Jerry Sandusky and the Mind of a Pedophile

The paedophile is NOT a scary monster. The paedophile is the loving, helpful family friend, or family member who takes advantage of parental trust to win a target and capture a victim.

Have parents muted the voice that speaks niggling concern and disturbing discrepancy. Are parents striving to be attune to what their child is saying, without words.

This paedophile explains how children are chosen not just on the child’s personal characteristics, but also on the loose parenting style of the family. Please take heed.

Jerry Sandusky and the Mind of a Pedophile : The New Yorker.

When monsters roam free, we assume that people in positions of authority ought to be able to catch them if only they did their jobs. But that might be wishful thinking. A pedophile, van Dam’s story of Mr. Clay reminds us, is someone adept not just at preying on children but at confusing, deceiving, and charming the adults responsible for those children

The pedophile is often imagined as the dishevelled old man baldly offering candy to preschoolers. But the truth is that most of the time we have no clue what we are dealing with. 

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The successful pedophile does not select his targets arbitrarily. He culls them from a larger pool, testing and probing until he finds the most vulnerable. Clay, for example, first put himself in a place with easy access to children—an elementary school. Then he worked his way through his class. He began by simply asking boys if they wanted to stay after school. “Those who could not do so without parental permission were screened out,” van Dam writes. Children with vigilant parents are too risky. Those who remained were then caressed on the back, first over the shirt and then, if there was no objection from the child, under the shirt. “The child’s response was evaluated by waiting to see what was reported to the parents,” she goes on. “Parents inquiring about this behavior were told by Mr. Clay that he had simply been checking their child for signs of chicken pox. Those children were not targeted further.” The rest were “selected for more contact,” gradually moving below the belt and then to the genitals. The child molester’s key strategy is one of escalation, desensitizing the target with an ever-expanding touch.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/09/24/120924crat_atlarge_gladwell#ixzz27DRQI8qj

This article is written by Malcolm Gladwell, Strong Jamaican links.