Tools for Scapegoating

Does the press influence and perpetuate its own agenda onto society as a whole, often shunning social groups based on behaviour, when exposure to journalism validates this discrimination?

Throughout history, mass media has focused on a dominant ideology, starting with the printing press and today serving as an “electronic nervous system” used to know everything about the world (Gross, 2001, p 1). The printing press, invented in 1439, exposed Europeans to messages which transparently influenced England’s Protestant Reformation (Butler, 2007). In the same vein, the burning of women during Europe’s witch-hunt peaked between 1620 and 1630 as newspapers began to establish (Burns, 2003), The press may offer knowledge, however, it is composed by a minority for the majority (Gross, 2001). Self-proclaimed ethical journalists devote stories that attract one audience while spreading opinions that slander certain sub-cultures. Some journalists may secretly be part of the same minority they defame.

Post World War II, closeted-gay journalists discussed homosexuals as menaces, publically validating “witch-hunts” from 1940-69 (New York Times, 1950), and spread opinions from heterosexual psychiatrists who connected homosexuality to demonology (D’Emilio, 1999). Despite positive progress from radical movements since 1969, pro-gay activism ceased when Gay Related Immune Deficiency (GRID), a disease neglected by the media until it infected heterosexuals in 1983 (Albert, 1999). GRID was termed AIDS, and media coverage increased by six hundred percent (Saalfield, 1995). In articles, members of the press portrayed gay men in these stereotypical ways: terrorized and abandoned; sexually-corrupt wantons bearing divine justice; and irrepressibly infectious, thus risking the lives of others (Kinsella, 1989). Based on this study, repeated exposure to the media’s perception shaped public response, first in fear of being on the media’s bad side, and as a result, influencing people to suppress and conform. It may have been thought that society as a whole benefited from one-sided opinions, while others believed conflict theorists generated these messages to support their dominant ideology.

Capitalism has also been argued to have inadvertently materialized sexual identity as the nuclear family declined, and complex divisions of labour soared (D’Emelio, 1999). By 1920, big cities offered underground gay bars that evolved for men looking to socialize beyond the family walls (D’Emilio, 1999). Personal identity was on the rise as “capitalism’s contradictory relationship with family” disturbed conventional patterns (D’Emilio, 1999, p 53). In addition to capitalism, men and women were forced into sex-segregated situations during World War II, discovering independence and welcoming new experiences (D’Emilio, 1999). As these new sexual orientations were given terms, puritanical elitists began reshaping their meaning via mass- media. Perhaps the biggest problem with journalism is allowing leaders to convey opinions that strip humanity from others.

On October 30, 2012, VCY America’s Crosswalk broadcasted opinions over the radio from Rabbi Noson Leister, stating in response to Hurricane Sandy’s destruction in Manhattan: “[The Lord] could punish particular areas, and if we look at the same gendered marriage recognition movement that is occurring” . . . “if we do not [stop this], He will deliver diving justice (Leister, 2012)”. Notably, Leister adds how Hurricane Sandy targeted one of the national centers for homosexuality (Leister, 2012). Would the press allow similar attacks today blaming women for hurricanes? In comparison, pro-gay activism remains less interesting to journalists. For example, the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) states: “All men who have had sex with another man, even once since 1977, are indefinitely deferred” from donating blood (CBS, 2012). A man once lied on his application and was later sued for negligent representation. The litigant counter-sued CBS for discrimination, unfortunately, due to the media’s disinterest; very few heterosexuals were aware (LSBT, 2011). Perhaps CBS is blind to the connection between women unknowingly having sex with men who penetrate other men. It seems here, health officials believe HIV is centred on gay men. This informs the community in a way that indoctrinates children to be straight. Irrational discrimination escalated as the press exposed ideas of firing gay teachers (Temple, 2005). Since teachers are a huge part of raising the child, it may result in socializing the children to be a part of the homosexual community. To solve this, the most effective message related homosexual teachers to pedophiles, “a class whom no one would dare defend” (Pariah, 2006, p 1).

