Source: thedailybeast.com 1/26/25
During its three-year run on NBC, “To Catch a Predator” turned busting online pedophiles into blockbuster TV. Was the show a quest for justice—or just sordid, exploitative TV?
PARK CITY, Utah—Jimmy Kimmel aptly summed up Dateline NBC’s To Catch a Predator as “Punk’d for Pedophiles,” and during its 2004-2007 run, it became a national phenomenon.
A candid-camera sting operation designed to ensnare and arrest adult men who were planning to have sex with minors, the show was a reality-TV trailblazer, taking the formula pioneered by Cops and using it to shine a spotlight on deviants at their most guilty. Transforming host Chris Hansen into a journalistic celebrity and begetting a wave of copycats, it not only exposed an insidious threat that had grown exponentially worse courtesy of the internet, but also turned it—and its thwarting—into prime-time entertainment.
Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, Predators is a documentary inquiry into To Catch a Predator with an express interest in understanding the appeal of its template, its cultural legacy, its short- and long-term efficacy in curbing pedophilia, and the ethicality of its approach.
Directed by David Osit, it’s a conflicted non-fiction affair, and one made more complicated by the revelation that Osit’s reason for making the film is his own abuse, at age seven, at the hands of a grown-up. Initially teasing a condemnation, only to come away with something less certain and more fascinating, it straddles various lines, and perspectives, with impressive confidence.
The outgrowth of this show has led to issues in society as we’ve already seen. Be a good post on its own.
Interesting article. Entrapment?? I’m not into underage women, but I do have an important question. True. I recently went onto (pay attention) a BDSM website that allows you to post a profile and post ads. I was curious. I get this younger Asian woman who contacts me (posted hardcore nude photos on her cute). Pretty graphic. I met her around April of 2024 for coffee. Cute/she acted a bit paranoid- looking around! 18. We mess around a little/we would Skype and she would expose her self and later shared she liked older men! I wasn’t seeking this, but she was intriguing. She later admitted she was 17!!!! Lied on her profile! She had been going on dating sites/got a married teacher arrested Sept 23! I met her May 24!! She initially claimed her mom found her journal/later admitted he made her angry because he ghosted her!!! So, I’m thinking, she just got a guy arrested in Sept 23! Was the guy still going to court (I saw him on Megan’s later) and she then lied about her age/was posting graphic photos on a hardcore BDSM website 6 months later! I actually felt victimized. She was very manipulative! Tried to portray herself as a victim! I felt like she was the perp! I later cut it off and was truly paranoid! I felt duped! Thoughts? I actually felt for the guy and wondered what the true story was? At one point, she stated she wanted to contact him/like she hadn’t closure??? I’m thinking, she just got him arrested/convicted of a sex offense/now a PFR! Divorced! Lost his house! Lost his career? Any legal ramifications?
This article discusses a disturbing topic and a possible attempt to show that entrapment is alive and well in the U.S. through sting operations. Not sure how to find the new film, Predators, but will look for it online to see for myself what it does and does not portray.
I believe the topic of pedophilia/hebephilia is horribly misunderstood in America by law enforcement, judges, DA’s/prosecutors, and, sadly many if not most therapists. What is coming to light in research studies is that these sexual attraction traits are, like sexual orientation, probably mostly innate from birth. Why? We don’t know, much like sexual orientation. What is clear is that if people with these orientations are able to seek safe, confidential, specific effective therapy before they offend, it can be very helpful. Like sexual orientation, you can’t simply treat these feelings away, but you can educate people on how to manage their urges in ways that do not victimize anyone and get them in trouble with the law. People can be helped in accepting who they are and feeling OK about themselves while learning how to cope and not offend. It seems to me our limited national resources would be better spent in ushering people who have never offended, or adults caught up in first-time, non-violent, attempted sexual contacts with minors into effective therapy programs. These individuals and society would be better served. Some European countries have promoted multi-faceted mass media advertising campaigns for just this purpose. The U.S. should follow suit and stop this base sensationalizing of people’s weaknesses.
I myself always wondered how many of those adults pretending to be an underage person…were actually having inappropriate sexual conversations with an actual underage person online before they found an adult to charge and take a bite out of crime.