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| <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> | |
| <HTML> | |
| <HEAD> | |
| <TITLE>How Much Do You Know About Corporal Punishment?</TITLE> | |
| <META NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="NAMBLA's goal is to end the oppression of men and boyswho have mutually consensual relationships. Our membership is open to everyone sympathetic to man/boy love in particular and sexual freedom in general."> | |
| <META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="JOHN FISH, CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, NAMBLA, NORTH AMERICAN MAN/BOY LOVE ASSOCIATION, NAMBLA JOURNAL, YOUTH LIBERATION"> | |
| <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Mozilla/3.04Gold (Win95; I) [Netscape]"> | |
| <META NAME="Description" CONTENT="NAMBLA's goal is to end the oppression of men and boyswho have mutually consensual relationships. Our membership is open to everyone sympathetic to man/boy love in particular and sexual freedom in general."> | |
| <META NAME="KeyWords" CONTENT="John Fish, Corporal Punishment, Spanking, Parents, Parenting, NAMBLA, North American Man/Boy Love Association, NAMBLA Journal, Youth Liberation. Youth Rights, Youth, Child, Children, Children's Rights"> | |
| </HEAD> | |
| <BODY TEXT="#904050" BGCOLOR="#FFFFE8" LINK="#1F74CF" VLINK="#0070FF" ALINK="#0070E3"> | |
| <CENTER><DD><BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE=+3>How Much Do You Know About Corporal | |
| Punishment?</FONT></FONT></DD></CENTER> | |
| <CENTER><DD><BR> | |
| <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE=+3>A Test</FONT></FONT></DD></CENTER> | |
| <H3 ALIGN=CENTER><I><FONT SIZE=+2>by John Fish</FONT></I></H3> | |
| <CENTER><P><IMG SRC="colorbar.gif" HEIGHT=3 WIDTH=600></P></CENTER> | |
| <CENTER><P><BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| </P></CENTER> | |
| <OL> | |
| <LI><B>"Tough Love," "Dare To Discipline," and "Spank | |
| Me If You Love Me" are titles of recent:<BR> | |
| </B><FONT SIZE=+2></FONT> S/M Movies;<BR> | |
| <FONT SIZE=+2></FONT> bondage and discipline novels;<BR> | |
| <FONT SIZE=+2></FONT> books on raising children.<BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| </LI> | |
| <LI><B>Indiana Moral Majority spokesperson Rev. Greg Dixon says that welts | |
| and bruises on children are:<BR> | |
| </B><FONT SIZE=+2></FONT> a sign of child abuse which should be reported | |
| to the proper authorities;<BR> | |
| <FONT SIZE=+2> </FONT>a sign of disrespect for the human body, which is | |
| God's temple;<BR> | |
| <FONT SIZE=+2></FONT> a sign that a parent is doing a good job on discipline.<BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| </LI> | |
| <LI><B>A social studies teacher at North Dade Junior High (Florida) picked | |
| up a seventh-grade student by both feet and struck his head on the floor, | |
| then kicked the boy in the ribs and stepped on his face. According to 'school | |
| officials, this assault:<BR> | |
| </B><FONT SIZE=+2></FONT> will be prosecuted by them to the fullest extent | |
| of the law;<BR> | |
| <FONT SIZE=+2> </FONT>has resulted in the placement of the teacher in | |
| a hospital for severely disturbed patients;<BR> | |
| <FONT SIZE=+2></FONT> may cost the teacher his job.<BR> | |
| </LI> | |
| </OL> | |
| <H2 ALIGN=CENTER><IMG SRC="colorbar.gif" HEIGHT=3 WIDTH=600></H2> | |
| <CENTER><P><BR> | |
| </P></CENTER> | |
| <H2 ALIGN=CENTER><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE=+3>Answers:</FONT></FONT></H2> | |
| <P><BR> | |
| <FONT SIZE=+1>If you chose the third response as the answer to the above | |
| questions, you have a perfect score. It is a myth of our culture that corporal | |
| abuse of young people by adults is the appropriate and most effective way | |
| to teach them to be cooperative and respectful of others. Every year more | |
| than 60,000 minors are reported to have been beaten, burned, or otherwise | |
| physically abused by adults [Footnote 1] ~ usually their parents or guardians. | |
| And these 60,000 represent only the ones whose abuse is severe enough to | |
| be termed "excessive" or "unreasonable".</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>Schools are generally a safer place for young people than | |
| homes ~ at least children are not as likely to be beaten to death there | |
| ~ but corporal abuse, rationalized as "discipline" or "motivation | |
| to do better," still occurs in schools on an all-too-frequent basis. | |
| In Chicago ~ where corporal punishment is officially prohibited in public | |
| schools ~ a substitute teacher told a <I>Chicago Tribune</I> reporter that | |
| she had turned down a permanent assignment to a school because of the way | |
| pupils there were treated. Other teachers at the same school told the reporter | |
| of seeing teachers there "punching pupils in the stomach, throwing | |
| them against the wall, and hitting them with yardsticks, shoes and belts." | |