The defamation of society’s perceptions toward gays continues as journalists cast the supposition that homosexual teachers are most likely to molest children at school. Ironically, false accusations in a child pornography case against a preschool ignited hysteria. The 1984 McMartin trial was the most expensive and longest trial in American history. It lasted six years and cost fifteen million dollars (Fukurai & Butler, 1994). By 1990, stories of sexual abuse dominated the media (Jones, 1999) Media moguls like Oprah Winfrey shared experiences with sexual abuse and urged society to “break the silence” (Jones, 1999, p 70)”. As confessions increased, society pointed its finger at possible suspects. It then became incredibly easy to be labelled a pedophile, and nearly impossible to erase its vile image. Perhaps, the failure to persecute America’s greatest falsely-accused pedophile generated revenge, causing the general public and mass media to expose every possible offender. Sally Mann, Starr Ockenga, and Judith Livingston were all pilloried and stripped of their careers for photographing their naked children; journalists portrayed it as “incestuous, pedophiliac, and pornographic (Pariah, 2006, p1).” Defending their sense of sanity, artists claim photographs to be representations of humanity; as a result, where does society draw the line between sexually-offensive and human nature? It is surprising that the Manneken Pis, a fountain of the bronzed and naked toddler squirting water from its penis in Belgium, has not been taken down (Duquesnoy, 1618). Clearly, throughout art’s history, human nature is depicted in its rawest forms including rape, murder, and child nudity. These messages contradict the repeated exposures of mass media, in juxtaposition with culture; resulting in society’s suspended belief that their solutions are ethical.

North Americans shield their children from sexuality until reaching eighteen; this is long after their intrigue in sex has developed (Luton, 2012). In addition to this disconnect, anti-pedophile activism rooted shortly after women moved into the workplace and the rise in careers specialized in caring for children (Jones, 1999). With this weakening of nuclear families, naïve children may rely on someone else who is willing to teach them about sex. Male students who strive to have sexual learning experiences with a female teacher are often ignored. After all, prior to 1983, the Criminal Code of Canada refused to acknowledge males as victims and disallowed the conviction of females for rape (Denov, 2004 p21). Even after this legislation, it seems exciting to scapegoat male predators which outweigh the crimes of offenders of the opposite sex. This unbalanced attention sends the message to loathe one sex more than the other, with society’s matching response.

Today, the messages perpetuated via journalism suggest sexual offenders cannot be cured, that they prey on vulnerable strangers, and are a menace to society (Ronken & Lincoln, 2001). One solution toward their nuisance notifies the public of a sexual offender’s location, publishing both photographs and acts of their offence. This may result in unintended witch-hunts and the unavoidable shunning of their community. Conceivably, a similar solution could be fastening a bell around their neck or appending a scarlet letter upon their breast. If this notification system worked, why did 90% of the 3200 addresses of Los Angeles sexual offenders soon be determined inaccurate following their publication (Ronken & Lincoln, 2001)? Perhaps it is the media’s delivery of the message with tones that “extend the negative effects of labelling, stigmatization and self-fulfilling prophecies” that make an impact (Ronken & Lincoln, 2001, p 1). Even worse, journalists can misrepresent data and portray inaccurate messages. In New Jersey, of the ninety child molestation cases on which they had information, 63% of offenders were caregivers (Ragusa-Salerno & Zgoba, 2012), yet the majority of domestic and familial attacks are “omitted from the journalistic vista” (Ronken & Lincoln, 2001, p 1). If journalism was more ethical, these types of objective facts would not be omitted, in an attempt to validate discrimination or stereotypes.

In conclusion, despite aggressive attempts to speak on behalf of society as a whole, journalists and the press more often focus on what they believe to be the perceptions of the majority and align themselves with those. Conflict theories and dominant ideology are at the heart of this unethical behaviour, questioning who the true demons of manipulation are within a mass media society.

References

1. Albert, E. (1999). Illness and deviance: the response of the press to AIDS. In L. Gross, & L. Faderman (Eds.), Columbia reader: lesbians & gay men in media, society, & politics (p. 399). New York: Columbia University Press.

