Sex Hysteria reader, Richard, posted a link to a youtube documentary in the comments under a post I did several days ago about civil commitment.
I was pretty busy over the holidays with out-of-town family visitors staying with us, but I finally manged to catch up and view this documentary about California’s Coalinga “mental hospital” where they house convicted sex offenders who have served their time, but remain incarcerated under civil commitment procedures. I must say, this documentary is well worth watching. To quote my own comment after seeing it:
On the one hand, there are those in the treatment program who willing to say and do anything the staff wants them to in hopes that they will be one of the very few who eventually gain their freedom. On the other hand, there are the 70% those who refuse treatment and are warehoused with no hope of being released except through the courts. It’s the classic authoritarian witch hunt mentality. By denying that they are a danger to society, they are confirming that they are indeed danger to society and must remain incarcerated.
The entire documentary is pretty sickening, reminiscent of the re-education of Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four or the behavioral modification of Alex in A Clockwork Orange.
I highly recommend visiting youtube to watch all six parts (totally about 1 hour).
The 6-part video is incredible, and the comments that some people left (punish the sick, shoot them on site, etc.) are even more incredible.
I don’t know all the details of the program, but I was wondering if the whole experiment might backfire: for the first time convicted sex offenders are being supported and protected by the government, in an environment where they can openly dialogue with other, confront the experts without feeling completely isolated in the world, and possibly organize political action (e.g. a small group on a hunger strike).
What is the state of California going to do when the taxpayers realize the experiment might backfire and actually promote sex offenses against children? – Withdraw funding, and have to release these now-radicalized and organized individuals?
Some of the youtube comments for this video are very disturbing indeed.
I once watched a documentary(I think that one was by BBC too) about ADHD.And one of the interesting things that it pointed out was that one of the main causes of ADHD is the lack of playtime given.Parents and teachers want to be more controlling of these children by not letting them play.On the other hand ,it is precisely the lack of playtime and sleep that makes these children hyperactive.In other words,the more play time you give them,the more quickly they grow out of ADHD and become normal.And by trying to control the boy with ADHD,you are more likely to make the problem worse.
I wonder if the same thing is happening here with sexual orientation.They are trying to restrict the sexual orientation instead of giving them a safer way to fantasize.I wonder if this makes their urge to act upon their desires stronger.
In any case,they have served their prison time,they should be set free.And sex offender registry should not be made public,the same way murderers are not made public.
And Dave,I agree very much with your original comment on this.
“The entire documentary is pretty sickening, reminiscent of the re-education of Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four or the behavioral modification of Alex in A Clockwork Orange.”
True,very true.
What does “sexual orientation” have to do with Coalinga Hospital? An estimated 50% of sex offenders against children are not “pedophiles” or any other unusual “sexual orientation.” They are psychopaths, for example, who usually prefer adult victims.
I’m not wholly convinced that “pedophiles” really exist. There are certainly financial motives for psychotherapists and the rescue industry to promote the idea that there is such a group, and parents have an incentive to believe it too (the existence of “pedophiles” is a perfect excuse to maintain traditional authoritarian control over children under the guise of “protection”), but I’m reluctant to believe that reality is so convenient to so many special interests.
The fact that some individuals think they are “pedophiles” themselves doesn’t weaken my position, anymore than the fact that millions of people think they are “Christians,” although they actually have little or nothing in common with the story of Jesus of Nazareth.
Frank,you are absolutely correct.Sexual orientation has nothing to do with these crimes.But that’s precisely what they are trying to “treat” in Coalinga.Isn’t it ?That’s why I brought it up.Basically,they declare these prisoners “mentally ill” because of what they believe is their sexual orientation.And the only person that got out of Coalinga had to physically castrate himself to prove that he is now “safe”.
But I agree with you 100% on this.”Sexual Orientation” is irrelevant here.
“I’m not wholly convinced that “pedophiles” really exist”
That is an interesting comment.Although I don’t know if pedophiles do really exist,I do know that a lot of what gets labeled as pedophilia is absoulutely normal behaviour.Children,like pets,have a natural likability about them.I think there was a study in the 60s or so where people were asked “do you love children?” and 90% replied “yes”.So they were all pedophiles.Nowadays nobody will dare say that they love children.
You are correct about psychotherapy as well.A lot of these so called social and behavioral sciences are nothing but pseudosciences that are used to provide support for all kinds of nasty political agenda .Richard Feynman will call these cargo-cult science.
http://www.lhup.edu/~DSIMANEK/cargocul.htm
I was disappointed the documentarian didn’t delve more into the individual rights aspect, or the notion that these people are being punished for their thoughts rather than actions. He seemed completely comfortable with the idea that they should be incarcerated, particularly in the final interview where he suggested the prisoner’s reluctance to relate his crimes in detail would be problematic once he got out into the world (though I’m sure the interviewer would be happy to know that we have the Scarlet Letter of sex offender registries to make sure he can’t live out his life in peace).
