Is there a link between screwdrivers and car stereo thieves?

Screwdrivers are used for stealing stereos, Kieran’s closet houses his clothes, and “homosexuals are responsible for male child molestations”? You are letting them score free points on this one. I’d probably retort with something like we don’t condemn being a white male because most serial killers are white males. We don’t condemn being black because most gang violence is black. And we shouldn’t condemn being gay if most male child molestations are carried out by gays.

I’d expect that most _female_ molestations are carried out by, um, … :)

And here’s another example of innumeracy regarding a (IMO) more serious problem.

This is actually NOT a stupid question. Most surveys of instances of child molestation have found that male molesters of male children are typically not “homosexual” in any conventional sense (i.e. pursuing relationships with adult males). And that’s important because the proportion of instances of child molestation that involve male-male contact is much higher than the proportion of gay men in the population. Those two facts are used by conservatives to claim that gay men are more likely than other men to molest children; the reason they’re wrong about that is precisely because, in fact, the overwhelming majority of male molesters of male children are not “gay” in the colloquial sense. The survey result is probably the result of men whose primary sexual attraction is to young boys (though they may be heterosexual or, more likely, totally asexual, in their relationships with adults) concluding that they must, therefore, be “gay” (since it is, after all, *boys* they’re attracted to–the conservative argument). But psychologists and social scientists tend to regard pedophilia as, in a sense, a separate orientation of its own. If someone’s primary sexual activity is screwing goats, you don’t ask whether the goats are male or female to determine whether the person is “straight” or “gay”.

Agreed, c.j. Since most people who molest boys are men, and most people who molest girls are men, isn’t the problem . . . men . . . ? We should just tell children to keep their distance . . .

I’d probably retort with something like we don’t condemn being a white male because most serial killers are white males.

Well, I don’t and maybe you don’t but maybe you’ve run across the phrase ‘testosterone poisoning’ thrown about? Or maybe Maureen Dowd’s treatise on the pathetic, endangered state of t he Y-chromosome?

Since most people who molest boys are men, and most people who molest girls are men, isn’t the problem . . . men . . . ? We should just tell children to keep their distance . . .

Many people have, haven’t they (though perhaps less now than during the ‘satanic preschool child abuse’ panics of 15 years ago).

Here’s the thing. It’s all semantics. In some obvious sense all male abusers of boys are ‘gay’ because…duh…they’re having sex with males. But we can’t have that because, although heaping abuse and derision on males in general is generally OK among left-leaners, doing so to gays is not OK (they are, of course, a protected minority). So we must change the semantics–men who have sex with boys arent ‘gay’ and therefore gays, by definition, don’t abuse boys. Of course the religious right come at it from the opposite point of view–if they can blame pedophilia mostly on gays, then they’re happy.

But of course what actually matters is that an extremely small percentage of males of any sexual orientation are abusers (or serial killers for that matter).

If someone’s primary sexual activity is screwing goats, you don’t ask whether the goats are male or female to determine whether the person is “straight” or “gay”.

I can see you’re not Welsh.

Most violent crimes are committed by bread eaters shortly after consumption of the product. Therefore, eating bread contributes to violent crime and should be made illegal.

Are the Dobson acolytes concerned about the homosexual activity and gang rape committed in our wonderful prison systems as well? I’m thinking incarceration promotes homosexuality and therefore must be eliminated if we are to preserve our christian heritage. Who’s with me?

Functional: the figure is obviously not relevant to the original question “Is There a Link between Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse?”

(Even when it comes to the acceptance policy of the Boy Scouts — I presume you mean the Boy Scouts _of America_ — I’m not sure that this figure means their policy is rational. Does the organization reject all white males because (as jet said) most serial killers are white males?)