2. Burns, W. E. (2003). Witch hunts in Europe and America: an encyclopedia. Westport: Greenwood Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.ca/books?id=Qr6_q-chR6MC&printsec=frontcover

3. Butler, C. (2007). The flow of history. Retrieved from The invention of the printing press and its effects: http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/west/11/FC74

4. Canadian Blood Services. (2012). Indefinite deferrals: HIV high risk activities:. Retrieved from http://www.blood.ca/centreapps/internet/uw_v502_mainengine.nsf/page/Indefinite%20Deferral?OpenDocument

5. D'Emilio, J. (1999). Capitalism and gay identity. In L. Gross, & L. Faderman (Eds.), Columbia reader: lesbians & gay men in media, society & politics (p. 52). New York: Columbia University Press.

6. Denov, M. S. (2001). A Culture of Denial: Exploring Professional Perspectives on Female Sex Offending. Canadian Journal Of Criminology, 43(3), 303-329.

7. Duquesnoy, H. (1618). Manneken Pis [Bronze Sculpture]. Brussels, Belgium.

8. Fukurai, H., Butler, E. W., & Krooth, R. (1994). Sociologists in Action: The McMartin Sexual Abuse Case, Litigation, Justice, and Mass Hysteria. American Sociologist, 25(4), 44 -71.

9. Gross, L. (2001). The mediated society. In Up from invisibility: lesbians, gay men, and the media in America. New York: Colubmia University Press.

10. International Society of Blood Transfusion (LSBT). (2011). Deferral of males who had sex with other males. In M. Goldman, J. Murray, & D. Devine, Question/answers. Vox Sanguinis. Retrieved from http://journals1.scholarsportal.info.proxy1.lib.uwo.ca/tmp/1635188039912402456.pdf

11. Jones, K. (1999). The Media and Megan's Law: Is Community Notification the Answer?. Journal Of Humanistic Counseling, Education & Development, 38(2), 80-88.

12. Kinsella, J. (1989). Covering the plague: AIDS and the American media. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.

13. Leister, N (2012, October 30). Crosswalk (V. Eliason, Interviewer) [Audio file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB6MPcZ1Nn8

14. Luton, K. (2012) Socialization. Western University, London.

15. New York Times. (1950, April 19). Perverts Called Government Peril. New York Times

16. Pariah (2006). Sexual fascism in progressive America: scapegoats and shunning. Retrieved from http://www.counterpunch.org/pariah03042006.html

17. Ragusa-Salerno, L. M., & Zgoba, K. M. (2012). Taking Stock of 20 Years of Sex Offender Laws and Research: An Examination of Whether Sex Offender Legislation has Helped or Hindered our Efforts. Journal Of Crime & Justice, 35(3), 335-355.

18. Ronken, C., & Lincoln, R. (2001). Deborah's Law: The Effects of Naming and Shaming on Sex Offenders in Australia. Australian & New Zealand Journal Of Criminology (Australian Academic Press), 34(3), 235-255.

19. Saalfield, C. (1995). AIDS TV: Identity, community, and alternative video. Durham: Duke University Press.

20. Temple, J. R. (2005). "People who are Different from You": Heterosexism in Quebec High School textbooks. Canadian Journal of Education, 28(3), 271-294. Retrieved from https://www.lib.uwo.ca/cgi-bin/ezpauthn.cgi/docview/215371318?accountid=15115

Sociology Final OUTLINE Media 514 2

INTRODUCTION - JOURNALISM

HISTORY

What is it? What does it Do? Who Controls it and Why?

1. Supported by the Dominant Ideology

2. Minority positions that present radical challenges to the established order will not only be ignored, they will be discredited. Pg 8

When attention is devoted to a news story, it is not measured by its ability to attract an maintain the main aurdiance.

Today: Television, Radio, News Print, Printing Press

The printing press had dramatic effects on European civilization. Its immediate effect was that it spread information quickly and accurately. This helped create a wider literate reading public. However, its importance lay not just in how it spread information and opinions, but also in what sorts of information and opinions it was spreading. There were two main directions printing took, both of which were probably totally unforeseen by its creators.

