Women go online to share child sex-abuse fantasies

It is amazing what one finds when one actually bothers to look. For years we have heard about internet sexual predators, people who use the internet to fantasize about raping children, which may then lead those people to physically acting it out on an innocent child. The people are always men, something verified by sting operations occurring world wide. However, that notion might actually just be a presumption on the part of authorities:

Thousands of women appear to be using the internet to share sexual fantasies of abuse involving children.

An investigation by The Independent on Sunday found a series of websites that depict female-perpetrated child abuse as “natural, educational and enjoyable” for children.

Users log into online forums to meet other “like-minded” web users and to share personal childhood experiences about sexual acts with adults that they say include mothers, teachers and babysitters. User profiles on one website monitored by the IoS claimed to be those of teachers, doctors and retired grandmothers with an interest in “young girls” and “lesbian incest”.

The postings on such sites – assuming they are not posted by men – run counter to the widely held belief that female abusers are either anomalies or feel forced into such depravity by abusive men. Many of the users appear to have easy access to children and describe deriving sexual gratification from sharing their fantasises.

In my experience the only difference between male and female pedophiles is that female pedophiles have a social buffer zone in which to operate.

Bulletin Board v64

Abuse victims dismiss Pope’s act of contrition as ‘inadequate’ — Victims of clerical abuse last night dismissed the Pope’s statement as “inadequate” and “meaningless”, with one man vowing to take legal action because of the slow response from the Church. Mervyn Rundle, who was abused while serving as an altar boy, had been vociferous in his calls for Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray to resign over criticisms contained in the Murphy report.

A Feminist Weighs in on the Side of Campus Men’s Groups — It’s interesting to read what people have to say about men’s rights, fathers’ rights, etc. At least if the people are well-intentioned, as so few seem to be, it provides a kind of a window on the world, a glimpse of what people think who aren’t die-hard partisans one way or the other. And so it is here (Guardian, 11/24/09).

Bay Area Women Against Rape runs hot line for male survivors of sexual assault — As its name suggests,, Bay Area Women Against Rape is an agency that was founded by women to help women. But that was 38 years ago. Since that time, the agency has grown, expanded its focus, assisted more people annually, and earlier this year started a sexual-assault hot line (510-845-7273) for male sexual-assault victims and men who want to support a woman rape victim.

Bond granted for woman accused of child abuse — A Harrison Township woman who spent more than four years behind bars on a child abuse conviction was granted bond Wednesday as she awaits a new trial. Julie Baumer’s relatives and supporters hugged and shook hands after Macomb County Circuit Court Judge James M. Biernat outlined the terms of her release from the Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti.

Rhonda Bays: The American Vanessa George

From the article (Update):

Bays let her boyfriend molest her 4-year-old relative, videotaped the incident at an Orlando hotel and later offered up a 2-year-old for potential abuse. Bays, who once ran for mayor of Umatilla, has pleaded guilty in federal court and faces up to 30 years in prison. [...] Bays, a 39-year-old mother from Eustis, and Stickney, 29, were arrested in May after Stickney traveled from his home in Washington, D.C., to Orlando, where he planned to have another sexual encounter arranged by Bays.

Days prior to their arrests, court documents said, Bays told Stickney the boy whom he abused earlier “may not be available,” but she offered up a replacement: a 2-year-old relative.

Her attorney plays the “she was manipulated by her boyfriend” card to the point:

As part of his arguments why Bays should be spared from spending three decades behind bars, Fletcher also noted she has no criminal history and is does not endanger to the community.

Fletcher wrote that Bays is a “very sick person.” He said Stickney “used Ms. Bays for his evil exploits.”

Fletcher noted that a psychiatrist’s report indicates Bays “would be susceptible to a super predator like Mr. Stickney.”

Except:

But prosecutors have argued the “particularly heinous nature” of Bays case warrants a weighty sentence.

Investigators who read Internet “chats” between Bays and Stickney found that Bays once said if she were caught, “I am pretty much declared incompetent so even if I get caught, I can play it off and not get into trouble,” court documents said.

A myth is busted: Testosterone not tied to aggression

From the article:

PARIS: A new study challenges the common belief that testosterone causes aggression in humans and proposes instead that the hormone encourages status-seeking behaviour, the journal Nature reported.

The study involving 120 women, also showed that folk wisdom about the effects of the sexual hormone is so strong that people behave more aggressively if they believe they have been given a dose even if they have not, the journal said.

Testosterone is a steroid hormone secreted by the male testes and to a lesser extent by the female ovaries that affects brain development and sexual behaviour. Research has found that it leads to a substantial increase in aggressive behaviour in rodents.

