Lately, I have become more aware of the movement to decriminalize sex offenders. This movement exists, and it is powerful. You have reporters that write articles on sex offender laws that could be mistaken for editorials. There are groups of people who actually feel that child pornography doesn’t hurt anyone. What used to be considered radical thinking is becoming all too acceptable among modern society. I find this frightening. I don’t believe that these groups are as large as they might seem to be, given the amount of exposure they receive. I do think that this movement is powerful, and a threat to the innocence of our children.
Today, I was reading through my favorite blogs, when I came across an interesting discussion on the words used to describe sex offenders. I started to post a comment on the blog myself, but my verbosity got the better of me and I was compelled to escalate my rant into an actual post –here on my own territory.
The terms used to describe sex offenders are varied and have different meanings. I think that the trend toward more lenient (or no) prosecution that is being seen in more liberal communities, and even conservative environments, makes the choice of terminology all the more important. I say this because there are those that perceive a teenager as being the same as an adult. Some children, exposed to illicit sexuality at an early age are judged to be “more mature,” even thought there childhood was stolen. Are these kids perhaps not even more vulnerable than children raised in healthier environments? It is the children that some see as being on the borderline that I think may be harmed by the liberal thinking that is seeping into legislation and the justice system.
Let’s sort through some terms:
- A pedophile victimizes prepubescent children.
- A child molester is someone who preys on minors.
- Minors are persons who have not reached adulthood.
- Rapists prey on all ages and sexes.
When it comes to blanket terms, we could simply call all of these criminals “sex offenders.” I’m sure some crybaby mushbrain would say something like “Why can’t you just call them people?” Some find labels to be much too demeaning. Too bad. If the label could be stamped on their foreheads, that would be just fine with me.
There are simpler terms, such as pervert. I think that pervert, as a word describes these offenders very well. However, using the word too much has this weird effect of making people seem less educated. But on a blog where perverts are written about on a weekly basis, what is a writer to do? There are other terms. Consider the words deviate and deviant. They mean the same thing and they sound a bit more sophisticated. What about degenerate? That’s not bad for a synonym, either. We can revert to language used more often before WWII than in recent years and call such offenders fiends. There are also leches and miscreants. My favorite word to describe the oxygen wasters that find themselves described on this site is reprobate. Those eight letters can say so much.
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