Disgraced preacher Haggard claims childhood abuse

[foxfeet]

Well, this explains everything :sarcasm:
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DISGRACED_PASTOR?SITE=KING&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=US.html&CTIME=2008-11-12-19-28-05

[Fed_Up_Grammy]

1. Oh for God's sake--------here we go !

So it's not his fault,eh? God these hypocrites sicken me.

[wellst0nev0ter]

2. Dear Haggard,

Fuck you and your rapist.

Sincerely,

wellst0nev0ter

[FreeState]

3. Never mind that 1 in 6 boys in the US have been sexually abused

to claim abuse makes you like something is sick - being sexually abused does not determine your orientation!

http://www.jimhopper.com/male-ab/

and

http://www.themensproject.ca/index.php?auto_slide=&ID=134&Lang=Fr&Parent_ID=¤t_slide_num=

1. Up to one out of six men report having had unwanted direct sexual contact with an older person by the age of 16. If we include non-contact sexual behavior, such as someone exposing him- or herself to a child, up to one in four men report boyhood sexual victimization. (1, 2)

2. On average, boys first experience sexual abuse at age 10. The age range at which boys are first abused, however, is from infancy to late adolescence. (1, 2)

3. Boys at greatest risk for sexual abuse are those living with neither or only one parent; those whose parents are separated, divorced, and/or remarried; those whose parents abuse alcohol or are involved in criminal behavior; and those who are disabled. (3)

4. Boys are most commonly abused by males (between 50 and 75%). However, it is difficult to estimate the extent of abuse by females, since abuse by women is often covert. Also, when a woman initiates sex with a boy he is likely to consider it a "sexual initiation" and deny that it was abusive, even though he may suffer significant trauma from the experience. (1)

5. A smaller proportion of sexually abused boys than sexually abused girls report sexual abuse to authorities. (3)

6. Common symptoms for sexually abused men include: guilt, anxiety, depression, interpersonal isolation, shame, low self-esteem, self-destructive behavior, post-traumatic stress reactions, poor body imagery, sleep disturbance, nightmares, anorexia or bulimia, relational and/or sexual dysfunction, and compulsive behavior like alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, overeating, overspending, and sexual obsession or compulsion. (3, 4)

7. The vast majority (over 80%) of sexually abused boys never become adult perpetrators, while a majority of perpetrators (up to 80%) were themselves abused. (1)

8. There is no compelling evidence that sexual abuse fundamentally changes a boy's sexual orientation, but it may lead to confusion about sexual identity and is likely to affect how he relates in intimate situations. (3, 4)

9. Boys often feel physical sexual arousal during abuse even if they are repulsed by what is happening. (4)

10. Perpetrators tend to be males who consider themselves heterosexual (5, 6) and are most likely to be known but unrelated to the victims. (3)

[yardwork]

4. What's his excuse for the meth? Drug dealer slip him a mickey when he was five?

[bluedawg12]

5. How about him blaming

the homophobic brain washing that he then turned around and spouted in hypocrisy?

[foxfeet]

6. Just to be clear,

I am a retired social worker with many years' experience working with survivors of sexual/physical abuse. I know abuse happens and that it is devastating to many. That said, I am skeptical of the claim in this case. Not only does Haggard have a strong motivation to explain away his own behavior, he was counseled by James Dobson, of Focus on the Family, who does believe that sexual abuse of boys by older men can and does determine their sexual orientation, "making" them gay. The ongoing hypocrisy here is so thick you could cut it with a chain saw. My OP was rather too brief as I was called away in the middle of posting. My apologies to any who felt I was discounting the experience and effects of abuse. That was not my intention and I do know otherwise.

[madmadmad]

7. puleeze, miss haggard, face it- you are gay, gay, gay!

i hate this shit perpetuating the myth that molestation makes you gay. i was never molested and am gay, gay, gay, and same for that jackass. god, the ignorance is just astounding.

[bluedawg12]

8. This is interesting.

http://www.robincmiller.com/gayles4.htm

Playing the Pedophilia Card


Words: 840
Date: 2001 (updated 1/29/2002)

...In 1978 psychologist Nicholas Groth screened 175 men who had been convicted in Massachusetts of sexual molestation of children and referred by a court for psychological evaluation. He found not a single gay man in this sample. Every one of the perpetrators was either an exclusive heterosexual, a bisexual with a predominantly heterosexual orientation, or a fixated pedophile with no sexual interest in adults.<4>

His conclusion? That "the adult heterosexual male constitutes a greater risk to the underage child than does the adult homosexual male."

In the same year, researcher David Newton reviewed the scientific literature and found no reason to believe that anything other than a "random connection" existed between homosexual orientation and child molestation.<5>

Later research has confirmed these findings:


In 1988, renowned sex researcher Kurt Freund at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto studied two groups of paid volunteers and found that gay men responded no more to male child stimuli than heterosexual men responded to female child stimuli.<6> He later described as a "myth" the notion that gay men are more likely than straight men to be child molesters.<7>
In 1992, alarmed over claims made during a campaign for an anti-gay state constitutional amendment in Colorado, two physicians reviewed every case of suspected child molestation evaluated at Children's Hospital in Denver over a one-year period. Of the 269 cases determined to involve molestation by an adult, only two of the perpetrators could be identified as gay or lesbian. The researchers concluded that the risk of child sexual abuse by an identifiably gay or lesbian person was between zero and 3.1%, and that the risk of such abuse by the heterosexual partner of a relative was over 100 times greater.<8>

Child abuse, including sexual abuse, is a terrible reality in this country. According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, established by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, nearly 90,000 children are sexually abused every year.<9> According to some researchers, the true number may be five times this.<10>

Approximately 80 percent of these sexually molested children are girls.<11> Persons focusing only on the remaining 20 percent of molestations--and, even then, only on the small fraction of these crimes committed by gay men--are not authentically concerned with combating sexual abuse of children. Their primary interest lies in perpetuating fear.