| In the same article, a teacher at another school said, "Teachers will | |
| take a yardstick and wind it with masking tape so it doesn't leave a mark. | |
| I see teachers in the lunchroom twisting ears all the time. Maybe 50 percent | |
| of the schools have some physical abuse."[Footnote 2]</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>Illinois is not unique. It is not even the worst. That | |
| distinction presently belongs to the state of Arkansas [Footnote 3], where | |
| one out of every eight students is physically abused by teachers, as opposed | |
| to a national average of one in 28. In Florida, the long-time leader in | |
| corporal abuse of students until recent legislative changes, black students | |
| are still twice as likely to be beaten as their white classmates [Footnote | |
| 4]. Students in private schools are more likely to be beaten than those | |
| in public schools, with teachers in so-called "Christian" schools | |
| beating students most often and most severely [Footnote 5]. </FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>Nancy Berla, director of a hotline project run by the | |
| National Committee for Citizens in Education, says that from the calls | |
| they have received it appears that paddling is applied mostly to younger | |
| students. Of 4,000 calls received by the hotline during their first year | |
| of operation, 70 percent were complaints of physical assaults on students | |
| by teachers. "In many schools teachers carry their paddles attached | |
| to their belts," says Mrs. Berla. "The teachers are accustomed | |
| to using the paddle on children for petty or trivial behavior, such as | |
| being late to class, not having the right color pencil, missing the school | |
| bus home, talking at lunch time, or being out of their seats without permission." | |
| [Footnote 6]</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>Yet young people are still less likely to be assaulted | |
| by a teacher than by a parent or guardian. While it is not a strong one, | |
| the movement to halt physical assaults on students by teachers and principals | |
| is far more popular than the movement to halt all physical assaults on | |
| the young, including those committed by parents.</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <CENTER><P><IMG SRC="colorbar.gif" HEIGHT=3 WIDTH=600></P></CENTER> | |
| <H4><I><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE=+2>Our culture views physical assaults | |
| on young people as acceptable within certain limits of reasonableness. | |
| It is not the physical assault of the minor that is viewed as wrong, but | |
| the abuse of the limited privilege to assault minors granted by this cultural | |
| myth.</FONT></FONT></I></H4> | |
| <CENTER><P><IMG SRC="colorbar.gif" HEIGHT=3 WIDTH=600></P></CENTER> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>Our cultural mythology views physical assaults on young | |
| people as acceptable within certain "limits of reasonableness." | |
| [Footnote 7] It is not the physical assault of the minor that is viewed | |
| as wrong, but the "abuse" of the "limited privilege" | |
| to assault minors granted by this cultural myth.</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>A much stronger, more popular movement today has been | |
| mounted around the increase in reports of sexual assaults on young people | |
| by adults. These assaults are characterized as typical of all sexual contacts | |
| between young people and adults because another cultural myth says that | |
| all intergenerational sexual contact is unwanted by the younger partner, | |
| who therefore must be forced, tricked, or bribed into participating. Both | |
| consenting and non-consenting sexual activity involving young people and | |
| adults are often referred to as "child molestation," rather than | |
| "child abuse." The word "molestation" means "unwanted | |
| contact." In recent years, the word has become synonymous with "sexual | |
| molestation," in the same way that "intercourse" has become | |
| synonymous with "sexual intercourse."</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>But molestation is any kind of unwanted contact. And while | |
| the "spank me if you love me" advocates may claim that young | |
| people benefit from beatings by adults as punishment for failing to continually | |
| please them, Edward Zeigler, who heads the psychology section of the Child | |
| Study Center at Yale University, finds that "today there is total | |
| consensus among behavioral scientists that hard discipline is counter-productive. | |
| It only teaches children that people who are big and strong can do what | |
| they want." [Footnote 8] Educational psychologists G. Roy Mayer and | |
| Tom Butterworth, in a three-year study involving 18 schools, found that | |
| by training teachers to praise and otherwise reward students for wanted | |
| behavior (instead of punishing them for unwanted behavior), not only did | |