How much do we really know about our surroundings that doesn’t come to us via the media? “electronic nervous system. (Pg 1 – mediated society)

Mediated Society – Print has been with us for 500 years, unlike print, television does not require literacy, pg 6

It is no accident that the breakup of Europe's religious unity during the Protestant Reformation corresponded with the spread of printing. The difference between Martin Luther's successful Reformation and the Hussites' much more limited success was that Luther was armed with the printing press and knew how to use it with devastating effect.

Who does it do this to Today?

Transition

Similiarly how the white supremacists of puritain times used media to encourage the witch hunt, homosexuals throughout history have faced the same conivictions, and ought to be burned or sent to hell.

TOPIC ONE – HOMOSEXUALS SHUNNED – The definition of homosexual, has greatly been altered throughout time with the primary supporter, journalism.

HISTORY

1950

1. The witch hunt between 1940 and 1953.The post war movement – THE FBI wide spread surveillance of gays, invaded private jhomes, made sweeps of bars, entrapped gat me, and fomented loval withhunts. Page 52 Demilio.

2. Media between 1940 and 1960 consisted of society’s understanding of them as being “sick, criminals, and a moral menace.

3. During the period of returning America to “normalcy”, Historian John D’Emilio addressed that the explaining homosexuals via “demonology” became the social norm. page 22 up from invisiibility

4. In 1953, Los Angeles Hearst Newspaper’s headline was: “State Department fires 531 Perverts, Securty Risks.”

5. In July 1962, a public radio station in New York City, WBAI-FM, broadcast program, in which a panel of heterosexual pyschiatrists spent ninety minutes talking about homosexuals and mental illness. Pg 29 INIVISIBILITY

Homosexuals are a threat – WWII

Reflections

1970

Despite the radical movement in demanding respect, and the 1969 riot – it was not until another decade before all the activism was erased with the discovery of aids, and the ideology that it was the achieved role failure and illness caused Gay Related Immune Deficiancy , or God’s way of punishment

PAGE 399 illness and deviance meida politics gays

There was an anti gay movement in 1977, and the adoption of the antidiscrimination legislations, despite a decade of efforts, nothing would prepeare this subculture to the epidemic that would face them in the 80’s (Buckley and then what, national reiew, may 22, ).

1980

Through 1979 and 1983, broadcast journalism felt it was uncesseraty to warn the larger population about a disease that was only affecting gay men. “July 3 1981, GRID, Gay Related Immune Deficiancy” was posted in the New York Times for the first time with the headline “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals.pg 389 media society politics Once it was discovered it was transmitted through blood transfusions, and also risk the general public, mainstream press increased coverage by 600 percent, and began attacking homosexuals.

(page 45, AIDS TV).

Gay men were perceived via the media in these stereotypical ways: acceptingly abandoned by significant others, zero compassion as they died from self-inflicted sin, terrorized of their own unanswered disease yet continued risky intercourse, and some attempted to gain the impossible forgiveness. (James, Kinsella: Covering the Plague AIDS and the American Media….

When the dominant culture feels homosexuals are disgusting, then the media will reflect this.

Why?

Who is the Audience?

Where is the most money?

Transition

The logic behind this media driven shunning is determined by the general public, the main audience, and the capitalist ideal that demands more revenue, because the majority of the public is heterosexual, it makes sense to focus the attention and ideals toward them, gain more attention, and essentially more revenue.

SOCIOLOGY

Structural Functionalism - Capitalsm

1. Survival was structured around a nuclear Family – pg 51 D’Emilio –

2. Capitalism /gaty identity, by 1850, when personal identity was on the rise, and mechanical division of labour started to dissolve, instead of relying on interdependent family units, where a class of men and women could construct a life based on ones own attraction. By 1920/1930, New York and Chicago had Gay bars, these patterns evolved because capitalism made it possible to live beyonf the condines of the family, and still survive.

