My Posting for Class Discussion Board week 11

Posting week 11
Community Action against Paedophiles- how far have we come in our thinking from the Nazi’s Arian Nation?
When is Social Collective Action not in the best interest of the community or individuals?
I have been on a personal struggle for a few days now, since returning home and finding shoved into my letter box a newsletter calling for collective action against paedophiles and asking for people to join their fight.

The newsletter starts with the call for the assets of paedophiles to be confiscated and the proceeds used for two things:
 The provision of support for their victims.
 And for research to identify the DNA of paedophiles.

It goes on to say that the wives and children of men who abusing kids are silent because the men control the money. If the law confiscated paedophiles assets then the wives and children would be more likely to speak up because they would know they could have access to the money and a place to live.

It justifies its call for DNA research by claiming that ‘paedophiles are comparing themselves to the Gay community’ as like Gay people they (paedophiles) are ‘born that way it is part of their DNA’. The newsletter further claims that paedophiles believe that their actions will eventually become accepted by society as a legitimate relationship similar to same sex relationships.

In spending what limited time I had in finding the research relating to these alarming statements- recent research on men who sexually assault children states that:

‘Empirical research has produced no single psychological profile of sexual abusers (Frosh, 1995; Calder and Skinner, 2000, p. 97). In terms of unresolved trauma, fewer than 50 per cent of male perpetrators appear to have been themselves sexual abused as children and significantly more male sex abusers may have been physically abused’ (Corby, 2000 Fairfield 2008 p 1082).

This articles clearly shows that there are some linkages to personal experience- sexual abuse and even physical abuse that the perpetrator experienced in childhood, I can not see a connection to the with the newsletter being ‘born that way DNA’ statements.

This newsletter has disturbed me on so many levels, and has feed into my deep concerns of how far have we come when we address horrific issues such as child abuse as a society. What and how do we treat the abusers in our society. I have just begun reading Lynne Healy’s book on International Social Work (2001) and it is disturbing fact that in Germany in the late 1920’s the government condoned as practice the sterilisation of ‘undesirable people’ (including alcoholics, and the handicapped) with mandatory reporting clause that extended to many professions including social work. They were not alone in their view at this time, Italy set up the Higher Fascist School for Social Assistance in Industry and Spain closed its school of social work and opened up its own schools of social work under the Franco regime (Healy p31).

The abuse of a child is not acceptable, and whilst I don’t know the statistics I can refer to my own work experience where with interventions, supports and therapy it is possible for individuals to change. This I am aware this is not possible for everyone, but there are those not only want to but work very hard to implement changes into their lives. It by no means reduces the harm that they have caused but it does prevent them from inflicting further harm.

Calder, M. and Skinner, J. (2000) ‘The comprehensive assessment of adult males who sexually abuse children’, in M. Calder, with Goulding, S., Hanks, H., Regan, L., Rose, K.,Skinner, J. and Wynne, J. (eds), The Complete Guide to Sexual Abuse Assessments, Lyme Regis, Dorset, Russell House Publishing, pp. 97–153.

Farnfield, S. (2008). British Journal of Social Work A Theoretical Model for the Comprehensive Assessment of Parenting 38, 1076–1099

Healy, L. (2001). International Social Work Professional Action In An Interdependent World. Oxford University Press New York