| school vandalism costs go down by an average of 75 percent, but "hitting, | |
| throwing objects, not doing assigned work and other kinds of inappropriate | |
| behavior decreased as teachers acquired the knack of using positive reinforcement." | |
| [Footnote 9]</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>Every corporal assault is contact unwanted by young persons, | |
| and therefore constitutes molestation, even when claimed to be justified | |
| as discipline. Cultural myths which hold that any type of physical assault | |
| can be "reasonable" or "effective" as discipline, or | |
| that any amount of physical abuse, however slight, is less than excessive, | |
| should be exploded for the benefit of all.</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <H4><FONT SIZE=+1>At present there are no jurisdictions in the U.S. where | |
| all hitting of young people by their parents is illegal. [Footnote 10] | |
| There are also no jurisdictions where young people have the right to initiate | |
| or participate in any type of erotic activity with adults. Is this a coincidence, | |
| or is there a connection? Why are those who defend corporal punishment | |
| as necessary and proper so often the same ones concerned about protecting | |
| young people from all sexual experiences?</FONT><BR> | |
| </H4> | |
| <H4 ALIGN=CENTER><IMG SRC="colorbar.gif" HEIGHT=3 WIDTH=600></H4> | |
| <H4><I><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE=+2>Every corporal assault is contact | |
| unwanted by young persons, and therefore constitutes molestation. Cultural | |
| myths which hold that any type of physical assault can be reasonable or | |
| that any amount of physical abuse, however slight, is less than excessive, | |
| should be exploded for the benefit of all.</FONT></FONT></I></H4> | |
| <CENTER><P><IMG SRC="colorbar.gif" HEIGHT=3 WIDTH=600></P></CENTER> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>Two frequently cited goals of the current anti-child sexual | |
| molestation movement are that "children should be told they have the | |
| right to say 'no'," and that "children should be taught that | |
| their bodies belong to them and that no one has the right to touch them | |
| without their permission." Achieving these goals would be a great | |
| help in empowering young people to deal with the problems of unwanted sexual | |
| contacts.</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>There is an obvious conflict, however, between those two | |
| goals and the lessons young people learn every day from corporal punishment.</FONT></P> | |
| <P><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>"You have the right to say 'no'. / Now go upstairs | |
| and do your homework. DON'T SAY 'NO' TO ME! If you EVER say 'no' to me | |
| again, I'll slap you so hard you won't know what hit you!" and, "Your | |
| body belongs to you. / Now stop slouching in that chair and sit up straight | |
| while you can still sit down!" and, "No one can touch your body | |
| without your permission. / If you don't clean up this room, I'll take a | |
| yardstick and break it on your behind!" are all examples of the conflicting | |
| messages many young people today are receiving from parents and teachers.</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <CENTER><P><IMG SRC="colorbar.gif" HEIGHT=3 WIDTH=600></P></CENTER> | |
| <H4><I><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE=+2>If there is a first step towards | |
| empowering young people, it is to abolish the privilege of adults to physically | |
| abuse the young. While calling for the abolition of age-of-consent laws | |
| is important and necessary, not many young people would consider legal | |
| sex as important as freedom from the physical assaults they face on a daily | |
| basis.</FONT></FONT></I></H4> | |
| <CENTER><P><BR> | |
| <IMG SRC="colorbar.gif" HEIGHT=3 WIDTH=600></P></CENTER> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>Assuming that young people are neither as irrational nor | |
| as schizophrenic as the adults who control their lives, which message will | |
| they believe? How long will it take them to figure out that when someone | |
| tells them they have a right to say "no", that person is lying? | |
| That they have no such right, only a dictate from society that they must | |
| say "no" to all sexual offers or be prepared to suffer the legal | |
| consequences? How long will it be before they realize that they may not | |
| do with their bodies as they choose, but only as those adults in control | |
| demand? How long will it be before they realize that who touches their | |
| bodies and how do not depend on who has their permission, but on who has | |
| the legal authority?</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>And once young people realize these things (which should | |
| not take any longer than their next beating), how long will it be before | |