3. Simutaneously, conflict theorists thrived off the deviances, and created terms to separate them from the majority. – page 53 How? Capitalsm contradictoy relationship with the family.

4. Capitalism continuously weaks the material foundation for family life, making it possible for people to live outside the family, therefore, it is capitalism that is the problem.

Gender Roles

1. The war severely disrupted traditional patterns of gender relations, and sexuality, and temporatily created new erotic situations conducive to homo expression. It plucked millions and put them in sex-segregated situations.

Culture + Religion

Despite the catholic domimnated country of the Philipines, homosexual culture is widely accepted and there is only one gay male in the homosexual relationship, it’s the taking a female form transformation.

REFLECTION I suppose the messages that we receive from religion are different from one culture to another, and we cannot blame Catholicism as much as we can blame who interpretes it for misuse.

It is amazing to compare our Western perception of homosexuality, and compare it to other areas around the world, in how gender roles or homosexual roles differ from culture to culture.

Transition

Religious leaders and right-wing leaders continute to use the media as a tool to smash homosexuals, while the journalist not only publishes it, but adds to it in describing nongay people as the general public, and it perpetuates the “otherness” without using traditional stereotypes, and backed by important figures in the community.

TODAY

Rabbi -

Hurricane Sandy –Natural Disasters – Media Covereage on VCY Americas “Crosstalk” On October 30 2012

1. “[The Lord] could punish particular areas, and if we look at the same-gendered marriage recognition movement that’s occurring … if we don’t shape up, He will deliver divine justice.”

2. HIS PROOF: The double rainbow hanging over lower Manhattan

3. Lower Manhattan, national centers for homosexuality, insinuating that the Lord has tried to clean up the gays. Hiding behind religion.

Would a similar attack be permitted via media today toward women or African Americans?

1. Society begins to loath homosexuality before it becomes necessary to acknowledge or own. Pg 17 mediated society

Still placing FEAR for Aids

Today males who have has sex with partners as of 1970, cannot give blood. “All men who have had sex with another man, even once, since 1977 are indefinitely deferred.” Canadian Blood Services LINK

1. Does the media influence this, and prevent activism, exposure. Why is that so many of the general public are still uaware of this unrational discrimination. Is it because the media refuses to cover it,

2. When HIV activisim is centered and often confused with gay activism, do parents and teachers have a harder time accepting their child’s sexual orientation, because they are afraid they might get aids?

Teachers/Military

1. Today, aggressive sports players, soldiers, and teachers face excommunication from their positions, and constantly face fear of being detected and losing their career.

2. The fears developed after extensive covereage and supposition placed that gay males are sexual predators, act uncontrollably, and act out pedophilia fantasyes with their students.

Are we afraid because teachers often give very little education, that the curriculam addresses the wrong aspects of Homosexuality, are they afraid to stand up and say that its important in fear of losing their job, suspected of being part of the deviant culture? Despite his activism in Sexual Orientation, Anthony Giddens, eminent sociologist lacked disucssuions on this content in his text book, and discussed inbetween issues of prostitution. Giddens, Anthony, New York, Norton, 1991 – Introduction to Sociology.

Gay Men = Sexual Predators

The Data

Twenty-nine newspaper articles published in nine Australian dailies between 1999

and 2010 were randomly selected for analysis: fifteen reporting on cases of sexual

abuse by seven female perpetrators and fourteen reporting sexual abuse cases where

the offenders were nine males. All the cases involved teachers or coaches who were

known to the victims and had duty of care. ‘‘Coming Clean’’ on Duty of Care: Australian Print

Media’s Representation of Male Versus Female Sex

Offenders in Institutional Contexts

Roland V. Landor • Susana A. Eisenchlas

This fear began to circulate during the McMarten Sex Abust trail, where media corrupted the covereage, charges were dropped, and it was immediately recognized that any gay male teacher would be removed from his position to prevent this type of occurance in the future.

Transition

The media has a very significant role, in shaping the minds of others, and shuning them with a conviction of “incurable defects”, preventing the public from shaping their own opinon, considering the most intesent of the victims of shunned are sexual offenders are a class whom we’d never defend.

