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The Forum > Article Comments > Vigilantes versus pedophiles - our community shame > Comments

Vigilantes versus pedophiles - our community shame : Comments

By Barbara Biggs, published 15/2/2005

Barbara Biggs argues that we need education to prevent child sex abuse, not vigilantes.

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R0bert, thanks for clarifying.

I do agree with what you said re tone could increase harm to children. The disgust that is portrayed in the media reinforces the idea in the victim that it is disgusting and perverted and no matter how many times "its not your fault" is said it can be hard to get that accross.

David Boaz - definately need to re-evaluate what counts as a pedophile under the law, but it is my impression that the general concencus of the public / media is that it is an adult targeting pre-pubescant children. The law ought to be changed and clarified. I will right to the Atorney General's office! Good suggestion.

The help line may be "knee-jerk" and may not work, but it has not been tried before (at least not in QLD - my mate is a cop who works in child protection with peds and I checked with him) and it is worth giving it a go.

Timkins - I still disagree with the statistics - just because they are published doesn't make them acurate - but I do agree that ALL abuse (emotional, physical, sexual) is completely out of order and should all be given due weight.

I don't know if there are help lines for people who beat up their kids, but there should be support for them too as a prevention.

The only way I would say sexual abuse differs from other forms of abuse is that it is often not the primary care givers who are the abusers. Most often it is someone who is known to the family (ie uncle, neighbour, parents boy/girl friend) and that is the main reason sexual abuse may need to be treated differently.

One thing I can never understand is why the general impression is that sexual abusers were abused themselves. This is true of physical abuse, but not of sexual abuse (I have very carefully backed up my reason for believing this by asking my mate - if anyone wants to check it out and correct me feel free). The majority of pedophiles (and by that I do mean people with a sexual preference for children) may have had a difficult relationship with their family growing up (an alcoholic mother or whatever) but very few have been sexually abused themselves.
Posted by jcl, Thursday, 17 February 2005 4:26:13 AM
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The last part of that was (but I got distracted - had to do work) I think people should be responsible for their own actions. Childhood trauma does scar, but it seems to be too much of an excuse. No matter what happened in your life, and how you can twist logic ("s/he was in love with me" even though they are often talking about a four year old) having an excuse ("its not my fault I was abused too") seems to mean that you don't have to try to be a better person because its not your fault. Bollocks! We all should be trying to be better than what we are, however major or minor the faults we have are.

This is part of the reason I think a help line aimed at prevention is worth a go, it is actually admirable if people are TEMPTED to do something like this but manage to exert enough self control that they don't.
Posted by jcl, Thursday, 17 February 2005 5:30:22 AM
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Timkins,point taken:however we need a circuit breaker to stop child abuse.Perhaps it's time that our movie producers developed some social responsibilty and presented us with movies that promoted values,discipline and family harmony.This isn't just about being poor.I've seen people in very poor countries who have wonderful and responsible family lives.The"Nanny State" has also a lot to answer for.
Posted by Arjay, Saturday, 19 February 2005 7:59:16 PM
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ARJAY .. yes !!!! that would be very high on my social agend also.
I recall an interview with the Cohen Brothers of Hollywood. They were the producers of a lot of racey B movies, all about youthful lust and sex and drunkennes and more sex etc... cheap to make.. no plot..
Why did they do it ? simple.. "to make money" ....yet, if you challenge them on social responsibility and threaten censorship, they will scream bloody murder about 'artistic freedom and free speech' etc.. its so hypocritical. Its for that reason that I have ZERO mercy on what I consider socially irresponsible entertainment, and they can call me a bigot, prude, wierdo till the cows come home I WILL impose my views on 'them' :) if the political system allows me to, and I'm working on that in regard to X-rated videos from ACT.
Posted by BOAZ_David, Saturday, 19 February 2005 8:22:40 PM
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Arjay,

The following comes from a report titled "Child Abuse and Neglect: Part 1— Redefining the Issues". It gives some insight as to what causes child abuse such as physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect etc

“In a similar manner as risk factors, protective factors also operate on four levels. At an individual level, they can include a positive relationship between the child and parent (or caregiver), good interpersonal skills (parent and child), a positive temperament and personality (parent or child), and good health (parent or child). On a family level, protective factors can include marital harmony/supportive partner, adequate income, supportive extended family, social support networks outside the family, and access to child care/respite care. At the community level, access to information, advice, and support from a wide range of health, education and community services, child care/ respite care, accessible public transport, and social/communityctivity/involvement are all protective factors. At a societal level, income support/supplements and a culture which values and respects children is important”

The highest rate of child abuse occurs in single parent families, and about 20% of families are now single parent families (normally single female parent families). Of this, over 50% of those single parents do not work, and another 27% work in part time work only. This creates poverty, but extra money alone won’t necessarily overcome problems such as isolation, lack of extended family, social support etc. Therefore extra money alone will not necessarily stop child abuse in such families.

In the case of child sexual abuse, the perpetrators appear to have a mental condition and are often in some type of regressed mental state. Because of this I personally think that just putting them in prison will not do much unless they receive adequate treatment in prison. Unfortunately it appears that many mentally ill people do not receive much treatment at all while in prison.

However I do agree that general standards of current media would not help. If programs such as Big Brother came out when TV first started in the 1960’s, then people would have been tearing down the walls of the Big Brother compound. But now that program is advertised as almost a children’s program, (when all it does is teach children such things as voyeurism etc).
Posted by Timkins, Saturday, 19 February 2005 9:42:29 PM
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David,the bigger problem is the internet.No one seems to have control over it.I never thought much about pedophilia in the past, thinking that it is a minority of fringe dwellers.There are 16,000 pedophiles in NSW on the police books.How many don't we know about?
Perhaps we need to do some deeper research into male sexuality deal with these problems at a school level.It seems to be a power thing.How anyone in their wildest dreams could sexually abuse a baby and put it on the internet is unfathomable.They are sick and twisted beings.The big worry is that many are living in groups and this is giving them credibility in their own eyes.They can also plan and orchestrate their perversions.They know they are social outcasts and have nothing to lose ,given that even the the psychologists say a cure short of castration is very unlikely.Perhaps we need to bring back corporal punishment as they do in Singapore for these types of crimes.
Posted by Arjay, Saturday, 19 February 2005 11:35:09 PM
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