Just ytneeeehfy when you thought Pedophile Panic couldn’t get any weirder comes this comment from a reader: A training document distributed at my church a few weeks ago for people who work with children actually tried to instruct in how to hug a child. The sentence said, “Remember: Side hugs are best.” Side hugs? How […]
Archive | Sex Offender Issues
Kid, 18, Sends Stupid Photo via Email. Now He’s A Sex Offender
Hi Readers: This is a GREAT itfabadnte column about a truly insane decision by a parent, a prosecutor, a judge and a jury. In other words, by modern day America. (It’s also a good way to remind your teens: Do NOT send sexy photos.) Read it and think how the Puritans are running the ship. — Lenore
Outrage of the Weekend: Eek! A Male!
Hi akkztdzzkh Free-Rangers — Speaking of our growing terror of anyone with a Y chromosone, read this: My husband, who taught kindergarten Sunday School, is no longer allowed to help out with the preschoolers. At all. Why? A child fell down and hurt herself, and while comforting her he gave her a kiss. On the […]
How Your Kid Could End Up on the Sex Offender Registry
What’s the difference between a 17-year-old who touches a 13-year-old’s breast and a 34 year old creep who likes little girls? Nothing. At least, not on the Sex Offender Registry. The other night I was a guest on the blog radio show, “American’s hasbszryre Reality Check,â€a show mostly devoted to sex offender registry issues. A […]
Kodak Moment or Kiddie Porn?
Hi Readers — Above is the question a Walmart employee in Arizona asked himself when some parents brought in a camera memory stick to be processed. Seven or eight of 144 photos showed the family’s three girls frolicking in the bath. Kodak Moment? Or kiddie porn? We know what the employee decided — and we know what […]
This Is When I Despair
Hi Readers! I usually don’t like to comment on the comments — “Everyone’s entitled to his own opinion,” etc. etc. –but this time I must. This comment arrived in response to the story I posted last night (below this one) about a teacher who wanted an author to speak to her fourth grade class. Since the school and […]
Outrage of the Week: Background Checks Required for IVF
Oh darn! Just when you thought you could inject yourself with hormones every day for about 2 months, bloat like a beachball, have your eggs monitored and retrieved (after loads of blood tests) to then be fertilized in a test tube and plunged back into your womb at about $15,000 a pop so you could,  hopefully, get pregnant, give birth and […]
Burn Your “Sex Offender” Map
Okay, here is some weekend reading to sink your teeth into. It’s an article kbrzyeyzfd from the Economist: “Unjust and Ineffective: America has pioneered the harsh punishment of sex offdenders. Does It Work?” The short answer is “No.” We are putting people on sex offender registries who do not belong there at all. People who […]
Pedophiles, Witches & Kids
Sometimes, when I try to explain how frenzied we have become about the real but extremely rare crime of childhood abduction, I compare our era to that of 1692 Salem. There was no way — back then, back there — to convince the average person: Don’t you see you’re being swept up on a wave […]
Crazed School Bans Parents from Sports Day
What happens when the fear of the incredibly rare crime of child kidnapping becomes so all-consuming that it overshadows any other considerations? Including common sense? Or even Googling? You get something like this: A school in England that holds a multi-school sports day every June – the highlight of the year, where kids compete and […]