FROMONLINE | 2011-11-20

  • By Tami Lange
  • November 20, 2011
  • 264
                        
Though it has yet to be proved in a court of law, there seems very little doubt that Jerry Sandusky is mostly likely a pedophile – a sexual molester of young boys. Last week, I saw someone look at a photo of Sandusky and say, “He even LOOKS like a pervert.” No, I would beg to differ. If you believe he IS a sexual offender (as many do), he actually starts to LOOK like one. Oh, were it that easy. If only sexual predators wore signs or “acted” creepy around kids, we could console ourselves by knowing from whom our kids needed protected. Several years ago, while still a working reporter, I interviewed a therapist who worked with offenders. I remember her saying a child sex offender doesn’t “hide in dark streets wearing a vomit-stained rain coat.” To prove her point, she invited me to attend a support group for offenders who allegedly were in recovery and had been ordered by the court to attend these meetings as a term of their parole or probation. I could quote them and talk to them, she said. I could not identify them in my story. It was, to say the least, an unsettling experience – not because of how frightening these men were – but rather because they seemed so “normal” … until they started to talk about children and sex. I heard the whole range of reasoning – his 12-year-old stepdaughter was dressed provocatively; as long as he was gentle, what was the problem with introducing children to sex? And the list went on. Not one of these men blamed alcohol or drugs. Some suggested they, too, had been molested years before. But not one of them seemed bothered by what they had done. They did seem very sorry they’d gotten caught. And so I return to the Sandusky interview. While any sane person would have taken this opportunity to proclaim their innocence from the highest mountaintop, Sandusky seemed tentative, even repeating and pausing when Costas asked him whether he was sexually attracted to boys. He was just like those men. He seemed to flat out not understand what he had done was wrong. And, one could reason, if you don’t understand your behavior was inappropriate and hurtful, you’re not likely to be inclined to change it. While the specter of Jerry Sandusky is enough to make my blood run cold, what really bothers me – and other parents I know – is that people who could potentially hurt our children can at the same time seem so “normal.” They have regular family lives, they have steady employment and – most frightening – they don’t come across as feeling particularly guilty or repentant. It’s enough to try to protect your child from sickness, from bullying, from death, from hunger and from poverty. Those are things we know, we can see, we can deal with and remedy. But who is the next Jerry Sandusky? Maybe he’s already among us. And that is the worst fear of all. Wooster Weekly News columnist Tami Lange can be reached via e-mail at tam108@hotmail.com.


Loading next article...

End of content

No more pages to load