High school’s athletes formed ‘Fantasy Slut League,’ awarding points for sex
By The Associated Press, in Toronto Star, October 23, 2012
PIEDMONT, CALIF.—Male teenage athletes at a San Francisco-area school formed what they called a “Fantasy Slut League,” awarding points for sex with female students.
Piedmont High School principal Rich Kitchens says the so-called league, which had existed for up to six years, has been disbanded.
School officials learned of what the athletes were doing after a date-rape awareness assembly this month. The number of students involved is being withheld.
The San Francisco Chronicle says Kitchen sent a letter to parents Friday saying officials learned that athletes earned “points for documented engagement in sexual activities” with girls who often weren’t aware of the game.
The school is not planning to discipline the students involved.
After reading this, I am extremely grateful I am neither a teacher nor a parent of secondary school children, especially girls. There are so many troubling questions:
1) Why did the school not know about this "league"?
2) Why have the girls not complained before now?
3) Why have the parents not known about this activity, both the parents of the boys and the girls?
4) Why is the school not planning to discipline the students involved?
5) Why is there not a public meeting of parents demanding that the school principal be put on administrative leave, pending a formal investigation of the issue?
6) Why are the boys being permitted to remain in this school, pending a full investigation?
7) What follow up activities, including counselling for both the boys and the girls, not being initiated by the school board and its administration?
8) In how many other secondary schools is a similar "league" operating, and for how long has that been going on, in other cities, states, provinces (of Canada)?
9) Where is the research money that would be needed to conduct a research project, even an oral history, for the purpose of a longitutinal study, covering the past six or seven years, through interviews of the male and female students who are and have attended Piedmont's School for Scandal?
Call me a prude, yet if I were the parent of an adolescent girl who attended this school, and caught even a whiff of this "league" and the pressure that such activity puts on young women "to perform," I would certainly want to know what the school was going to do to assure me, and other parents, that not only is the activity "disbanded," but that there will be both instructional programs and monitoring of in-school activity, as well as after-school programs, to nip additional activity before it starts.
This story casts a cloud over both the young men and the young women, many of whom were undoubtedly unaware of the "league" in which they were participating, and are now both embarrassed and angry at their own betrayal.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Study: Peers influence men in sexual abuse of women
Journal of Family Violence, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1995
Sexual Abuse in Canadian University and College
Dating Relationships: The Contribution of Male
Peer Support
Walter S. DeKeseredy I and Katharine Kelly 1
DeKeseredy (1988a,b, 1989a, 1990a) shows that having abusive male friends and peers who verbally encourage and legitimate female victimization increases the likelihood of both physical and psychological variants of woman abuse in university dating relationships. He also developed a theoretical model which explains how malepeer support contributes to these two behaviors as well as sexual abuse(DeKeseredy, 1988c).
His male peer support model is informed primarily by social support
theory which is a perspective generally used to explain how social integration
and the various resources provided by interpersonal relationships influence
people's ability to cope with stressful life events (Wills, 1985).
Although social support theory deals mainly with health issues and not specifically with the relationship between male peer group dynamics and sexual
assault, it is relevant to this problem.
For example, many men experience stress when their dating partners
refuse to have sexual relations with them (DeKeseredy and Schwartz, 1993).
Some men attempt to alleviate this stress themselves. Others, however, turn
to their male peers for advice on how to deal with sexual rejection. Informational support provided by male friends may influence men to sexually
abuse their partners; especially if they are defined as "teasers," "economic
exploiters," "bar pick-ups," and "loose women" who do not want to engage
in sexual intercourse (Kanin, 1985). Additionally, male homosocial cohorts
often provide sexually aggressive members with a "vocabulary of adjustment"
so that their actions do not alter their conceptions of themselves as
normal, respectable men (Kanin, 1967a).
DeKeseredy (1988c) also contends that male peer support can influence
the probability of woman abuse regardless of any type of dating-related
stress. In fact, most of the male peer support studies conducted so
far do not identify stress as a prerequisite for men interacting with male
friends or receiving pro-abuse support (DeKeseredy, 1990b). There are
many situations in which factors other than stress characteristic of malefemale
courting dynamics, such as leisure activities and work, integrate men
with other males who encourage sexual abuse. These are considered
" . . .violence-supporting social relations that may occur at any time and
any place" (Bowker, 1983, p. 136).
Behaving as part of the herd or gang of men, especially if that group supports the retaliation by men against women who refuse to "comply" with their sexual request/demands will naturally breed both contempt for those "unco-operative females, and enhanced desire for revenge and even more power, through abuse.
Men have names for women who refuse to "obey" and those names are not complimentary.
First, relationships that circle around the exercise of power over another human being are spiralling downwards. Men who are not taught this basic information are being short-changed, and so will their female partners be upon discovering that gap in their male partner's learning.
Next, group-think, in the form of gang-assumption of power offended or resisted, is another of the archetypes into which males, when threatened and vulnerable, escape at their peril.
Third, men need to be formally taught about the merits of mutual, respectful and integrated relationships different from those with other males. And the differences are substantial.
