Ex-pastor pleads guilty to child porn chargesNEW CASTLE A former pastor of a Slippery Rock Township church pleaded guilty this week to two counts of possession of child pornography. No sentencing date has been set for Robert D. Schmidtberger, 52, but prosecutors recommended a sentence of 12 months minus two days to 24 months minus four days with 15 years’ probation. Lawrence County Judge Thomas Piccione, who oversaw the guilty plea, ordered a psychological assessment to determine whether Schmidtberger might be a violent sexual predator.For more of this story, click on or type the URL below:http://www.timesonline.com/articles/2008/01/28/news/doc47994ee49c77b089171946.txt
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mx,
I haven’t been able to find any truly recent studies.
Also, MX, you bring up an important point.
Why do so many people choose to be in relationships with abusive partners. Why do they stay in abusive relationships? As a generalization, I agree with you, there are huge red flags when you meet someone of the opposite/same sex who is an abusive personality. Certainly there is some responsibility to be taken when choosing to have a relationship with an abusive partner.
But in the end, abuse should not be a punishment for poor choices made in regards to a relationship. Abuse, no matter what the circumstances, is unacceptable.
DVan
I was talking about this with some prosecutors the other day. One of the most frustrating aspects of a prosecutor’s job is trying to convict domestic abusers. The victims almost invariably decide not to press charges.
Among the reasons:
- They need the financial support of their abuser
- They believe they have nowhere else to go
- They think it’s their own fault
- They think all men/women are like this
The weirdest one I heard was the woman who stayed with her abuser because “at least I know what will be happening on Friday night.” Seriously. She stays with her abuser because of the predictability.
OT: God wants people to cheat!
http://www.physorg.com/news120833053.html
Rusty,
It is a terribly sad issue, all around.
DDDropout
For the record, my repressed memories began unfolding on their own, and I had to be taken to a psychiatrist to learn how to deal with them. I couldn’t even go by myself, because I was a basket case. I know many people believe as you do, but I know many people who have gone through this, and it just isn’t as true as you’d think.
Combine fear with low self-esteem and ‘learned helplessness’ and you get; “She stays with her abuser because of the predictability”.
mxracer,
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/assist/nvaa2002/chapter9sup.html
Only vehicle accidents top murder as the leading cause of death for non-pregnant women.
http://crime.about.com/b/2005/02/24/us-pregnant-women-face-murder-risk.htm
Karen,
I agree with you. We are only just beginning to understand how the mind’s defense mechanisms for dealing with extreme physical and psychological trauma work. I think it’s too easy to say that all repressed memories are induced by the therapist.
I find this very interesting that you think you can spot a sociopath in 5 minutes.
You need to research personality types. Sociopaths fool EVERYBODY.
You think you would know in 5 minutes if you met a serial killer or a rapist? How about a pedophile?
These types of people hide their true colors as a survival tactics.
Your simplification of this issue is offensive. You cannot pick these people out like that.
Also these abusive men pick only certain women to prey upon based on their shortcomings.
They pick women who have been abused as children, they pick women with low self-esteem, they pick women desperate to get married because they have children (the children are then used as weapons), they pick the depressed, the vulnerable, the sweet.
I dislike the “Well they should have known or gotten out” as a blame the victim argument. These men don’t let them leave. They take everything, they isolate them and break them mentally.
Do you honestly think psychological torture is not effective as a control method?
If you were a sadist looking for a female to keep as a pet to kick around for amusement would you act like an asshole or would you act like the sweetest man your victim ever met?
Some of the most charming men are abusers and killers. It is not something you can “spot”. Ask anyone who ever knew someone who got murdered by a partner 9 out of 10 times they had no idea the guy was capable of it. He just seems like a “normal” guy.
Dawnisis,
Are we talking about extreme domestic abuses (i.e.; Lacy Peterson) or are we discussing domestic abuse in general?
I ask because most individuals involved in reported domestic abuse cases don’t meet the clinical definition of a sociopath. Most have anger management problems, or their actions are a result of alcohol abuse, or jealousy, etc. Most truly do care about the person they are abusing, it’s part of the paradox of the whole issue.
DVan,
I am talking about the continuous use of violence to dominate another person that is methodical and not a one time occurrence.
Everyone has fights and may push shove or even slap in their lifetimes that doesn’t make you a domestic abuser it means you really lost your temper and did something you NORMALLY would not do.
