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It's too bad when even good intentions promote negative stereotypes
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By Mike Cuenca | November 29, 2005
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A Nov. 23 Lawrence Journal-World article that described a "preventative" sexual predator program really troubled me. I'm wondering why the puppet being used as a surrogate child molester has dark "skin" and why her name is "Rosalita?"
Using this particular doll is perpetuating myths about sexual molesters, which doesn't help the problem at all. According to the Georgia Center for Children (georgiacenterforchildren.org) and other statistical sources, 97% of sexual molesters are male, 73% of them are Caucasian, 91% of them are religious, and more than 91% of children are molested by someone they know. Based on those statistics, the doll would be more realistic if it looked like the children's white male preacher.
That article should have focused on why the GaDuGi SafeCenter and the Ballard Center are using an apparently "colored" doll when the reality about child molesters is so different; what other choices they may have had when choosing the color of their doll; and who produced the doll and what their motivations may be in producing "dolls of color" for this use.
And how might these preschoolers be traumatized simply by being exposed to a surrogate molester who asks to put her hand down their pants? Are there no less graphic ways to teach young children to protect themselves?
These people obviously have the best of intentions. Their use of this particular doll may be innocently ignorant. But the article is another example of how little sensitivity to negative racial stereotyping there is in this local culture and how little journalistic curiosity they have at the Journal-World.
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