Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.91.950727110624.13682B-100000 Date: Thu, 27 Jul 1995 11:15:35 -0400 From: "Vera M. Britto" <mailto:fiatlux@UMICH.EDU> Subject: Re: news item (off-topic, but you will see why) To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
On Wed, 26 Jul 1995, Tjip Walker wrote:> I am perplexed by Ms. Britto's response on two levels. First, she states
> that she thinks the first posting was inappropriate for this list, but
> then she proceeds to perpetuate the thread with her own equally off-topic
> argument.
>
i think the post carries misinformation and it should be replied to.> Second, I find her reading of the original post somewhat strange. At
> least as the situation was related, the only thing "suspicious" about this
very well stated - "the way the situation was related" does not tell us what was happening - only how one person decided to write about it. what was distorted or left out or made up is impossible for anyone on the list to know. if there was reason to be suspicious, it is clear that the writer (who opposed the stranger investigating the situation) might have told it differently. therefore if you believe everything that is told without questioning, then there is no reason to have a discussion.
> situation is that the father and the child bore no obvious physical
> similarities. But if you think about the number of divorces/remarriages
> or adoptions in this country, then it would seem to me that such
> "dis-similarity" is no grounds for suspicion. Moreover, the by-stander
> observed no offensive behavior. There was no wailing, or shouting, or
> striking. Nothing to suggest that this relationship was anything other
signs of child abuse can be much more subtle depending on the situation and context. if blatant signs as the above are routinely ignored in the society we live in, imagine the more subtle ones.
> than familial. Under the circumstances related, I find the bystander's
> behavior as unduly meddlesome. And I bet that if the gender of the
> parent in the car had been the reverse, and even with the same degree of
> physical dis-similarity, that no suspicions would have been aroused. So
> not only is the bystander's behavior meddlesome, but it is also sexist.
>
your above statement shows ignorance on child sexual abuse. gender is not equal. 90 per cent of child sexual abusers are male. it is not the same for women. therefore if people are more suspicious of male violence, it shows a sense of reality. this is not to say that people should not be alert to any signs of women mistreating children as well.> I, too, abhor child abuse. But I believe we need stronger grounds than
> those presented in this vignette before we make such serious accusations.
>
abhoring child abuse in theory does not do anything to help in practice, although it is a first step.> Tjip Walker
>
> Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University
> phone: (812) 855-2562 fax: (812) 855-3150
>
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