By Tim Stanley
The Telegraph
November 20, 2011
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100118668/the-child-abuse-scandal-at-pennsylvania-state-university-proves-that-paedophilia-isnt-just-a-priest-problem/
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| Jerry Sandusky's arrest for child abuse has rocked the American sporting establishment |
Until recently, most Americans probably associated the systematic sexual abuse of children exclusively with the Catholic Church. The scandal at Pennsylvania State University has changed all that. Allegations that the university's assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky, sexually assaulted at least eight underage boys on or near school property over a 40-year period demonstrates that paedophilia is not just a "priest problem". That university authorities allegedly covered up his activities also shows that it isn't only Catholic bishops who conspire to protect their reputations at the cost of public safety. The ugly "boys' club" culture that safeguards sexual predators is a universal problem.
Jerry Sandusky roomed at the top of the American sporting establishment. From 1969 to 1999, he was assistant coach at Penn State and helped produce several pro-football greats. He hosted celebrated summer football camps and founded a charity called The Second Mile that was officially commended by President George HW Bush in 1990. Although he never fulfilled his dream of replacing Penn State's head coach Joe Paterno, he was honoured with Assistant Coach of the Year awards in 1986 and 1999. Sandusky was also apparently happily married, with several adopted and fostered children.
The football coach's arrest therefore marks a break from the usual media stereotype of paedophiles as sexually frustrated Catholic priests. America has never been entirely comfortable with Catholicism. The election of a Catholic to the presidency in 1960 supposedly ended hundreds of years of social exclusion. But in the popular, largely Protestant imagination the Catholic Church remained foreign and threatening. The clergy sexual abuse scandal confirmed two popular prejudices about the Church. First, that its practice of celibacy encourages sexual deviancy. To quote columnist Andrew Sullivan, "Celibacy is an onerous burden that can easily distort a person's psyche. Moreover, many sexually conflicted men gravitate to the priesthood precisely because it promises to put a straitjacket on their compulsions and confusions." Second, the cover up of sexual abuse by the bishops suggests that the Church truly is a Popish conspiracy: an international intrigue that lives by its own laws.
But Sandusky's arrest demonstrates that it doesn't require the "suffocating" sexual pressure of holy orders to turn a man into a sexual deviant. On the contrary, it confirms what common sense already tells us: paedophiles are drawn to any institution that offers unfettered access to children. That's the conclusion of this 2007 psychiatric study, which found that in roughly 70 percent of cases victims know their attackers and that assaults typically occur in situations of non-parental supervision (baby sitters, teachers, football coaches). While the study claimed that a majority of paedophiles are either substance abusers or hooked on a simultaneous fetish (voyeurism, exhibitionism etc), they also tend to be of above average intelligence and target broken family units or particularly vulnerable children. In short, paedophiles are not the products of institutionalised behaviour. They are lone wolves.
Certainly, paedophile activities are not limited to the American Catholic Church. A recent report by the US Department of Education revealed that a child is more than 100 times more likely to be sexually abused by a public school teacher than by a priest. To quote: "a study by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops concluded that 10,667 young people were sexually mistreated by priests between 1950 and 2002. In contrast, [it] extrapolates from a national survey conducted for the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation in 2000 that roughly 290,000 students experienced some sort of physical sexual abuse by a public school employee between 1991 and 2000." Ergo, Sandusky's activities are part of a wider story of criminal infiltration of our national institutions.
Moreover, the way that Penn State handled Sandusky indicates that the Catholic Church's culture of cronyism and incompetence is far from unique. People within the university allegedly misappropriated records, lobbied to have the investigation quashed, ignored accusers and even turned a blind eye to witnessed abuse. Iconic head coach Joe Paterno, apparently, did not pass on information about Sandusky being caught in the act of raping a 10 year old boy in the showers.
Who is guilty of what has yet to be resolved, but that Sandusky could go on preying on boys at the university (including after he had retired) points to a vile culture at work at Penn State. University officials prioritised the reputation of their football team over the innocence of the kids in their care. Now that the twin evils of child abuse and conspiracy have been detected at the pinnacle of the sporting and educational establishments, it's time to move on from crass stereotypes of paedophilia as a "priest problem". It is something that bedevils the whole of American society.
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