TOPIC TWO – SEXUAL OFFENDERS SHUNNED.

Shortly after the McMarten case, society was reavaluating the terms of a teacher, sally mann, and a list of many other potential threats became scrutinized int eh media for the public eye to shun, and activate a huge strting of resignations…. It is remarkable how many more of the sexual offenders are within the family, and the media publishes it mostly about gay men violating young boys.

1970

In the late 1970s, the women's movement gave political momentum to the problem of sexual abuse (Finkelhor, 1996). Women around the country discovered the common experience of having suffered rapes and sexual abuse as children, which was previously not discussed. As a result, there was a flood of new knowledge, publicity, and governmental action regarding the problem of sexual abuse. Media coverage of the issue of sexual abuse increased throughout the 1970s with significant media attention occurring in the 1980s (Beckett, 1996). Media attention surged particularly after the allegations of sexual abuse at McMartin Preschool in California in 1984. During this time, the focus of the media's attention was on the recent discovery of the "hidden problem" of child sexual abuse, the pain that survivors of such abuse endured, and the need to raise the country's collective consciousness regarding the prevalence of the problem (Beckett, 1996, p. 68). By Karyn Dayle Jones

HISTORY

1980

Heavy media covereage of McMarten Sex Abuse Trial

1. Most expensive in American History

2. Media Corrupted Covereage

3. All charges were dropped -

LINK

Sociologists in Action: The McMartin

Sexual Abuse Case, Litigation,

Justice, and Mass Hysteria

HIROSHI FUKUaAI, EDGAR W. BUTLER AND RICHARD KROOTH

This paper describes our involvement as jury consultants in one of the most

notorious criminal trials in history--the McMartin child-molestation trial in

Los Angeles. The McMartin trial was the longest and costliest criminal trial in

American history. The prosecution spent $15 million and took nearly six years

in making a criminal case against day-care workers, only to have the jurors

declare them not guilty.

In the six months following the initial accusation, nearly 400 children who

had attended the school were interviewed, and 41 listed as victims in a complaint

filed by the state. The district attorney filed charges after interviewing

one-third of the children. Claiming that the McMartin Preschool was linked to a

child pornography ring, authorities armed with search warrants visited eleven

locations in three counties, but found nothing.

By the late 1980s, stories about false accusations of sexual abuse dominated the media. The media reported that the pendulum had swung too far and that panicky parents, intrusive child protection workers, overzealous therapists, and some alleged survivors were falsely crying abuse (Beckett, 1996, p. 64). In fact, the media helped prompt the suggestion that some who claimed they were adult survivors of sexual abuse simply made up their accusations so they could sue their parents for financial gain through reparations for the alleged abuse (Quirk & DePrince, 1996, p. 21). By Karyn Dayle Jones

Reflections

In this case, does America feel guily for letting the defendents escape the law, all the in the hands of jury, and increasing messages of child molestation creeped the media, suggesting that its an increase due to failed justice. Are these new disgusting laws held in revenge of the McMartin case and the 12 jurors of America that let him get away, with the result of a rise in these crimes?

1990

Art Photographer

1. Sally Mann is still being punished by Media today.

• Came shortly after an over publicized media coveage of the St Marten Child pornography case - Instilling fear and hate into the nation -

• Sally Mann, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jacqueline Livingston - Praised artists heavily slammed in the early 90's for child pornography

Pasted from <http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Sally+Mann%E2%80%99s+photographs+lead+to+request+for+police+investigation+/1135232200901>

In the early 1990s, the plight of adult sexual abuse survivors became the primary focus of the media and celebrities such as Roseanne Barr, LaToya Jackson, and Oprah Winfrey shared their experiences of sexual abuse and urged others to "break the silence" (Beckett, 1996, p. 70). In addition, there was emphasis on the validity of once hidden memories of abuse and stories about sexual abuse by the clergy.