“Folk wisdom generalises and adapts these findings to humans, suggesting that testosterone induces antisocial, egoistic, or even aggressive human behaviours,” says the study published on Tuesday.

Given the size of the sample group I am not inclined to say that the myth is busted, although I agree it is certainly dented. What is interesting about the results is that they show how powerful a social “truth” can be. It may turn out that the last twenty years of various professionals and political groups relentlessly proclaiming that testosterone causes aggression might have played a much larger role in causing expressions of that aggression than anything biological in nature.

Meeting Halfway

I spotted a curious article on Misandry Review. Amanda Hess wrote a piece men’s rights advocates and feminists. As noted on Misandry Review, Hess attempts a little introspection and sensitivity to men’s issues, although the piece is littered with less than favorable remarks about men’s groups. Hess states:

The examination of sexual assaults against men got an interesting response from some feminist commenters over on Sady’s blog, Tiger Beatdown (Yes! This is a special guest edition of Sexist Comments of the Week!) Namely: Don’t feed the MRA’s!

MRAs, for the uninitiated, is shorthand for “Men’s Rights Activists.” These guys are kind of like feminists, only instead of focusing on reproductive rights, objectification of women, and sexual assault, they’re more concerned with other systems of oppression—like divorce court, the Selective Service, and male circumcision. Because—say it with me—the patriarchy oppresses men too, there’s no reason that MRA’s and feminists shouldn’t get along. Except for one minor detail: MRA’s tend to believe that feminism is the root of most of these problems that affect men, and we tend to see that’s pretty much bullshit.

The unfortunate result of that divide is that feminists have sometimes discounted important issues to our movement—like violence and sexual assault against men—by relegating their discussion to the MRA community, where the issues can sometimes take on . . . interesting twists.

Hess goes on to quote from Sady, a blogger from Tiger Beatdown:

Fecke’s One-Third Fail

Update

The bloggers at Alas, a blog have a notorious history of denialism and apologism when it comes to discussing male rape victims. The general consensus on that blog is that male victims are so rare as to be negligible and are therefore not worthy of much discussion or concern. The typical response to any mentioning of male victims on that blog is “Here’s another what about teh menz,” especially if male victims are mentioned on any threads about rape. Being such, whenever I see male rape being discussed on that blog I cringe in the same way I cringe whenever the Vatican decides to comment on child sexual abuse because there will always be some element of victim-blaming, scapegoating or denial of facts.

So I was somewhat surprised by Jeff Fecke’s recent post about a New York Observer article. The NYO article gave an anecdotal account of a young man named Seth got very drunk and a woman named Sabrina who offered to take him home. Sabrina took advantage of Seth’s intoxication and had sex with him. In other words she raped him. Several months later she did the same thing to another man.

Most people would likely agree if that if the roles were reversed Seth would be a serial rapist. However, as it was presented, most people, including feminists, would either consider Seth lucky or stupid for getting that drunk and having a woman have sex with him. Surprisingly, Fecke agrees with that conclusion:

Statewide survey shows “ball tapping” problem widespread

From the article:

It’s a disturbing game with devastating consequences, and a new WTHR survey suggests it is rampant in Indiana schools.

“Ball tapping” is the act of intentionally hitting or kicking a male in the genitals. Earlier this month, an Eyewitness News investigation showed the game has become commonplace in some area schools, resulting in serious injuries for students.

As part of the investigation, WTHR also conducted a statewide survey of school nurses. The results are in, and they show the problem of ball tapping is more common and widespread than many school officials had realized.

“New perspective”

School nurses from 163 Indiana schools participated in the anonymous survey, and 33% of those nurses said they’re aware of ball tapping happening at their school within the past twelve months.

But a closer look at the statistics shows the problem is much more serious in some schools than in others.

23% of school nurses who work at the elementary level say they’ve seen or heard of ball tapping at their school. That number nearly doubles in high schools, where 43% of school nurses say they’ve seen it.

And in middle schools, 62% of school nurses said they’re aware of students engaged in ball tapping.

This is not the first I have heard of this, but this is the first time I have seen it covered by any media outlets. Of course, the story does not appear to have been picked up nationally. Physical and sexual violence against boys is not an issue that raises much attention, despite the severity of the above numbers. It is, however, a very real problem.

The term “ball tapping” makes it sound relatively benign. A more accurate description would be “ball kicking.” According to the article, one of the nurses surveyed stated, “This is not a new situation. It has popped up periodically in our school system from year to year. Students seem to think it is “funny” or “harmless”. We have gone to a great length to educate our students (esp. middle school aged students) that this is not acceptable conduct and that it can result in horrible injury. It seems to be a middle grade mentality type of thing. We have issues with both boys “tapping” other boys, and girls “tapping” boys because it gives an immediate reaction.”