Wishing All of You a Happy New Year!
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Monthly Archives: December 2023
Christmas Star
All of us were children once. What we survived over the years shaped our character and our lives.
At Christmas we celebrate the birth of another child, a Savior who came into this broken world for our sakes. We were not all rescued, but we can — because of Him — be redeemed.
Wishing All of You a Merry Christmas!
FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT: https://alawyersprayers.com
Radicalization
Flag of US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Author Dept. of Health and Human Services (PD)
A proposed regulation by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) would prohibit foster families from any attempt to “undermine, suppress, or change” the gender identification of children in their care [1].
Biblical Values Mischaracterized
Couched as “protection” for children suffering from gender dysphoria, i.e. gender identification at variance with their biological sex, the proposed regulation effectively equates the expression of biblical values vis a vis sexuality with child abuse [2].
It should be emphasized that there is no evidence to suggest that foster children in Christian homes have in any way been harmed.
Foster Parents Disqualified
Apart from interfering with religious freedom, the new regulation is likely to deprive the foster care system of thousands of willing foster parents who do not believe children should be chemically or surgically mutilated before they are old enough to purchase alcohol or vote. Continue reading
Filed under Abuse of Power, Child Abuse, Child Molestation, Christianity, Emotional Abuse, Justice, Law, Neglect, Physical Abuse, Religion, Sexual Abuse
Headphones and a Vape Pen – Juvenile Crime
Sennheiser HD-25-1 headphones, Author Bizzarle (CC BY-SA 4.0 International)
WARNING: Graphic Images
Eight Las Vegas teens have been charged with murder, in connection with the beating death of a classmate widely distributed on social media [1]. The assailants range in age from 13 y.o. to 17 y.o. Their victim, Jonathan Lewis Jr., was 17 y.o. The altercation was apparently about headphones and a vape pen.
It is difficult to say which aspect of this crime is most disturbing: the age of the victim whose life was taken, the age of his assailants and their relationship to him, the trivial cause for this violence, or the fact the crime was shared on social media.
Causes of Violence
Most of us assume that children are incapable of violence, certainly incapable of murder. We are shocked when confronted with the facts.
In 2020, there were 930 arrests made nationally for murder or manslaughter where the perpetrator was 17 y.o. or younger [2A]. There were 19,140 arrests made for aggravated assault in that age range, and another 70, 940 made for simple assault [2B].
Gang dynamics, the psychology of crowds, and peer pressure all have bearing on the crime here. Abuse is likely, also, to have played a role.
A. Gangs
Gang violence in the United States emerged as early as 1783. In New York City, in particular, gangs were well organized by 1826 [3].
Dangerous street gangs, outlaw motorcycle clubs, organized crime (once actually termed gangland), and drug cartels are all representative of this underworld culture. Little has changed with time, except that drugs have been added to the mix.
Teens and young men are known to have been participants from the start (though girls and young women are not immune to the lure). Depending on age, young people serve as messengers, look-outs, bagmen, thieves, and thugs (some later specializing as enforcers or hitmen).
Although gangs may thrive on violence, they provide a sense of acceptance, security, inclusion, and identity to their members [4]. In effect, they substitute for the family structure many young people lack.
B. Crowds and Peer Pressure
It is well recognized that human beings will do in a crowd what they might never do alone [5]. The bounds of acceptable behavior are more easily transgressed in a group. Personal responsibility is abandoned. Morals are swept aside in the frenzy of the moment.
This applies to young people even more so than adults. Still trying to decide who they are, anxious to fit in, teens and pre-teens are more susceptible than adults to peer pressure. Continue reading
Frigid – Sexual Dysfunction
Image by Paul Nguyen, Source https://500px.com (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)
There is a secret some victims of childhood sexual abuse will take to their graves, even if they are otherwise able as adults to the discuss the abuse to which they were subjected. This is sexual dysfunction.
Two Types of Scars
Childhood sexual abuse can distort sexual expression in one of two principal ways [1]. Each type of scar negatively impacts victims’ lives.
A. Promiscuity
Many victims will become sexually promiscuous. This demonstrates how little value the abuse taught them they had. The large number of prostitutes who were sexually abused as children illustrate that.
For some of these victims, promiscuous behavior is an attempt to barter for love, since sex is the only medium of exchange they had available. For others, it is an attempt to reclaim ownership of their bodies.
B. Sexual Dysfunction
A smaller percentage of victims will develop sexual dysfunction. This was, in the past, disparagingly termed frigidity, particularly as applied to women [2]. But the problem can afflict both men and women. Desire, arousal, and orgasm can all be impacted.
Sexual dysfunction can range from a decreased interest in sex to the inability to experience sexual pleasure with a partner, pain during intercourse, and outright sexual aversion [3][4][5].
Wherever victims fall in the range, there is great shame associated with the problem. Continue reading
Mattress
Discarded mattress near trash bin, Author Eric Fischer
(Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)
Though women are encouraged to be sexually active in our culture, they are not always treated kindly when they take that advice.
Mattress
A sexually available girl who has many partners.
Mattress Back
A girl who has sex so often, whether with the same partner (nympho) or many different ones (slut), that her back seems to be constantly on a mattress.
-Urban Dictionary
Child victims of sexual abuse must negotiate this terrain with care. The emotional scars they carry do not make that an easy task.
Some women abused in childhood will seek as adults to reclaim their bodies by initiating frequent, anonymous sex. For them, sex is an attempt at self-affirmation. But no amount of it will fill the void left behind by abuse [1].
Tragically, a great many prostitutes fall into this category [2]. Drug use to dull the pain is common in the sex trade [3].
Other women will engage in sex (often with many partners) in a desperate search for love. These are the girls passed from boy to boy in high school; the women who settle for one night stands, since nothing else is being offered. Continue reading
ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse and More 