Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board
Voicelessness and Emotional Survival => Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board => Topic started by: Magnolia44 on July 18, 2006, 05:16:20 PM
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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/076791581X/ref=ase_healthwayspress/102-3587267-8533704?s=books&v=glance&n=283155&tagActionCode=healthwayspress
It is said that 1/3 of America's children experience sexual abuse. All sexual predators are sociopaths. This authors claims that 1 out of 25 people in the US are sociopathic, I think it is more.
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I don't think sexual abuse is nearly as common as physical abuse, nor physical abuse as common as emotional abuse.
There is currently in most societies a lack of cohesion as to what is emotional and physical abuse though, so I think we focus more on sexual abuse as it seems more clear-cut.
All sexual predators are sociopaths
maybe some are, but my experience is sexual abusers are 'minimisers' ( of the harm done within their own life, their own impoverished psyche, and the impact they have upon their victims ) and substance abusers ( particularly alcohol- the largest amount of sexual assault seems to be committed whilst the perpetrator is drunk )
A lot of the problem seems to me not predatory but opportunistic exploitation of a situation and someone's vulnerability. Lack of self-control is the most important factor: whatever a person's desires, fantasies or situations, or the situation they find themselves in, it is a responsibility to not act out.
This is another dichotomy of the modern world, where we are constantly encouraged to explore and experience for ourselves, to let go of social and psychological constraints.
The old values of good and evil were there for a reason.
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Well said, Write.
What you describe is how it played out in my own family. Thanks for bringing a bit deeper understanding to all of this.
Hope
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I agree, Write:
A lot of the problem seems to me not predatory but opportunistic exploitation of a situation and someone's vulnerability. Lack of self-control is the most important factor
Except that I think the sense of entitlement is the most important factor. (My urge is uncomfortable, therefore your personhood is not as important as my entitlement to relieve my urge.) What's underneath that is, I believe, both sexism and lack of concern for children of either sex, in many cultures. Power. Force. Domination. Who's bigger gets whatever they want stuff. (The world at war is all that writ large.)
My preacher grandfather never drank a drop, and wailed his "repentance" on hands and knees (after he was caught). That didn't keep his hands off his daughters, though. :(
Hops