Jim Taylor’s Weblog

• For example, Save the Children UK recently released a study of sexual abuse in Liberia. They accused UN peacekeepers, aid workers, and teachers of having sex with girls as young as eight. According to Save the Children, “an alarming number of girls are being sexually exploited by men in authority in refugee camps… sometimes for as little as a bottle of beer, a ride in an aid vehicle, or watching a film.”
          Similar charges have been made in Ivory Coast, Haiti, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The UN itself has accused members of its peacekeeping forces of rape, pedophilia, and paying for sex with food or money intended for aid.

• When rape and prostitution rings were first exposed ten years ago in Cambodia, Yasushi Akashi, the man in charge of the UN mission there, dismissed the charges with an airy “Boys will be boys!”
• In January, Col. Janis Karpinski – former commander of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq – testified in New York about the deaths of female American soldiers. They died of dehydration, Karpinski said. They were afraid to go outside to the women\’s latrine after dark. Because their own male comrades lurked in the darkness to assault and rape them.
          They refused to drink liquids after three or four in the afternoon so they wouldn\’t have to urinate during the night, Karpinski explained. “In 120 degree heat or warmer, because there was no air-conditioning at most of the facilities, they were dying of dehydration in their sleep.”
          According to Karpinski, 83 incidents were reported to a rape hot-line during a six-month period.

• In the last six years, 2995 men have c hosen to attend Toronto\’s “John School” after being nabbed for trying to pick up hookers. In March alone, Toronto police arrested 127 “johns” in a single area.
• Both Canada and the U.S. maintain chronic Sex Offender Registries. From what I can tell, they are populated almost exclusively by males.

        Do you see a pattern emerging here?

An expression of power

;      These days, it\’s not politically correct to apply gender-based judgement. Unfortunately, that often means ignoring the obvious. And in this case, it is obvious to me that this is a men\’s problem. It\’s about some men\’s inability to control their sex drive. And about society\’s unthinking tolerance of their disability.
        When our kids were younger, I attended a community workshop on protecting oneself against rape and mugging. A member of the Toronto police counselled women not to fight against rapists. They might get injured, even killed. It was safer, the cop assured them, to “lay back and enjoy it.”
        No cop would get away with saying that today. But I\’ve no doubt that the attitude persists.
        Let\’s face the truth – rape is primarily a male expression of power. In war, it is endorsed – explicitly or implicitly – by military commanders as a means of dominating and humiliating a conquered people.
        What\’s the answer? Some might argue for massive doses of saltpetre or estrogen. Or even castration. But that kind of universal condemnation would be just as sexist and unfair as previous prejudices that regarded all women as whores and harlots.
        Rather, social attitudes need to change. Of course men will want sex. But they are not entitled to it. They are certainly not entitled to it if satisfying their desires harms someone else.
        The girl in Armstrong was found. Alive, thank God. But hardly safe. Her life will never be the same again. Because one man was unable or unwilling to control his urges.
        That\’s the point. We men must learn that our urges can be controlled.

Addictive organs
        Testosterone has pushed males to great achievements in sports, science, engineering, and government. Testosterone becomes dangerous only when it cannot be kept under control. It is wrong when sexual gratification becomes an addiction.
        Almost every school today has some kind of drug awareness program. Kids learn that cocaine and crystal meth can overwhelm one\’s judgement, reason, and common sense. I wonder how many schools have programs to teach young men that their testicles can have the same effect?
        A joke on the Internet suggests that God created the males of all species with enough blood supply to operate either their brain or their reproductive apparatus – but not both at once.
        Despite occasional evidence to the contrary, most men are social creatures. Like dogs and horses, they act in ways they believe socially acceptable. We need to build a social climate in which every male knows that it is never acceptable to surrender his freewill to his hormones.
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Copyright © 2006 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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