If it is done more than once and especially with more than one person then it becomes REAL textbook domestic violence. When the female lives in fear, when she can’t get away without restraining orders, family intervention or women’s shelters.
No they don’t if they did they would just leave.
There is a big “fetttish” section of pornnnnography dedicated to abusing women. I don’t mean the spanking or nipple clamps either. I mean the hard-core gang rape, flesh cutting, extreme pain inducing sexual acts.
So let’s not pretend a large section of men don’t enjoy hurting women and watching them suffer.
dawnisis
You understand that the women feel trapped in the situations and can’t just leave, but don’t seem to understand that some men really do think they love the women they abuse. Just as parents love the children they abuse.
I have seen relationships in which the men both love and abuse their female partners. They usually also blame the woman for the abuse. It’s “not their own fault”; that’s how they can rationalize the fact that they love this person, but still mistreat them. They won’t walk away from the relationship because, to their thinking, they are trying to correct what is wrong with it. The woman is the one who has to get out.
DVanW
Exactly. It’s very simplistic to say we just suppress the imagery. But the effects of the suppression cannot be hidden away forever. And the more extreme the trauma, the greater potential for mental breakdown-IMO-if one doesn’t have help sorting it out. Which I think will be important in dealing with the high number of cases of PTSD coming out of Iraq.
Define “large section.”
I hope you aren’t counting the hits and ignoring the misses, Dawn.
Let us also not pretend that men are generally evil.
I don’t think men are generally evil. I am married to and have dated some really great guys, but as a woman I can assure you there are a whole lot of bad apples out there.
I have no idea how many guys are into hardcore pooorn, but it is a large enough percentage to have an industry and web presence build around them.
There is no way I am typing into my search engine and sifting through the results to find a study to post on that topic.
Why would “being into violent porn” be any different to being into violent sport, or violent movies?
I get the the objectification aspect, but respectfully opine that collateral damage of dozens of murder victims in your average violent blockbuster movie are also objectified (just not by gender usually – and not sexually).
Just curious…
I agree that a lot of men do bad things but I also think that a lot of women are emotionally unstable and given to hysterics. My experiences as the only man working in an office of all women really opened my eyes to just how petty, shallow, nasty, and just plain nuts women can be. I will NEVER work for women again. NEVER.
While we are on the topic I am also sick of the societal acceptance of male bashing by women but not the other way around. Pay attention next time that you see a television commercial or movie and see how often the men are portrayed as inept fools who are only able to function thanks to the women in their lives.
So what’s wrong with p0rnography?
I was referring to hardcore poooornography which depicts violence, not average pooorn.
I agree women are indeed emotional no argument there.
I do crazy stuff all the time, no doubt!
Over the weekend I watched the movie “Artic Tale” and cried my eyes out. LOL
I just try to be mindful that I am emotional and try to make my life decisions based on logic.
But the poor polar bears are dying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Arctic Tale that is…
HZ
I think dawn may think there may be a tendency to try to implement aspects of hardcore p0rn into real life sex, while that is less viable with the collateral damage you see in violent movies and sports. But then, she’d have to answer herself, to be sure.
Alex,
You’re right. Women can be the most awful bitches in the workplace!And not just toward men. But before sexual harassment laws, men were the most awful dogs.
As for “men are portrayed as inept fools who are only able to function thanks to the women in their lives,”
what’s your point? Just kidding!!!
Alex,
When I used to “work” : ) I too had some bad experiences with women bosses.
One was a malignant narcissist that eventually destroyed the company she created, the other was a power hungry megalomaniac that enjoyed belittling those she was supervising.
But, in all fairness, I have also had a couple truly wonderful female supervisors.
—————————————–
Heathen,
I think the difference is in the need for violence to be sexually aroused. This of course is a sexual/psychological disorder whereas being entertained by violence in movies isn’t ? at least not generally speaking. Not making a judgment as to which is the more evil. Just my opinion.
heathenz,
I would refer you to this website:
http://www.rainn.org/statistics/victims-of-sexual-assault.html
And this:
That’s almost 3 million males who have actually tried or completed a rappppe.
I could give psychological reasons why these men should not be able to download rappppe scenes from the Internet, but instead I think it is a further indignity to the 18 million women who have been raped to have to tolerate the knowledge men are ejaculating to their pain.