| they, and concerned adults, begin to do something substantive to change | |
| the status of young people in our society?</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>Gabriela Mistral, Chile's Nobel prize winning poet, answers | |
| that question in this way:</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <UL> | |
| <P><I><FONT SIZE=+1>"<B>Many of the things we need can wait. The child | |
| cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is | |
| being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer | |
| 'tomorrow.' His name is 'today.'</B>"</FONT></I><FONT SIZE=+1>[Footnote | |
| 11]</FONT><BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| </P> | |
| </UL> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>If there is a first step towards empowering the young, | |
| it is not lying to them about a right to say "no." And while | |
| calling for the abolition of age-of-consent laws is important and necessary, | |
| not many young people would consider legal sex as important as freedom | |
| from the physical assaults that all of them risk facing on a daily basis. | |
| If there is a first step towards empowerment, it is to abolish the privilege | |
| of adults to physically abuse young people.</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>There are several organizations addressing this issue. | |
| One is the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse, P.O. Box | |
| 94283, Chicago, IL 60690. Another is EVAN-G, the Committee to End Violence | |
| Against the Next Generation, Inc., 977 Keeler Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94708, | |
| a group whose aim is to end corporal punishment in schools and whose quarterly | |
| newsletter, <I>The Last ? Resort</I>, is the primary source for the data | |
| used in this article. In addition, many other groups, including the A.C.L.U., | |
| address the issue of corporal punishment in one way or another.</FONT><BR> | |
| </P> | |
| <P><FONT SIZE=+1>And if none of these groups seems right for you, you can | |
| always start your own. <I>The Children's Rights Handbook</I>, published | |
| by Youth Liberation Press, 2007 Washtenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 49194, | |
| tells you how. Although the handbook is out of print, copies can be found | |
| in many alternative bookstores.</FONT></P> | |
| <P><BR> | |
| <IMG SRC="colorbar.gif" HEIGHT=3 WIDTH=600></P> | |
| <H3 ALIGN=CENTER><FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE=+2>Notes</FONT></FONT></H3> | |
| <OL> | |
| <LI><FONT SIZE=+1>"To Stem Child Abuse", <I>The Last ? Resort</I> | |
| (Berkeley, CA), Vol. 12, No. 3 (Summer, 1984), p.3. </FONT></LI> | |
| <LI><FONT SIZE=+1>"Chicago Ban Poorly Enforced", <I>Ibid</I>., | |
| p. 18. </FONT></LI> | |
| <LI><FONT SIZE=+1>James Wallerstein and Adah Maurer, "Prison Admissions: | |
| The Statistical Relationship of Corporal Punishment and Crime", <I>Ibid</I>., | |
| Vol. 13, No. 2 (Winter, 1985), p. 7. Arkansas leads in school corporaI | |
| punishment per 1,000 pupils, and Texas leads in the reported number of | |
| incidents of corporal punishment by state. <I>Ibid</I>., p. 14. (Florida | |
| comes in second on both lists.) </FONT></LI> | |
| <LI><FONT SIZE=+1>"The University of Florida 'Alligator' vs. The Educational | |
| Establishment: Why More Blacks?", <I>Ibid</I>., Vol. 12, No. 2, p. | |
| 10; "Task Force At Odds Over Spanking Law: Florida Doesn't Like First | |
| Place", <I>Ibid</I>., p. 11; "3000 Paddlings a Year on 500 Students", | |
| <I>Ibid</I>.,<BR> | |
| Vol. 13, No. 2 (Winter, 1985), p. 19. </FONT></LI> | |
| <LI><FONT SIZE=+1>Levona Page, "Christian Schools Fuel Debate Over | |
| State Control", <I>Ibid</I>., Vol. 13, No. 1 (Fall, 1984), p. 14. | |
| "Panel Powerless Over Child Abuse, Members Claim",<BR> | |
| <I>Ibid</I>., Vol. 12, No. 3, (Summer, 1984), p. 11. </FONT></LI> | |
| <LI><FONT SIZE=+1>"Hot Lines For School Abuse", <I>Ibid</I>., | |
| p.23. </FONT></LI> | |
| <LI><FONT SIZE=+1>John R. Sarnowski, Jr., "Reasonableness or Absence | |
| of Malice?: A Question of Legal Standards", <I>Ibid</I>., pp. 6,7. | |
| </FONT></LI> | |
| <LI><FONT SIZE=+1>Letty Cottin Pogrebin, "Hers" <I>Ibid</I>., | |
| Vol. 12, No. 2 (Spring 1984), p. 19. </FONT></LI> | |
| <LI><FONT SIZE=+1>Paul Chance, "Vandalism: New Research Confirms 1974 | |
| Results in Portland Study",<BR> | |
| <I>Ibid</I>., Vol. 12, No. 3 (Summer, 1984), p. 14. </FONT></LI> | |
| <LI><FONT SIZE=+1>John R. Sarnowski, Jr., <I>Loc. Cit.</I> </FONT></LI> | |
| <LI><FONT SIZE=+1>"Another Tribute to Senator Mondale", <I>Ibid</I>., | |
| p. 4. </FONT></LI> | |
| </OL> | |
| <P>from <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><B><I>NAMBLA Journal Seven</I></B> (1986).</FONT></P> | |
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| <A HREF="select.htm"><IMG SRC="m0p7nau7.gif" BORDER=0 HEIGHT=58 WIDTH=58></A>Copyright | |
| © NAMBLA, 2000. All rights reserved. </P> | |
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