This report brings up many questions discussed on The Good Men Project — the types of actions that get men labeled “sex offenders”, how young is too young get a sexual stigma that will haunt you forever, presumption of male guilt (three children were playing together, only one boy was charged), even questions of parental supervision and how closely your children should be watched when they are young.
Excerpted from reason.com:
Last week the parents of a Wisconsin boy sued Grant County District Attorney Lisa Riniker for charging their son with first-degree sexual assault, a Class B felony, after he played “butt doctor” with a 5-year-old girl. He was 6 at the time. When the boy’s lawyer tried to have the charge dismissed, Riniker replied: “The legislature could have put an age restriction in the statute if it wanted to. The legislature did no such thing.”
According to the complaint (PDF), the girl is “the daughter of a well-known political figure in Grant County,” and her brother, who is the same age, also was involved in playing doctor but was not charged….Although the boy, now 7, is too young to be prosecuted or named in a juvenile delinquency petitition, Madison.com reports, county officials are using the felony charge to force his parents into accepting “protection or services” for him. The lawsuit says that once he turns 18, he will be listed as a sex offender.
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Read the original article here.
This is one of many cases showing how much people in our culture are becoming paranoid schizophrenics in regard to sex. I mean, a boy right here in Colorado was accused of sexual harassment for kissing a six year old girl. A father made his 5 year old son out to be a potential rapist online. Thank god some people with some common sense gave this father a tongue-lashing for his horrible conduct toward his innocent, naive son. Get over yourselves, people. Your autonomy, your personal space, your bodies are not so important than a child no older than a… Read more »
Just another reason why nobody should live in a backwater, flyover state like Wisconsin.
This is ridiculous! When will the rich stop oppressing the poor?! They are little kids, and the rich man’s boy was the older of the three it seems. If he participated, too, then it seems very unequal in prosecution and something simply aimed as revenge at the other parents & also to protect his own kids from harming his &/or their political future/s. Mere falsehood. He should be ashamed of himself for being so evil, malicious & uncaring. A website called “Supremely UNjust” shows that federal courts up to the Supreme Court even, simply lay aside Law, evidence, & the… Read more »
If no force was involved from D and it was consensual, why should he be labeled as a sex offender? He wouldn’t be as an adult, why should he now? If force was involved, why no mention of it? Why isn’t the act the other boy did to D mentioned?
If D and the girl were both adults, I meant to say.
I have no idea, who you are, Ms. Julie – and I do not remember any hateful article against men from you. I was not pointing at you at all, I was more thinking about some certain male and female feminists, whose articles are full with accusations against men, fathers and even boys and full with excuses in case of serious wrongdoing by women. I do not want to list them here name by name, but I am sure you know about whom I am talking. To register 12 years later a young man, 18 years old, as a sex-offender… Read more »
I wonder why all these feminists, male or female, contributing so many articles against men, fathers and boys in the GMP, are so silent about this incident.
No comment at all from them. Just silence.
Silent as in articles? Or as in comments. cause I’ve commented. I’ll happily write an article, but I keep hearing how men here dislike it when there are so many articles by women.
Which way do you want it Yohan?
Now is there any wonder why that boy on the wrestling team in Iowa decided not to wrestle a girl? Seems like perfectly reasonable decision in light of the educational climate today.
Eww. Gross. Cooties.
Our over-reaction or ignorance about deveopmentally expected sexual behavior in children & our under-reaction to the sexualization of children in our culture and concerns about actual sexual abuse of children shows just how far we are we still have to go before we can responsibly prevent the sexual abuse of children. Our experience and especially inquiries to our Helpline confirm just how much education OF ADULTS is needed about the difference between age-appropriate & concerning sexual behaviors among children. Here’s our guide to get started: http://bit.ly/1Xa6Ap
Joking aside for the moment, this looks like the flip side of the sexualization of children. Charging the boy with sexual assault is in one way just one more case of adults sexualizing another little girl. The message to that 5-year old girl is that what that boy did was sexual and wrong. The message she may be hearing is: whatever you do with a boy whether you want to or not could be considered sexual, and therefore he’s a bad boy and you’re a victim. Society is now in the position of having to explain the sexual nature of… Read more »
I know some toddlers who are still breastfeeding who will grab just about any woman’s boob if the kid is on the woman’s lap and is hungry. Is that sexual harassment?
