Since Polimom’s Adorable Child (AC) was born, I’ve wakened countless times in the night, full of anxiety that some stranger had come to snatch her from her bed. I stumble down the hall, careen into her room and stare into her angelic, drooling face, heart pounding… because nothing scares me more than losing that precious bit of humanity.
Polimom knows parents who have barred their childrens’ windows, or put another bed into their room for their son or daughter because their fears are so intense.
Of course they are. We’re surrounded on all sides these days by threats from these sick people – the sexual predators who are stalking our schools, playgrounds, and (lately) the internet, waiting to catch Janey or Johnny in their webs. It’s downright scary. Unfortunately, in the rising note of hysteria on this issue, we’re starting to get lost in the forest of trees.
The latest tree? The Department of Homeland Security has produced not one, but two officials in the last six months who have committed sex offenses: Brian Doyle and Frank Figueroa, leading at least one blogger to suggest that Operation Predator be removed from DHS oversight. Polimom has to wonder where would be “safe” – and how would you know that?
The problem isn’t DHS, and the problem isn’t Bush. However, David at In Search of Utopia is asking the right questions:
But what the hell is going on with Child Predators these days. Here you have in many cases, very successful people throwing it all away for lack of control of some sick desires.
The key to the sex offender problem is that very “lack of control”. He’s describing paraphilia, an under-discussed aspect of the real boogeymen. Every sex offender isn’t a dangerous predator, and it’s important that we start differentiating between deviance and danger so we can do something proactive about the Cooeys and Duncans in the world.
David’s other question is even harder: What is going on these days? It absolutely feels as if sex offenders are everywhere, doesn’t it? Are they?
Unfortunately, it’s hard to know, since increased internet stings and improved, targeted law enforcement tactics could just as easily be the cause of the increase in the headlines. If that’s the case, though, then it couldn’t be more obvious that the problem has pervaded every level of our society.
Has it always been this bad, and we just didn’t know? I can’t tell, so I’ll leave those puzzles to the sociologists. Myself, I’m going to continue to differentiate between the truly dangerous and the treatable – even while I talk to my child about the internet and strangers… and continue to stalk the darkened halls of my home in the night.