Sunday, March 18, 2012
To the Editor, The New York Times:
Non-sexual Sexual Molestation
The recent alleged sexual molestation of several young boys by a former football coach at Penn State, is reminiscent of a report in the Times of April , 2011, in which a Belgian bishop was accused of sexually abusing two boys, who happened to be his nephews. He described the incidents as " the nephews slept with me--in began as a game with the boys---and the abuse had been restricted to touching of the genitals. He never saw me naked and there was no penetration.I never felt the slightest sexual attraction " The bishop denied that he was "driven by sexual motives.". Apparently the bishop felt no guilt or contrition about the episodes as he didn't see it as a sexual experience at all. Such an experience is more like that of two prepubertal boys exploring their sexuality as is frequently the case. Adult males who engage in this sort of behavior have an immature---even child-like---identity, and are unaware of the damaging effect such behavior has on innocent young victims. To them it is like two young boys doing what young boys do, evidence of an unbelievable level of naivete and ignorance that is obviously difficult for anyone to understand. To the observer, this is where the denial comes in. The thought arises, "How could this be? It can't be happening to one of us! I don't want to deal with this. So nothing is done.
Non-sexual Sexual Molestation
The recent alleged sexual molestation of several young boys by a former football coach at Penn State, is reminiscent of a report in the Times of April , 2011, in which a Belgian bishop was accused of sexually abusing two boys, who happened to be his nephews. He described the incidents as " the nephews slept with me--in began as a game with the boys---and the abuse had been restricted to touching of the genitals. He never saw me naked and there was no penetration.I never felt the slightest sexual attraction " The bishop denied that he was "driven by sexual motives.". Apparently the bishop felt no guilt or contrition about the episodes as he didn't see it as a sexual experience at all. Such an experience is more like that of two prepubertal boys exploring their sexuality as is frequently the case. Adult males who engage in this sort of behavior have an immature---even child-like---identity, and are unaware of the damaging effect such behavior has on innocent young victims. To them it is like two young boys doing what young boys do, evidence of an unbelievable level of naivete and ignorance that is obviously difficult for anyone to understand. To the observer, this is where the denial comes in. The thought arises, "How could this be? It can't be happening to one of us! I don't want to deal with this. So nothing is done.
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