I am not attacking all poooorn. I have no problem with video sex when all parties involved are engaged in consensual acts, whether they be dressed as fuzzy animals or spanking or whatever.
I only have an issue with it when it is designed it to arouse the viewer by “forcing” women or really hurting women.
karen & dawnisis
no matter how crazy an nasty you women can be it doesn’t justify a violent response.
i disagee to some degree about religious affect causing male clergy to committ sex crimes.my religious upbringing was sex is good if married bad if unmarried.this leads me to think these clerics are just bad people.
? why do judges give pedophiles an raptists probation these people can’t be cured and public safety comes first.
a muslim marriage ad a christian singles ad what about the zoroastrians they need love too.
Unfortunately this is because there are so many outreach ministries in prison that teach the Bible. The system is wrong, and that needs to be fixed first before the system will be able to solve the world’s problems.
Perhaps an electrode implanted in their brains that zaps them every time they think about sex might work better than thinking about hell because the threat of hell isn’t a big enough or immediate enough threat for those decieved souls, and guilt doesn’t quite do the job either because xianity teaches forgiveness of messing up …. thus is the failure of that system.
Instead, a painful zapping sensation that hurts really bad upon sexual impulses in the brain (the taboo starts prior to the action). Or perhaps a hormone inhibitor therapy so that they don’t get a sexual sensation when they look at something.
However, I wouldn’t recommend castration or broken bones or the death penalty for these folks as the bible does since we live in a secular america, and those would violate Amendment 8. Instead, they should sit in jail for 8-10 years and think about what they’ve done to a poor child.
Another thing that should change in jails, is that they should establish a rigorous study of the US laws and consequences instead of studying the biblical laws, because 1 is much better than the other. Finally, they should be forced to take some form of life-curriculum so that they can be productive when they get out into the real world.
Note: The purpose of jail is to isolate people while they are rehabilitated, not to convert them to xianity.
flux
i would like to apologize for losing my temper with you about MLK some days ago.let me be clear just because i believe races exist and compete does not mean i don’t support equal rights for all racial groups.
1) I must admit that those allegations about MLK hiring a prostitute and cheating in college are legitimate after all.
2) Also, it is true that the FBI had illegaly captured one of MLK’s rendeavues on a bugged spy-camera:
http://www.answers.com/topic/martin-luther-king-jr
3) I think that MLK probably derived an equal amount of his life’s inspiration from Ghandi and his peaceful disobedience of the unjust salt laws as from xianity.
Hello, reason. I was pretty sure I understood what you were intending to say.
Those who may think that men are inherently more violent than women should reacquaint themselves with the Milgram experiment in which men and women are found to be equally obedient abusers.
Saying men are more violent than women, is just stating a plainly evident fact…kind of like saying men are taller than women (of course it says nothing about INDIVIDUALS, just GROUPS).
It is an unfortunate byproduct of our evolutionary history…but hey, we wouldn’t be here writing on this blog if it weren’t so. It seems our societal structure has much more in common with Pan troglodytes (rape, murder, war), than our cousins the bonobos (mass love-ins).
Because our prisons are filled to 140% of capacity with non-violent drug offenders. There’s no room at the Inn for actual criminals.
When the population goes above 140%, judges order that inmates are released to bring the number back below the magic threshold. When the option of letting someone out of prison is between someone serving a life sentence and someone on a ten year minimum mandatory sentence, guess who gets let out? The armed robber, rapist, pedophile, etc…
Addicts are just too dangerous to let out of prison early. They might (gasp) go back to ingesting substances.
dawnisis, many thanks for the sociopath explanation. After escaping from my last abuser, I actually went to a psychologist to seek answers to the same question posed my mxracer. After telling my story, the psychologist sat back in her chair, folded her arms, and smiled. I though perhaps she found my story funny, and asked her as much.
She said, “No Gina, it’s not fummy at all. You were simply hookwinked by a sociopath. You must not blame yourself. Now you know, and you must move on, but never forget your lesson.”
There were other reasons why I didn’t recognize the propensity for violence. I didn’t grow up in an abusive home. My parents rarely raised their voices at each other. I had no idea what men could do to women (or vice versa). I had heard brief snippets of what my biological father did to my mother; however, her reluctance to speak ill of our father perhaps robbed me of an education?
And don’t forget youth and inexperience. These also tend to mimic lack of personaluty judgement. I’m 43 now, and it will never happen again.
