Attitude, far from being “everything”, is simply an offshoot of the self-identity. People are constantly changing their self-identities, either to project the desired image or to gain personal growth. How do you perceive yourself? How much do you accept what other people want of you? Do their perceptions of you match what you want to portray?
The men and women on sex offender probation have no choice about their identities. They are sex offenders, solely and clearly. Questions about perception and portrayal are nice but hardly applicable. Other people are the sum of their experiences but sex offenders are the sum of their crimes.
I’ve also heard of men in general, sex offender or not, being afraid to help kids in danger in the street for fear of looking like a pervert, even if they have no criminal record and have squeaky-clean reputations.
Even worse, one guy actually did this and ended up on the sex offender registry all because the girl whose life he saved insisted on bringing false accusations against him.
Seems like no good deed goes unpunished…