Silly question, but even IF “playing butt doctor” was an assault, what makes it a *sexual* assault?
Nothing new, that’s USA…. it’s only a boy… https://www.associatedcontent.com/article/108497/5yearold_boy_in_maryland_accused_of.html?cat=25 http://bentcorner.com/5-year-old-hagerstown-boy-accused-of-sexual-harassment/ 5-Year-Old Boy in Maryland Accused of Sexual Harassment In Maryland, a 5-year old boy was written up for sexual harassment because he pinched a girl on the bottom. According to the state, 28 kindergarten students were suspended for sex offenses last year – 15 of those suspensions for sexual harassment. Another one: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/education/6836257/detail.html 6-Year-Old Accused Of Sexual Harassment Boy Accused Of Putting Fingers In Girl’s Waistband The father of the boy was told he should “explain” what his son did so it wouldn’t happen again. The father said his son… Read more »
Shocked but not surprised (or maybe the other way around, I can’t decide). Maybe this is just legalistic hair-splitting, but: Sexual harassment is usually defined as creating a hostile environment or making repeated unwanted sexual advances. It’s usually defined in terms of how the complainant feels about the behavior. If a kindergartener does not register a complaint or does not show any indication of being affected, then how could it be harassment in the same sense that adults harass each other? I’m not sure a teacher has the legal position to charge harassment on behalf of a student. I can… Read more »
No other country worldwide I know has such laws.
To charge a 6 y/o boy with sexual assault (girl 5 y/o is giving full consent) and to register him as sex offender on his 18th birthday is the international joke of the day.
Something like that is possible only in USA.
That’s totally insane.
It truly makes me sick to my core.
Well why not, after all.
4-Year-Old Accused of Sexual Harassment
Come on folks. It’s a boy. Must be a pervert, if not now then certainly in the future.
But there is hope for the future. I have a dream that one day we shall regard children and teens of all genders as vile, lecherous predators. Our suspicion and contempt must grow to embrace everyone!
I used to run around the front yard naked when I was 3. I should be a registered sex offender for exposing myself.
I am also going to have my doctor brought up on charges now. Turns out rectal exams are defined as sexual in nature. Who knew?
It seems to me that the mother of the so-called “victim” is probably trying to settle a grudge against the boy’s family, and has used her politically connected henchmen, including (but not limited to) Lisa Riniker, James Kopp and Jan Moravitz in order to do her bidding. I think it would be helpful to know the identity of the well connected political family who is making the accusations so the electorate knows just how corrupt they really are. I think that it would be good for the public to know just what kind of political connections exist between the accusers… Read more »
All I have to say to this is WOW!!! What the hell is this world coming to?!?!?!
And it’s because of stuff like this that here in Latin America we make fun of you people. Goddammit, it looks like something out of “South Park”, I guess the only thing you can say is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35TbGjt-weA
This is utterly insane. Worse, in Ireland, this kind of prejudice is enshrined in legislation: if two minors have sexual intercourse only the male can be charged with rape. With any other sex act the female can be charged, but almost never is.
I don’t even know what to say. This is beyond ridiculous. So at the age of 5, my guy best friend could have been made a sex offendor for simply looking at my genitals, even though the “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” game is mere curiosity and not at all sexual in nature? Although there are scientists who like to argue that kids are sexual, but they just don’t understand that they are.
The world has gone flipping mad.
Why weren’t all the kids charged? From the little I have read, everything was consensual.
How many people ever played doctor as kids. It has always been very common childhood curiosity.
If every person who has ever played doctor as a kid was listed as a sex offender, sex offender wouldn’t have any special connotation. This is such a crazy over-reaction. This is a matter for the parents to handle, not the courts.
Was the boy who got charged BLACK?
Ah, “the girl is “the daughter of a well-known political figure in Grant County,” and her brother, who is the same age, also was involved in playing doctor but was not charged”
Well, then. That makes total sense.
Julie – if you are running for public office, please let us know! P^)
Some folks may want to move house!
The world has gone completely mad.