If we cared about kids, we’d focus resources proportionally to the threats they face
danah boyd (her name is legally spelled in lower-case letters) points out that most abused children are abused in their own homes, and often by their parents or relatives. So she wonders why various Attorney General’s focus so much time and attention on sex offenders online:
The Attorneys General – mostly angry at me and other researchers – have spent considerable time trying to publicly reject the ISTTF report that was published last month. This week, I watched as they blasted the airwaves with an announcement that 90,000 sex offenders have been removed from MySpace. This PR campaign is intended to provoke fears in the American psyche, to serve as “proof” that we were wrong. The underlying message is, “See, social network sites are dangerous!” Fear mongering by public officials is quite effective, but, once again, I’m frustrated to see the framing miss the reality of the data. For this reason, I want to challenge the message of the current PR fear campaign.
…Why are we so obsessed with the registered sex offender side of the puzzle when the troubled kids are right in front of us? Why are we so obsessed with the Internet side of the puzzle when so many more kids are abused in their own homes? I feel like this whole conversation has turned into a distraction. Money and time is being spent focusing on the things that people fear rather than the very real and known risks that kids face. This breaks my heart.
Why do various Attorney General’s focus so much time and attention on sex offenders online? I assume part of the answer has to do with political convenience – it is easy to go after sex offenders online.