By the mid-1990s, media stories about false accusations and false memories of sexual abuse brought another backlash against the reality of sexual abuse (Quirk & DePrince, 1996). This backlash was caused by the media's emphasis on and acceptance of stories of false memories despite the lack of empirical evidence. Although survivors' accounts and research studies documented delayed memories of sexual abuse (Briere & Conte, 1993; Feldman-Summers & Pope, 1994; Herman & Schatzow, 1987; Williams, 1994), this research did not make the news. By Karyn Dayle Jones

Renaissance, Brussels, etc

1. Brussels

2. Renaissance Art

3. Etc

If a man today built a statue of a young boy peeing would he be suspected of child pornography?

1880

1 Fathers marrying their child of 10, etc. Women were 10.

Transition

Are these perpretatrors born in the same era, or just the wrong country? The Age of consent is highly dynamic across the world and begs the question, what is ethical? >>>>>>>>>>>> For many centuries, and up the 1880s when Englands Common

SOCIOLOGY

Cultural Differences

• Age of Adult - Differs from country to country

  • SOURCE:

what is the age of consent? Well, in the United States it is the age of 18, where in other countries it can be stated quite differently here:

“Mexico's age of consent is 12 [. . .]; Japan is 13; Spain is now 14 [. . .]; France, 15; and Germany 16 and under 16 with parental consent. Although as of the 1880s, common law age of consent was 10 in England and its former colonies, and zero in many other societies” (PARIAH, 2006) - What is Ethical?

Shielded from Sexuality

To often, the seducer is often ignored in the claims against the sexual offender, and the relationship between a highschool student thinking it would be rather accomplishing to sway Mrs. “x”. Is it because children have been too often shielded from sexuality, expected to jump into the welcoming arms of someone willing to teach them? Puritanical ideals may be unpreparing children for puberty, when their sexual interests peaking. Westernized children are often >>>> ( LUTON )

GENDER INEQAULITY

Denov (2004) uses the example of the Canadian justice system to

demonstrate and draw attention to the ubiquitous inequalities between males and

females when it comes to sexual offences. According to her, until 1983 the

Canadian Criminal Code did not allow for the charging of females with rape or

sexual abuse and, at the same time, did not acknowledge that males can be victims

of such attacks (Denov 2004, p. 21).

Transition

Instead of dealing with it on a moral level, society supports bumper stickers that read “kill your local pedophile” =- The new witch hunt for men

TODAY

The Witch Hunt

“Kill your local pedophile”

For example, in Los 90% of 3,200 addresses on a register were found to be inaccurate (Wyre, 1998); LINK

Many supporters of notification actions would find no problem with the harassment of convicted sex offenders, yet the notification laws can result in harm to

"innocent" individuals who are mistakenly thought to be a named child sex offender (Kabat, 1998) or can result in harm to the families of offenders. Wyre

notes that vigilante attacks in the UK have been known to target the wrong person and there was one case where a child died in a fire as a result of publicity and subsequent actions against a paedophile (ABC, 1998).

The images perpetuated in the mass media and socially

constructed in the public perception (Surette, 1994) persistently argue that sex offenders are different, that they cannot be cured, that they have high recidivism rates, that they are a psychological and physical menace, and that they prey on the vulnerable members of our community (Pincus, 1998; Worrall, 1997). Yet these conclusions are based on myopic media and public attention to sensationalist or stranger attacks (Wilczynski &. Sinclair, 1999; Soothill &. Walby, 1991), rather,than the more frequently occurring domestic and familial ttacks that are omitted from the journalistic vista (see Howe, 1998).

In the United States most community notification or registration

Neighbourhoods are taking punishment into their own hands

It is therefore suggested that notification sends a false message of security to the

community; a message that they are safe because they know who the likely sexual

predators are (Pincus, 1998). In Moreover, notification sends a frustrating message to the

community that the state is able to tell them about sex offenders within their midst

but can provide no tools to deal with them (Pincus, 1998).

The Director

of Public Prosecutions in New South Wales, Nicholas Cowdery is reported as saying

that "next they'll be asking them to wear an emblem on their coats" (The

Australian 18 February 1997).