With males, competition, including all forms of satire, ridicule, dissing, and even embarrassment are the norm. This kind of irony, acting as an enemy or opponent and as competitor, is taken by the male conventional perceptions to be both normal and expected. In fact, men come to know they have been "accepted" when they are being ridiculed by their peers, inside the male circle.
However, relating with women, on the other hand, is precisely the opposite.
When a man resists an idea, a suggestion or a recommendation, another man is likely to ramp up the muscle behind the proposal.
However, when a woman resists a suggestion, request or proposal from a male, especially with respect to sexual relations, the man's only option is to respect the resistance, and in so doing, respect the female partner. What happens to a woman's body, as what happens to any person's body, is the exclusive business of that woman. That boundary is neither negotiable nor evil. It is there for very legitimate and supportable reasons. And to disrespect that boundary is to show disrespect both for the woman and for the male involved.
Elementary school curricula about "sex education" will not likely include this kind of topic, given the highly cultural component of its tradition and ethics.
Respect for the boundaries of "the other" is also, not incidentally, one of the basic learnings of any full education in any culture and ethnicity, or ought to be.
Sexual Abuse in Canadian University and College
Dating Relationships: The Contribution of Male
Peer Support
Walter S. DeKeseredy I and Katharine Kelly 1
DeKeseredy (1988a,b, 1989a, 1990a) shows that having abusive male friends and peers who verbally encourage and legitimate female victimization increases the likelihood of both physical and psychological variants of woman abuse in university dating relationships. He also developed a theoretical model which explains how malepeer support contributes to these two behaviors as well as sexual abuse(DeKeseredy, 1988c).
His male peer support model is informed primarily by social support
theory which is a perspective generally used to explain how social integration
and the various resources provided by interpersonal relationships influence
people's ability to cope with stressful life events (Wills, 1985).
Although social support theory deals mainly with health issues and not specifically with the relationship between male peer group dynamics and sexual
assault, it is relevant to this problem.
For example, many men experience stress when their dating partners
refuse to have sexual relations with them (DeKeseredy and Schwartz, 1993).
Some men attempt to alleviate this stress themselves. Others, however, turn
to their male peers for advice on how to deal with sexual rejection. Informational support provided by male friends may influence men to sexually
abuse their partners; especially if they are defined as "teasers," "economic
exploiters," "bar pick-ups," and "loose women" who do not want to engage
in sexual intercourse (Kanin, 1985). Additionally, male homosocial cohorts
often provide sexually aggressive members with a "vocabulary of adjustment"
so that their actions do not alter their conceptions of themselves as
normal, respectable men (Kanin, 1967a).
DeKeseredy (1988c) also contends that male peer support can influence
the probability of woman abuse regardless of any type of dating-related
stress. In fact, most of the male peer support studies conducted so
far do not identify stress as a prerequisite for men interacting with male
friends or receiving pro-abuse support (DeKeseredy, 1990b). There are
many situations in which factors other than stress characteristic of malefemale
courting dynamics, such as leisure activities and work, integrate men
with other males who encourage sexual abuse. These are considered
" . . .violence-supporting social relations that may occur at any time and
any place" (Bowker, 1983, p. 136).
Behaving as part of the herd or gang of men, especially if that group supports the retaliation by men against women who refuse to "comply" with their sexual request/demands will naturally breed both contempt for those "unco-operative females, and enhanced desire for revenge and even more power, through abuse.
Men have names for women who refuse to "obey" and those names are not complimentary.
First, relationships that circle around the exercise of power over another human being are spiralling downwards. Men who are not taught this basic information are being short-changed, and so will their female partners be upon discovering that gap in their male partner's learning.
Next, group-think, in the form of gang-assumption of power offended or resisted, is another of the archetypes into which males, when threatened and vulnerable, escape at their peril.
Third, men need to be formally taught about the merits of mutual, respectful and integrated relationships different from those with other males. And the differences are substantial.
With males, competition, including all forms of satire, ridicule, dissing, and even embarrassment are the norm. This kind of irony, acting as an enemy or opponent and as competitor, is taken by the male conventional perceptions to be both normal and expected. In fact, men come to know they have been "accepted" when they are being ridiculed by their peers, inside the male circle.
However, relating with women, on the other hand, is precisely the opposite.
When a man resists an idea, a suggestion or a recommendation, another man is likely to ramp up the muscle behind the proposal.
However, when a woman resists a suggestion, request or proposal from a male, especially with respect to sexual relations, the man's only option is to respect the resistance, and in so doing, respect the female partner. What happens to a woman's body, as what happens to any person's body, is the exclusive business of that woman. That boundary is neither negotiable nor evil. It is there for very legitimate and supportable reasons. And to disrespect that boundary is to show disrespect both for the woman and for the male involved.
Elementary school curricula about "sex education" will not likely include this kind of topic, given the highly cultural component of its tradition and ethics.
Respect for the boundaries of "the other" is also, not incidentally, one of the basic learnings of any full education in any culture and ethnicity, or ought to be.
Am. Academy of Pediatrics Study: Boys reaching puberty earlier
Boys hitting puberty earlier, U.S. Study shows
By Patty Wensa, Toronto Star, October 20, 2012
For years, pediatric experts have warned that girls were reaching puberty earlier, but now males are maturing faster as well.