I can’t help but to say that it may be difficult for a man (who can defend himself from most women) to understand why, oh why would a woman stay with her abuser. She must like it, right? WRONG!!!! There’s a fear factor there. A fear factor men may not understand. When a man threatens to kill you if you leave, you take that threat seriously. He know where you live, where you work, where you play. A piece of paper will do nothing if he actually carries out his threat.
I obtained my .38 soon after getting away from my last abuser (mind you, I never stayed witn an abuser for more that 6 months *with one exception of “I’ll change him”). I was also being stalked at the same time. The state poluce told me to use my gun if needed. I would have been indifferent as to whether my target was my stalker, or my formar abuser. My liberation was forged by education and cold steel.
Not all abused women are as lucky as me. Please don’t judge unless you’ve worn the moccasins, or walked close to one who did. Nobody wants to be hurt, but sometimes the doors leading to escape are firmly locked.
It’s difficult to imagine the terror.
It is true, at least, that men are convicted of more violent crimes than women. It is probably (very) true that men commit more violent crime than women. The question of why is a bit more difficult to answer.
The crime rate for women went up with the rise in women working outside the home. That fact is one arrow, pointing to our society as having something to do with violent behavior.
If violence was due to evolution, an even larger portion of the population would be violent and the rate of crime attributed to women would not have increased in recent years.
Males are violent because they are a product of natural evolution, is bullshit. It is more likely that males are violent because they participate in male dominated christian religions.
dawn,
It is not simplifying anything, the wife beaters I have met plainly had all the personality traits for that behavior. I’m not saying that there isn’t going to be someone who is good at hiding it, but for the vast majority, the telltale signs are there before any violence starts.
This is a personal observation and don’t take it personal:
In general, the large amount of women that I know (including my wife) are pretty bad at judging personality. This goes for cowokers, friends and significant others.
Are you kidding?
MX,
I’ve known dozens of women who were physically attracted to violent men. Especially the 20-something aged woman I’ve known.
I think your observation is a valid one.
DVanWechel,
No, I’m not kidding. Acting violently is a conscious act as a result of a decision made within the brain. Now for sure that decision can become habitual but that is different than having a natural need to be violent. Do you feel you have such a need? Also, if violence was an ingrained trait, everyone would be doing it.
MX, Give her ten years. Judging personality accurately is a gift to the young. The rest of us require experience.
Could it be because daughters are generally more sheltered? Experience is dangerous, but priceless, if you survive.
So is the decision to have sex. If acting out violently has no evolutionary basis, then would you also agree that sexual behaviors have no evolutionary basis? Do you not see an evolutionary need for violent behaviors?
We all have the ability to be violent ? an evolutionary designed trait ? whether we choose to act on those inclinations doesn’t invalidate that we are capable of acting violently.
Also, even our ability to decide whether to act out violently has much to do with our evolution. Our ability to choose whether to act violently (or how violent we are as individuals) also has a lot to do with the environment, neurochemistry, upbringing, emotional triggers, etc. It?s our ability to reason that balances our capacity for violence ? both of which are evolutionary derived traits.
We do. Whether it’s hunting, playground fighting, wife beating, spanking children, killing in war, boxing… well, you get the point. I think it?s the level and severity of violence where individuals differ. But for the most part, humans as a generalization are violent beings ? which is an important component in our evolutionary derived survival mechanisms.
The above post was for rna2dna.
I don’t know about other men here, but I’ve killed only 7 women.
DVanWechel,
Sure we make decisions about where, when and with whom to have sexual relations but we don’t have that kind of control over the underlying sexual desire. Your first question though is about “sexual behaviors” which could involve learned behavior, that isn’t the same as the biological urge.
Nope. Not a “need”.
It is interesting that a similar argument to yours could be make to show that humans are inherently nonviolent, that is, knitting, plowing a field, waxing a car, taking a shower, petting the dog, swimming, eating chocolate.
Well, we can say that everything we do is the result of evolution in some way (all technology, medicine, etc.) but that isn’t what I intended by “natural evolution”. Using evolution as the reason for violent behavior is just an excuse.
Some people choose violence in the same way some people choose nonviolence.
I believe there are studies which show the brain processes violence as a reward.
KnowledgeIsPower,
Did they get the same results for victims as well as perpetrators? Or positive as well as negative outcome?
Sociopaths are good at fooling those who want to be fooled. Those who do not long for easy fixes see through sociopaths easily.