Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/21

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Subject: [Leica] Sexual abuse statistics
From: "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 17:07:14 -0000

Art Sala wrote:

> Eric, I have tremendous repsect for your insight as a photjournalist,
> however, I have a hard time believing that 32% of all women are
> molested by the age 18.  In the US?  Definition of molested?  Who is
> publishing these numbers?  Curious...  But your point is well taken,
> parents are overly cautious, and right or wrong, a photographer
> (especially a hobbyist like most of us) should respect this one basic
> human instict to protect their young!

The figure is ridiculous, of course. Let's start by subtracting the
false attention-seeking claims, and then all the rubbish like "oh, but
the way he looked at me.....". This sort of number can only originate in
the minds of people lobbying some sort of an agenda.

Bernard
- -----

I remember once covering a conference at Children's Hospital National
Medical Center, in D.C., on the subject of sexual abuse. This was - God!-
about 20 years ago, before the topic was "hot." The researchers contended
then that about 25 percent of all females, and about 15 percent of men, had
at one time or another been "abused." The only difficulty with this was that
these researchers included what most of us would call "playing doctor" - the
"you show me yours and I'll show you mine" in which virtually all children
engage - in their "abuse" statistics.

That being said, I feel quite uncomfortable engaging in this kind of
discussion with what appears to be an all male group, none of whom besides
Eric seem to take the subject at all seriously. It is indeed a serious
subject and serious problem, and while advocates inflate figures to inflate
their budgets - just as photo editors do - I think the reality of the
situation is that there is far more really sick stuff going on with children
than society has ever acknowledged.

B. D.