The Index extends the negative effects of labelling and stigmatisation and

self-fulfilling prophecies+

IT WASN’T until

Is the witch hunt successful? Is the media portraying them correctly

For the

approximately 90 cases where information was available, the findings suggest that

62.98% of offenders in our sample knew who their victims were in one capacity or

another, while 37.1% were strangers. Notification would likely not have had an

impact on the 63% of offenders who knew their victims; however, it may have had

an impact on the 37% who did not.While this percentage is higher than most cited in

the field, it is particularly noteworthy. LINK

The combination of the media's continued focus on the crime of sexual abuse and Megan's laws, which tags all sex offenders with a scarlet letter, may intensify the perception of sex offenders as less than human and incapable of rehabilitation.

HISTORY: THE MEDIA AND SEXUAL ABUSE

The Media and Megan's Law: Is Community Notification the Answer? By: Jones, Karyn Dayle, Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education & Development, 19310293, Dec99, Vol. 38, Issue 2

Sally Mann

HELSINGIN SANOM

NTERNATIONAL EDITION - CULTURE

moguels

Pasted from <https://iwc.uwo.ca/iwc_static/layout/main.html?lang=en&2-4.01_224943&>

• Sally Man still getting slammed and threated with investigations toward offences against human dignity, bringing up past accustaions, and uncovering stories from her original arrests, and investigations...

By professor emily horowitz empirical research on date from 1991 to 2006 demonstrates that the continued hysteria and moral panic may be related to false, media-driven perceptions that the number of sex offenses has increased, simultaneously sharing with legislation a cynical relationship. (Columbia journal of law andsocial problems)

The social movement against child abuse was rooted in two profound social changes. One was the rise of a new, large class of professional workers (e.g., counselors, social workers, physicians, nurses, and teachers) specializing in working with children and families, and the second was the widespread emancipation of women from the domestic sphere and their widespread entry into the workforce (Finkelhor, 1996, p. ix). Thus, the privacy around many aspects of family life was uncovered revealing the existence of violence and abuse. For example, physicians identified "battered child syndrome" in the 1960s while treating children with unexplained fractures, bruises, and other injuries (Beckett, 1996; Nelson, 1984; Pfohl, 1977; Tower, 1996). As a result, between 1963 and 1967, all states passed legislation mandating that teachers, doctors, and other professionals report suspected child abuse to authorities. In 1974, the federal government passed the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act requiring states to adopt specific procedures to identify, treat, and prevent child abuse in order to qualify for federal monies. As a result of these laws, the number of reports of suspected child abuse increased dramatically (Finkelhor, 1990; Nelson, 1984).

The media's focus on sexual abuse ranging from awareness of the problem to false allegations of abuse influenced therapy practices and research. In terms of research, publications about the problem of child sexual abuse went from none in the early 1980s to 14 articles by 1989. Publications about the subject skyrocketed to almost 1,500 articles between 1995 and 1998 mirroring the emphasis placed on sexual abuse by the media during that time. In terms of therapy practice, the media's focus on false memories, which were typically blamed on therapists, had an impact on therapist behavior. The once accepted belief in repressed memories became controversial, leading therapists in practice to become wary of the subject of repressed memories for fear of lawsuit.

Social problems tend to follow an "issues attention" cycle. That is, after an issue has been in the spotlight for a certain period, the media, the public, and politicians tend to lose interest in the issue (Finkelhor, 1996, p. xii). However, there seems to be no current reduction in the fascination with the topic of sexual abuse. Thus far, the media's attention had been primarily on the survivors of sexual abuse and has shifted between awareness and denial of the problem. Overall, the media's attention to the problem of sexual abuse resulted in greater public awareness and influenced therapy practices and research. The next wave of media attention focused on the perpetrators of sexual abuse and also had implications for the counseling profession.

The incredible ease in becoming a “Sex offender” the label produces a vile image, in the minds of many, validated by the medias portrayal, where the ability to remove the label becomes increasingly difficult.