Parents Invited to Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Trainings Next Month

---

Albert Marnell September 26, 2006 9:11 pm (Pacific time)

I remember 1968-1974 as if it were yesterday. I was a teenager. I can speak mostly for the boys and a few of the girls. The boys would have welcomed an opportunity to have sex with an adult of their choosing. It would have been a badge of honor. All of the guys I grew up with would have bragged and bragged and would have been sexually predatory to adult women if they could get away with it. I did not know one male teenager that was hung up about having sex with a grown woman. I was also good friends with a girl who seduced the bus driver when she was 16. He was a Sean Connery type and she got what she wanted; no trauma, just fond memories. She told me everything. If the teenager persues the adult as alot of us did, I think it is ok. Trust me, as long as the teenager is in control of the hunt, it ain't no problem psychologically. When I was sixteen I had a chance to do it and my mother intervined and ruined everything. Now that I am much older, I see from a guys perspective that she did the wrong thing. As long as the teenager calls the shots, no harm is done as long as the parents mind their own business. In that way the teens in my neighborhood had a blast. I remember one guy trying to seduce the German teacher. I was watching from behind the seens. The teacher wanted it but she was worried about her job and the esteem of her peers. The guy's name was Chris and he was only 16 but looked much older. Who has the right to judge the situations of my long lost teen years. How other people feel is their right and their business. But do not tell me that my friends and I were "Abnormal" and sick. My two Sicilian grandparents married at 16.

---

Anonymous September 25, 2006 6:08 pm (Pacific time)

Every one seems to be fixated on catching the sex offender AFTER they offend. What about the early signs, before they've ever offended? Why aren't we teaching our boys (especially, not exclusively) how NOT to give into temptation, how NOT to act on their fantasies, and what the serious consequences are if they do. Sex is a natural instinct, and it's no mystery that MANY boys are never given any instruction as to how to handle their urges. These days, the "boys will be boys" just doesn't fly anymore, and it's irresponsible of parents to just let them raise themselves, chalking it up to "sowing their wild oats", when the end result is so traumatizing for every one. This isn't a political agenda, it's a SOCIETAL sickness, and it's gone unchecked and untreated for far too long. Has anyone looked at the number of Measure 11 offenses that are locking people up in prisons while they receive NO treatment? So many of these are first offenses, the type that wouldn't have even got a slap on the wrist when most of us were growing up. We needed protection then too, but this isn't the answer. A witch hunt... be careful, because by today's definitions, there are sex offenders absolutely everywhere. I hope none of you try to have spontaneous consentual sex anywhere but behind closed doors... passion has been outlawed, regardless of age or consequence. Thanks for bringing this out in the open, we need factual information, and LOTS of it, or people won't think it could ever "happen to them." Ha!

---

Albert Marnell September 25, 2006 3:54 am (Pacific time)

Each individual crime has to be treated very, very carefully. Each accusation has to be treated very, very carefully. An accusation is the easiest thing in the world to make and has ruined or hurt many lives. The excessive fear of all things sexual in the country has become part of the paranoid national conversation along side of terrorism. If you have been following divorce cases among people in your circles you will see the commonness of false allegations usually against the father. When there is a divorce proceeding the primary reason for the divorce rarely has anything to do with child molestation. Lawyers often add that in to give an extra punch to the male and sometimes female in the list of reasons for the divorce (even through unsubstantiated innuendo). This should be a red flag as to the validity of the accusation. Lawyers are (in a addition to many good things) professional liars and melodramatic actors. False accusations should have a far greater penalty than any sexual offense. And again most people do not even know the spectrum of things called sexual offenses or behaviors that label one as a sexual predator or sex offender.

---

Lela September 24, 2006 6:17 pm (Pacific time)

To let anyone know who has read this article, on October 15, CCTV, Comcast Cable Channel 22, 11:30 PM will air "S.O.S. on Sex Offenders - An Awareness Journey", which is the first episode of an eight-part mini series about the serious issue of sex offenders. It is an educational awareness series providing information as to the different levels of sex offenders and their crime. It is also a journey into the lives of four sex offenders and the many layers there are in this area. It is an important series on the issue of increasing public awareness on what needs to be done to monitor the offenders when they are released from prison and the focus on the ones considered to still be a threat versus those that have successfully completed treatment and are still attending support groups and treatment and who, though still needing monitored, as deemed to be no longer a threat to society. This series is in no way intended to diminish the importance of the needs of the victims or their suffering but to increase the awareness of the public.

[Return to Top]

---

©2025 Salem-News.com. All opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Salem-News.com.