suffering from psychological conditions, it was once thought that these people were evil and possessed by demons. Science has since proven that not to be the case, and today those declared mentally insane are not put into the traditional prison system. Now what all this means I am not sure, but if we are to bring some clarity to this problem in our society it is at least a question worth asking ourselves. I welcome your thoughts.


Vortex

[Rainbow kittens]

Good Morning All,
So much to catch up on! First let me thank all of you who felt sympathy and expressed it in your responses. Not, really what I was seeking. But indeed heart felt!
I was rather hoping to find more of you clinging to the positive aspects of this story that covers a small part of my life.
I was saved and given the opportunity to heal. A positive formed from a negative!
Thank all of you for the many wonderful suggestions!
Amazing how much useful information is shared! It would have been such a blessing to have had these forums in my early years of healing!
I have decided to share a few of my own thoughts. I will be posting them on the thread friend/self has been abused……
Love and Peace
Jade

[NathanATX]

Originally Posted by Jamie McDaniel

Jade, if your story were turned into a movie, it would be hard to watch, yet at the same time, very moving. Thank you for opening yourself up and sharing it. I am glad that a minister helped with ending the abuse.

While we are on the subject, have any of you been watching Dateline's To Catch a Predator? I've caught a couple of episodes and it was troubling to see the number of men coming to the house seeking sex with underage boys, ages 12-15. What I mean by that, of course, is we homosexuals, as a group, have been wrongly accused of being more likely to abuse children. (And what an effect it has had. I remember one Soulforce action where a lesbian couple brought their young son and a gay man gave him a hug. Later, the man was very emotional over this simple hug. He told us that he used to feel like people were monitoring him closely when he was around children because of their knowing he was gay, and so he made himself standoffish to kids.) So I was concerned, because a good number of the people being caught by Dateline were men looking for these boys, ages 12-15. Then I answered my own question. When fishing, the bait one uses determines the fish one catches. So when they went online posing as a boy, they caught a homosexual man. When they went online posing as a girl, they caught a heterosexaul man.

I'm not well read on sexual predators, but I found it interesting that no women were among the offenders -- heterosexual, lesbian, or bisexual. It seems, at least from the Dateline sampling, to be mostly a male problem. Anyone with numbers care to comment?

I was involved in a rather heated discussion in which some fundamentalists were trying to use this report... to make the homosexuality/pedophilia connection.

My response shut the discussion down. Boo ya.

Here it is...
***********************

"Previous investigations have indicated that the ratio of sex offenders against female children vs. offenders against male children is approximately 2:1, while the ratio of gynephiles(men attracted to adult women) to androphiles(men attracted to adult men) among the general population is approximately 20:1.

The present study investigated whether the etiology of preferred partner sex among pedophiles is related to the etiology of preferred partner sex among males preferring adult partners. Using phallometric test sensitivities to calculate the proportion of true pedophiles among various groups of sex offenders against children, and taking into consideration previously reported mean numbers of victims per offender group, the ratio of heterosexual to homosexual pedophiles was calculated to be approximately 11:1. This suggests that the resulting proportion of true pedophiles among persons with a homosexual erotic development is greater than that in persons who develop heterosexually. This, of course, would not indicate that androphilic males have a greater propensity to offend against children."

Emphasis and Italics mine.

This is basic common sense. The intial statement is that of all men 100%(A) that 95% are hetero(B) & 5% are homo(C). If (X) number of pedos is made up of 9%(Y) homo + 91%(Z) hetero pedos, it's pretty clear that THE PROPORTION/RATION/PERCENTAGE of homo pedos (Y) to all homos(C) is going to be larger than the ratio of hetero pedos(Z) to all heteros(B).

Example:
100=total population (A) A=B:C B:C = 20:1
95=total heteros (B)
5=total homos (C)

Lets make up a number of total pedos:
10=total pedos (X) and then apply the 11:1 ratio
9.1=hetero pedos (Y)
.9=homo pedos (Z)

.9:5 or 18% is greater than 9.1:95 or 10%

"This, of course, would not indicate that androphilic males have a greater propensity to offend against children."

It is just a reflection of the different population sizes.

THIS is what I think is striking:
"the ratio of heterosexual to homosexual pedophiles was calculated to be approximately 11:1."

[Dash]

Thank you, Nathan, for doing the math. I mean that!!!! Seriously!!

The only thing that would make it easier for me to grasp is if you could put it in some kind of...say...animal cracker form. haha! I'm so terrible at math. Really! I'm not an idiot, my brain just doesn't work methodically. It makes spastic intuitive leaps, which are sometimes very effective...and sometimes not so much...

How can we get more people to understand this kind of thing? It seems to me that a few people in the conservative religious corner have borne false witness against us. These few are probably actually aware of the research and how it exonerates gay people of the cultural accusation of pedophilia. They see the truth, but it does not serve their purposes, and it is easy to persuade masses of others who do not have knowledge of the research-- including many, like me, who would be hard pressed to grasp the methods and conclusions as stated in "Sci-nese."

[NathanATX]

Originally Posted by Dash

Thank you, Nathan, for doing the math. I mean that!!!! Seriously!!

The only thing that would make it easier for me to grasp is if you could put it in some kind of...say...animal cracker form. haha! I'm so terrible at math. Really! I'm not an idiot, my brain just doesn't work methodically. It makes spastic intuitive leaps, which are sometimes very effective...and sometimes not so much...

How can we get more people to understand this kind of thing? It seems to me that a few people in the conservative religious corner have borne false witness against us. These few are probably actually aware of the research and how it exonerates gay people of the cultural accusation of pedophilia. They see the truth, but it does not serve their purposes, and it is easy to persuade masses of others who do not have knowledge of the research-- including many, like me, who would be hard pressed to grasp the methods and conclusions as stated in "Sci-nese."

I can do the math... but it ain't easy. After much eye-crossing and zoning out after reading and re-reading the abstract, I had an "a-ha" moment and it all clicked.

I basically started analyzing it like I analyze homophobic interepretations of the Bible. I knew there had to be some twisting, manipulation or outright lying for their conclusions to have been reached.

It's kinda like detective work.

I think by standing up boldly for truth when we find it, we will help other glbt people begin to internalize a sense of their own goodness and sacred worth. That will trigger the "I'm not sure what it is yet, but I KNOW something isn't accurate about what they are saying... AND I am gonna find out what it is!" whenever they are attacked with hateful, ignorant rhetoric.

[Jennifer5]

Your just always working aren't you Nate... do you ever get time off?