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Rite Of Passage Myths Hinder Justice For Boys Victimized By Women

Posted by Abyss2hope | December 31st, 2006

Houston Chronicle

Shifts in the legal system and public opinion have made it easier to prosecute women who molest boys in their pubescent years, experts say. And cases continue to draw public attention. But those who work closely with victims such as Diana’s grandson say rite-of-passage myths still make it hard for many, including jurors, to sympathize with older boys in such cases, who are also less likely to tell parents or police about abusive relationships with older women.

[...] Pam Hobbs, who heads the children’s court services program in Harris County district courts, said she’s seen police and prosecutors taking underage boys’ allegations more seriously in the past decade. Potential jurors, though, are another matter.

[...] When [Richard] Gartner [a psychologist who works with male sexual abuse survivors] started talking to fellow psychologists about the subject in the early 1990s, he said, he got a lot of “blank stares.” People thought he was exaggerating the problem. Now, there are national organizations, conferences and online listserves dedicated to the topic.

This continued belief in a dangerous myth is no surprise to me since the successful prosecution of any type of sex crime can be derailed by any number of dangerous myths which allow sexual predators to be seen as people who haven’t done anything clearly criminal. These myths are designed to prevent victims from speaking up and to prevent people from believing once the victim does speak up.

Besides being useful to sexual predators, these myths are useful to people who want the illusion that there isn’t a problem. If they refuse to see the problem then the problem doesn’t exist anywhere near them or theirs.

Only it doesn’t work that way.

(Crossposted at my blog, Abyss2hope)

This post is a feminist, pro-feminist and feminist-friendly only thread.

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6 Responses to “Rite Of Passage Myths Hinder Justice For Boys Victimized By Women”

  1. curiousgyrl Writes:
    December 31st, 2006 at 7:53 am

    link doesnt appear to work

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  2. Abyss2hope Writes:
    December 31st, 2006 at 10:18 am

    It looks like the Houston Chronicle doesn’t leave all of their articles up. I tried searching for this article, but it’s no longer on their site.

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  3. Popeye the Sailor Man Writes:
    December 31st, 2006 at 10:26 am

    The article is still on their site, but it’s in the archives which you have to log in to access. Here is a directlink to it in the archives, but you have to be logged in the Chronicles website for it to work. If you don’t want to register, bugmenot.com has a log in that works. It’s how I logged in.

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  4. cynorita Writes:
    December 31st, 2006 at 10:46 am

    Abyss2hope - is this the story?

    http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:a3We9JLl4uwJ:www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4406748.html+%22Shifts+in+the+legal+system+and+public+opinion+have+made+it+easier+to+prosecute+women+who+molest+boys+in+their+pubescent+years,+experts+say.%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3&client=firefox-a

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  5. Abyss2hope Writes:
    December 31st, 2006 at 2:13 pm

    Cynorita, yes, that’s the article. Thanks.

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  6. curiousgyrl Writes:
    January 2nd, 2007 at 3:09 pm

    A quick google search for Debra LaFave turned up a cartoon making exactly the points you make her A2H–along the lines of “that 14-yr old” (LaFave’s student an victim) ” will never get luckier!”

    Repulsive.

    This little bit from the article was also pretty astounding:

    Pam Ward bartends at The Sunset, a dimly lit beer joint in the one-highway town. News of the abuse was the talk among her patrons for a few days, she said. Most knew only about the older boy, and few had sympathy for him.

    “My own kids said, ‘Why did he even say anything? It was kind of cool,’ ” Ward said.

    Ward grew up in an age when few believed women could sexually abuse boys. Her own son, now grown, dated a 42-year-old when he was 16, she said.

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