Sexual assault of teenage girls still LEGAL in many states

[_TJ_]

Would someone explain how can it be acceptible for a grown
man to beat a teenage girl on a sexual part of her body and
not end up in jail?

Edit: Here is a graphic account of this barbarity from 1984
http://www.nospank.net/rape.htm

Anyone who thinks this is somehow a good way
to educate children is severly twisted IMO!

[NicRic]

1. Not my Daughter, you dont !

Is this fore real ? I cannot believe what I just read ! I have a ten year old daughter, and if any man was to take a paddle to her ,I dont even want to say what would happen . But just to give you a hint, both of those guys would be walking funny for a very long time. Did this poor girl not have a father to go to ,as a man and a father I feel it is my responsibility to protect my kids from any type of hitting by anyone ,I dont even beat my kids ,and I will not tolerate anyone else touching them ,PERIOD !!!
An angry father, NicRic

[_TJ_]

4. Sir you are a wonderful father

You have my most heartfelt admiration. I wish every man had your
principles.

[asthmaticeog]

2. "Still?" This was 1984.

In addition to an increasing number of states outlawing it since then, fewer and fewer schools have used coporal punishment simply because it's too contorversial and the liability issuses are just insane to underfunded schools. This type of punishment has almost died out.

And yes, I agree 100% - Anyone who thinks this is somehow a good way to educate children IS severly twisted. My Junior High School had an assistant principal who administered paddlings (this was the early '80s). That shit's NOT cool. Not acceptable at all.

edit: typo

further edit: I just checked your profile and saw that you're from Ireland, whereas I'm talking about the US. Apologies if my input is irrelevant for that reason - does this shit seriously still go on in the Isles? That's horrifying.

[_TJ_]

3. 48,068 beatings of schoolkids in Arkansas alone in 2002-2003

Just for one example...
http://www.nospank.net/arinfo.htm

342,038 American kids were beaten in 2000
http://nospank.net/violation.pdf

It's been illegal in Ireland since 1982. Not that it stopped
some brutal masters slapping and punching me until I was 16. :(

Edit:
Of course, they are banning it in more and more places but not
nearly fast enough in my opinion. Many teacher's still think
this is a proper form of discipline!

[asthmaticeog]

5. That sucks.

I only ever had to take one paddling before the school board put an end to that guy's reign of terror. I'm really sorry you were subjected to such sadistic instructors.

Regarding Arkansas, however - and I'm not saying that this in any way mitigates the corporal punishment of schoolchildren - your source is fudging its stats pretty brazenly: "48,068 for the 2002-2003 school year, or 10.7% of the total Arkansas student population" (my emphasis)

Horseshit, 10.7% of the student population. 48,068 incidents of swatting isn't 48,068 different kids. Some kids are discipline cases, some aren't. There's bound to be a good number of multiples and repeaters in that number.

Again, I stress, this doesn't excuse or mitigate abuse that still goes on in some places - it should NEVER happen - but I'd be wary of using that site as evidence in the future, as they're plainly willing to play games with their numbers.

[_TJ_]

6. Yes they clearly fucked up the 10.7% stat

But it may be an honest mistake.

The 48,068 stat is correct though - repeat offenders or not. That
is one hell of a lot of cruelty and humiliation!

The other stat that upset me is that nearly 50% of the kids
beaten are females but 90% of the beaters are adult males. That
sickens me in a very profound way - and it's why I posted in WR&I.

[asthmaticeog]

9. Yeah, that's incredibly fishy.

Generally, WAY fewer than 50% of any school's discipline cases are going to be female, just because males are socialized in ways that are FAR more conducive to misbehavior. There are obviously some old farts getting twisted jollies in Arkansas. Thank goodness that Arkansas - on SO MANY levels -- isn't representative of the US as a whole.

Off-topic, I once found my dream job posted online - a monthly glossy literary review needed a new art director, and I was perfectly qualified. My heart sank when I noted that it was published in Arkansas. I didn't even apply. *sigh*

[TahitiNut]

7. Memories of 6th Grade.

I had a male teacher in the 6th Grade (yes, 11-year-olds) in the mid-50's who administered paddlings weekly, for misdemeanors accumulated during the week. Talking in class? Swat. Late for school? Swat. Late back from lunch? Swat.

It was a fraternity paddle (about 6"x30"x1") and he let it hang from a hook by its leather thong on one side of the blackboard in front of the classroom. Students were told to bend over and grab their ankles. Both boys and girls. The 'technique' boys used was to stretch and tighten our Levi's over our bottoms, hoping to disperse the force of the swat into the fabric. It actually did help. Girls weren't so lucky.

I often think back to those days - the bizarre 'entertainment' of witnessing paddlings each week. I remember that the male teacher was a swaggering short fellow - what I'd later describe as Napoleonesque. I managed to have the experience of getting paddled only 3 or 4 times. Once, he hit a little low and put bruises on my upper legs that lasted for a month. I felt him hit bone. (I wasn't very "meaty" between the buttocks and hamstrings.) Ouch.

Needless to say, I suppose, the juvenile "culture" was physically violent in those days. Teams of bullies would bushwhack eggheads walking home from school. Schoolyard ass-kickings were common. "Might makes right" was the law of growing up. Complain? It'd result in the age-old advice: "Be a man!"

[_TJ_]

8. I'm SO sorry to hear that

It must have been AWFUL. The suffering we experience as
children never leaves us. I always found the humiliation of
being slapped in public by teachers when I was 15/16 to be horrible.