Shame is an unspoken epidemic, the secret behind many forms of broken behavior. Brené Brown is an American scholar, author, and public speaker, who is currently a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work.
Sex Offender Laws Shame
[youtube.com 3/19/15 – Shame vs guilt]
Good video, very smart lady. She describes exactly what is at the root of the sex offender registry and why it is a dismal failure. It is based on shame. Shame says, “You are horrible and worthless and incapable of changing.” and as she said, “Shame is probably at the root of most criminal behavior. It is not the answer.” I know I was continually shamed in my family and grew up without self esteem and always had a problem with long term relationships, and I attribute this shame induced loneliness to be at the root of why I made such a poor choice around my sexuality. Now the registry just confirms all the shame and abuse I heard as a child. Thank you law makers for your totally inept and destructive actions.
And the main reason the fight against these unjust laws are going at a snails pace with little headway is because our shame is being used against us.
We now have about 900,000 Registrants in the U.S. today, more than the population of San Francisco. California, alone, has more than 100,000, yet we have yet to stage a demonstration of more than a couple of dozen people.
Every civil rights movement was incremental. Steps were taken to eventually get to a defining point, usually a Supreme Court ruling or a shift in public opinion. The registry still exists in every state, but a great deal of progress has been made. The California registry is nearly toothless now that residency restrictions have been eliminated, along with the “Ban the Box” initiative, substantial limits on background checks, and laws that prohibit the use of the registry in nearly every aspect of life, including health insurance, insurance, loans, credit, employment, educations, scholarships, housing, public accommodations, or benefits, privileges, or services provided by any business establishment.
Successful civil rights movements have all followed a similar formula: establish a grassroots community, influence public opinion, and challenge existing law. As registrants we face unique obstacles, particularly when it comes to creating a community. Negative public opinion and unfavorable laws are nothing new to oppressed communities, but our oppressors specifically seek to divide us and prevent us from forming a community. We are prevented from using social media, living in the same building, from congregating in many public places, and we are deliberately disenfranchised. It is also often the case that registrants on probation or parole are prohibited from having contact with other registrants. And let’s not forget that it’s a crime in California for any registrant to even look at the Megan’s Law website, which, in my opinion, can only be for the purpose of discouraging registrants forming a community.
I doubt that’s ever been enforced, and it would be very difficult for it to be enforced. The registry is a two-edged sword; we can use it to our advantage. Imagine if oppressed people of the past had at their fingertips a list of every single person who was oppressed in the same way as them and could communicate with those people instantaneously. Imagine if black slaves of the past had access to a database in which they could contact any other person (or every other person) in their position. Imagine if the LGBT rights movement had had a giant mailing list of every single gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender person in the US. We have that list, the government has provided it at the taxpayer’s expense.
The registry is our community. Think of the power we could have if we took back the registry and used it as a tool for ourselves to network with one another.
All of this fear factoring of “sex offenders” is just ridiculous and crazy all because of these public notifications. People have gotten way over their heads in wanting to seek out “sex offenders” all because of their cliché of having the right to know to keep everyone safe which is just bogus. These public notifications will not keep anyone safe and will endangers lives and should get rid of these public notifications or get it out of the tyranny hands of the public.