Welcome to the double standard

I did mention that I’m going to be running in one of the events in January, right?  Oh yea, of course I did because my son decided he didn’t feel like sleeping last night just to remind me what kind of stupid decision that is.  Thanks, son.  Really.  Despite the words I used that you’re not allowed to use, I really do enjoy hearing you scream at 4:00am.  Really.  Yea.  I do.  Sure.

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So, we watched Dateline last night.  Hour 1 was catching filthy perverts who troll for little girls on line and when they show up at the little girl’s house BAM! Dateline cameras, cops, jail time.  Thanks for coming over.  24 year old guys (and older) heading to some little 14 year old girl’s house for sex are nasty, perverted predators.  Making a date online with a minor is a felony.  That’s jail time in ass pounding state jail.  If you cross state lines it’s ass pounding federal jail.

 

Hour 2 covered that teacher in Florida who molested and ACTUALLY HAD SEX with her student.  She carried on a sexual relationship that included actual intercourse—not just making out or talking about it—with a 14 year old boy.  The boy’s mom dropped the charges and she was slapped with house arrest and probation on lesser charges.

 

The guys from episode 1 are sick perverts.  The chick from episode 2 is a bunch of high fives and pats on your back from your buddies.

 

There are so many social comments to be made about this.  The teacher in Florida is hot.  Totally hot.  I mean bangin’ hot.  The judge, defense lawyer, and prosecutor are all men.  Did that have any bearing?  Yup.  The “powers that be” scoff at the idea that nailing the hot 24 year old teacher is every 14 year old boy’s dream.  Guess what, it is.  What do you think little boys are doing with the SI Swimsuit Issue or Hustler magazine?  They’re not intently listening to the models’ explanation of a quadratic equation.  They’re looking at their boobies.  Those models are—yup—20, 21, 22, 23, and 24 years old.  Every 14 year old boy’s dream?  Damn right it is (at least for the straight boys).  Hell, it’s still a dream for some 30 year old boys.

I’ll tell you a secret.  It’s not one you’re going to like.  Are you ready for it?  You may want to sit down and catch your breath before I type it out.  Go ahead.  Prepare yourself.  Are you ready?

 

Guys dig hot chicks. 

 

Shocking, I know.  I’ll give you a second to compose yourself.

 

Even 14 year old guys—ESPECIALLY 14 year old guys—dig hot chicks.  Hot Teacher was a mental basket case.  She was totally hot.  She was everything a hormonal kid could want—emotionally weak, clingy, easily manipulated.  He shoots her a “Hey baby” a couple of times and catches her on a vulnerable day the BAM! He’s in the Promised Land.  High 5s in the locker room and knowing nods of “yea, I’m hittin’ that” with his boys.  She didn’t take advantage of him, he took advantage of her and all his friends wanted to be him.

 

SEE!  I CAUGHT YOU NODDING YOUR HEAD!!! 

She’s the adult.  He’s the kid.  Whether he wanted to nail the hot teacher or not is irrelevant.  She’s in a position of power (even if she wasn’t acting appropriately or in control) and never EVER should have let it go that far any more than the college professor should take advantage of the hot co-ed.  Her co-workers should have said something.  Her principal.  Someone.  She’s as filthy a pervert as the guys showing up at the little 14 year old girl’s house.

 

Unless, of course, some of those guys showing up for the little girl aren’t filthy perverts but truly emotionally crippled and confused men who are desperately trying to get caught doing something stupid (even though they don’t know they’re trying to get caught) in order to shock themselves back to reality.  If you’ve ever seen an addict careening toward rock bottom you know exactly the behavior I’m describing.  Trapped, aware of it, and unable to do anything about it they partake in increasingly risky behavior until either injury or arrest makes the problem public and they have no choice but to get help.  Sometimes they skip injury and go straight to death.

 

Do not pass go.  Do not collect $200.

 

Listening to them talk (a couple were ministerial staff, one a med student, another a father of 2 teen girls) and they were saying “I’m going to lose everything, this is so stupid, why did I do it”.  Granted, a few were simply sick freaks and filthy perverts and predators trying to get with little girls.  Lock them up, throw away the key, get to know your new cell mate, etcetera.  But what of the emotionally confused, bipolar, hot teacher types who know it’s wrong and even as they’re approaching that line continue to know it’s wrong, and feel the wrongness even as they’re crossing that next line and simply have no internal mechanism to prevent them from falling into that abyss, and pray for the cops, or their wife, or their friends to finally stop them.

 

Are they addicts?  I don’t know.  Are they sick?  Maybe.  Are they permanently broken?  I don’t know.  But should they be treated like bona-fide predators?  Is there a difference between a manipulative predator and a simple pervert?  Is the guy who organizes the Tijuana Donkey Show (another 1500 hits) more of a freak than the guy who sees “Tijuana Donkey Show” and thinks to himself, “Hm, I’ve heard of these sick exhibitions, let me see if it’s really true”?  [Don’t know what I’m talking about?  Don’t Google it if you’re kids are around.  Let me just say it involves a donkey and a girl, and she’s not riding the donkey.]   I don’t know if it’s fair to lump a father of 2 teens or a pre-med student or minister or hot teacher into the same category as a John Wayne Gasey or [Insert Name of Other Famous Predator Here].  Is the pervert simply a predator in training?  Is the proverbial bucket of cold water provided by the national cameras and cops enough to snap the mere pervert back to reality while the actual predator who seeks and hunts for his little prey too far gone to be rehabbed?  Is there a way to separate the two without sacrificing our children?

 

Granted, if I catch you touching my little boy’s little boy I’m probably going to come close to cutting your little boy off (unless you’re a hot teacher, then there’s a high 5 and maybe I’ll get your phone number).

 

Like I said, there’s a lot of social commentary to be made about this.  Lots.  Maybe there’s no rehab for these freaks.  Maybe the best rehab for these guys who legitimately did something stupid and who weren’t actually predators is to get caught, get your face on national TV, and suddenly have that thing installed (by your cellmate, maybe) that allows you to say “no, you’re too young sweetheart” or at the very least “call me back in 3 years”.