A new U.S. study shows their bodies are beginning to change on average at 9 for African-American boys and at 10 for Hispanic and white boys.
The research, by the American Academy of Pediatrics, means boys are going into puberty six months to two years earlier than previously documented.
Scientists say they don’t know why it’s happening.
“There needs to be more research,” says Richard Wasserman, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Vermont and one of study’s authors. “Any reasoning we do with respect to cause and effect is pure speculation.”
But doctors say it has important implications for treatment.
“As clinicians it helps us pick out kids who are truly hitting puberty in advance of normal, which means I need to be worried about those kids,” says Margo Lane, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist in Winnipeg, who was not involved in the study. Early puberty in either sex can be a sign of disease.
The new research is also important because it sets benchmarks by race. “That allows us to have an understanding of the variability of different races in terms of what’s normal,” says Lane.
A study done by the same research group in 1997 found that 7 per cent of white girls and 27 per cent of African-American girls were reaching puberty as early as 7. The reason for the difference between races isn’t known.
Experts have speculated the early onset is being brought on by weight or by hormones in the environment. Lane says one of the strongest predictors of puberty is genetic.
In this study, researchers recruited pediatricians and nurse practitioners across the U.S., as well as in Quebec, who measured the genital and pubic hair growth of more than 4,000 boys from 2005 to 2010. Parents were asked for consent.
The study updates 20-year-old information, which is hard to get because of the invasiveness of the procedure.
“The most common first sign of a boy going into puberty is the enlargement of the testicles,” says Lane. “The boys are obviously self-conscious about it and we don’t want to embarrass the boys.”
But Wasserman says all doctors are trained in the procedure and it should be done to determine if a child is progressing normally.
“There is a squeamishness that is emerging about examining the genitals of children that is probably related to the fear of child sexual abuse,” says Wasserman. “But these are examinations done with a parent in the room.”
He also thinks the research means sex education should be taught earlier.
“A more common sense reason to want this all to be assessed is so you can help your child through puberty,” says Wasserman. “There should be a parent who can matter-of-factly say, you know that boys and men look very different,” he says. “It shouldn’t be a mystery.”
That information isn’t taught in Ontario schools until Grade 5, but a group of experts recently advocated that it be part of the curriculum in Grade 4.
Lane says parents shouldn’t worry that the early onset of puberty means kids are deciding to have sex.
“By no means is it strictly hormonal,” says Lane. “There are so many other social and cultural factors that influence when a young person is going to start having sex.”
By Patty Wensa, Toronto Star, October 20, 2012
For years, pediatric experts have warned that girls were reaching puberty earlier, but now males are maturing faster as well.
A new U.S. study shows their bodies are beginning to change on average at 9 for African-American boys and at 10 for Hispanic and white boys.
The research, by the American Academy of Pediatrics, means boys are going into puberty six months to two years earlier than previously documented.
Scientists say they don’t know why it’s happening.
“There needs to be more research,” says Richard Wasserman, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Vermont and one of study’s authors. “Any reasoning we do with respect to cause and effect is pure speculation.”
But doctors say it has important implications for treatment.
“As clinicians it helps us pick out kids who are truly hitting puberty in advance of normal, which means I need to be worried about those kids,” says Margo Lane, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist in Winnipeg, who was not involved in the study. Early puberty in either sex can be a sign of disease.
The new research is also important because it sets benchmarks by race. “That allows us to have an understanding of the variability of different races in terms of what’s normal,” says Lane.
A study done by the same research group in 1997 found that 7 per cent of white girls and 27 per cent of African-American girls were reaching puberty as early as 7. The reason for the difference between races isn’t known.
Experts have speculated the early onset is being brought on by weight or by hormones in the environment. Lane says one of the strongest predictors of puberty is genetic.
In this study, researchers recruited pediatricians and nurse practitioners across the U.S., as well as in Quebec, who measured the genital and pubic hair growth of more than 4,000 boys from 2005 to 2010. Parents were asked for consent.
The study updates 20-year-old information, which is hard to get because of the invasiveness of the procedure.
“The most common first sign of a boy going into puberty is the enlargement of the testicles,” says Lane. “The boys are obviously self-conscious about it and we don’t want to embarrass the boys.”
But Wasserman says all doctors are trained in the procedure and it should be done to determine if a child is progressing normally.
“There is a squeamishness that is emerging about examining the genitals of children that is probably related to the fear of child sexual abuse,” says Wasserman. “But these are examinations done with a parent in the room.”
He also thinks the research means sex education should be taught earlier.
“A more common sense reason to want this all to be assessed is so you can help your child through puberty,” says Wasserman. “There should be a parent who can matter-of-factly say, you know that boys and men look very different,” he says. “It shouldn’t be a mystery.”
That information isn’t taught in Ontario schools until Grade 5, but a group of experts recently advocated that it be part of the curriculum in Grade 4.
Lane says parents shouldn’t worry that the early onset of puberty means kids are deciding to have sex.
“By no means is it strictly hormonal,” says Lane. “There are so many other social and cultural factors that influence when a young person is going to start having sex.”
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