I can see them withdrawing funding, but not releasing them. At best (worst?) they would just be sucked back into the prison system.
I thought it was interesting during the documentary when the interviewer and doctor (or whoever she was) suggested the classic poster with the boy and girl in a soda fountain was a dilemma. She postulated the boy might be as young as 16!
But that would be far outside the range of pedophilia (which is limited to prepubescence). In fact, some level of sexual attraction to 16-year-olds would be considered normal. To me, this seems like a great step forward.
Thanks to government, crusading NGOs, and the media, I think most people consider pedophilia to be sex with anyone under the magical age of 18. And that is in spite of the age of consent in most states. I doubt most people even know what the age of consent is in their own state.
Of course, 18 is an arbitrary age pulled out of the collective ass of state and/or federal legislatures (as is the age of consent) whereas sexual attraction is really governed by hormonal and other physical changes in the body.
To suggest that an adult of any age must necessarily be suffering from some dangerous mental condition if he is attracted to minors under 18 or under the age of consent is based on groupthink dressed up to look like science. The mental health industry is big business and it has a huge interest in getting government, its biggest customer, to supply it with an ever increasing number of patients. And, as we all know, sex offenders are fair game. It will be interesting to see how these kinds of costly programs fare when states start having to face financial default in the coming years.
You only have to go back a handful of years to remember that the psychiatrists used to preach that masturbation and homosexuality were mental disorders, but changed their minds under social pressure. Bill is right when he calls it pseudoscience.
In the words of Thomas Szasz:
Psychiatry is institutionalized scientism: it is the systematic imitation, impersonation, counterfeiting, and deception. …
…Mutatis mutandis: every science consists of classification, control, and prediction; hence to prove psychiatry is a science, the psychiatrist classifies, controls, predicts. The result is that he classifies people as mad; that he confines them as dangerous (to themselves or others); and that he predicts people’s behavior, robbing them of their free will and hence of their very humanity.
BoogaFrito,
Attraction to a 16 year is not abnormal at all.In fact I read about this one research(I can’t find the link to it) and it suggested that the average men are MOST attracted to 16 and half year olds.
Robert Epstein argues that adolescents should be treated as adults,not as children.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200703/trashing-teens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_pKVCGJ7E4
I think one of the worst parts of this hysteria is probably the fact that they are treating teenagers like little babies.
The youtube link is interesting, but the link to the link to the Psychology Today article is much more comprehensive and thought provoking. Epstein, who I am not really familiar with, makes the case pretty quickly that adolescence is an invention to artificially extend childhood into adulthood. His book, “The Case Against Adolescence” might be worth reading. I added it to my wish list, but my reading list is probably already long enough to keep me busy for another fifty years or so.
Thanks for posting the links.
I was convicted in 2006 of oral copulation upon a minor (female 16) and I am now a registered sex offender in CA. Alcohol was the main ingredient in that crime, it was consensual, but by law, illegal. As I’m sure most would agree, “you do stupid shit when your fucked up!” The Judge in my case stated the same opinion, but she said her hands were tied due to CA minimum sentencing requirements.
The police report stated that they suspected many more victims and that the Detective considered me to be a dangerous individual. He formed this opinion of me in a less than 15 minute conversation, by the way, they. They interviewed all my sons friends, my girlfriends kids, my present and past Little League teams, and my sons schoolmates, which turned up nothing. Talk about a witch hunt, and a great waste of public resources!
I spent 8 months in the county jail, 3 years probation, and paid over $40,000.00 in fines, attorney and sex offender treatment fee’s. I also lost joint custody of my 2 sons, and a stellar reputation as a father, baseball coach, and citizen.
I spent 2 years in a low level sex offender treatment program that was more about shaming the offender than correcting a problem. I did not see any of those 12 men in that program as having a problem with sexual tendencies toward children. Like myself, they were all there for one time consensual sexual encounters with an adolescent.
Before all this happened to me, I was of the same mindset as the rest. I feared and loathed the sex offender, because I was led to believe that way. I’ve done a lot of research into this subject, and I can’t believe all the misleading, and outright lies that are spread about sexual offending. I’ve found a vast majority of the sex offender hysteria is spread by feminist’s and their cohorts.
Jay, thanks for visiting and sharing your story.
They persecute sex offenders because they can. The penalty for many sex offenses can be greater than for murder because being a registered sex offender essentially blocks the way to ever having a normal life again.
I’d be curious to know the purpose of the treatment program. Being attracted to a 16 year old girl is hardly a mental disorder.