The Link to the story here

Boy faces jail for slapping girl's bottom

By Simon Davis in Los Angeles Wednesday 3 January 2001

A SCHOOLBOY who slapped a girl on the bottom for a joke is facing two years in a juvenile prison for sexual harassment.

The 13-year-old girl, a classmate, did not complain but a teacher who saw the incident at Espanola Middle School in northern New Mexico reported it to the police.

The authorities are considering charging the boy with criminal sexual contact, although the mother of the girl said she would not have pressed charges. She said: "It was only a slap on the butt. Cheeky boys have been doing that for years." The mother of the boy involved said: "It's political correctness gone mad."

Police are using forensic scientists to determine the force of the slap to decide whether to charge the boy with criminal sexual contact or merely assault and battery. Wayne Salazar, Espanola's police chief, said: "The suspect is alleging that this was not a sexual issue. But why the buttocks? Why not the arm?"

The incident happened before the Christmas holidays. The boy is expected to face a juvenile disciplinary board today .

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001

Answers

A SCHOOLBOY who slapped a girl on the bottom for a joke is facing two years in a juvenile prison for sexual harassment.

He should have kept his hands to himself. Oh sure, it was just "only a slap on the butt. Cheeky boys have been doing that for years."
And they go on to sticking their hands where they don't belong in high school, but that's ok too because it has been that way for years. Then they slap their girlfriends around a bit, but thats been happening too for generations, Next they beat the shit out of their wives, but that is personal business, not a problem, it has been that way since the cave man.

They need to learn from the beginning that it is NOT ok. First it was her butt, a morally and leagally "private part" that we teach children they are not to allow others to touch, second, it was physical- hitting is a form of violence. If you don't draw the line at that stage, when do you start drawing the line?

What part of freedom from violence in school and sexual touching do you not understand? And Yes, if someone slapped your daughter's or wife's butt would you appreciate it? Should a child have to accept it? Who is he mimicking? Why doesn't her mother think it is inappropriate? I would not have called the police on him, but teachers are obligated by law to report these kinds of things. It is the only way we are going to teach people that it is no longer acceptable.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001

He should have kept his hands to himself. Oh sure, it was just "only a slap on the butt. Cheeky boys have been doing that for years."

Nice rant. I suppose you won't buy the Boys will be boys argument, will you?

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001

Not bloody likely.

They start out doing what he did and end up like the guy at a club I went to once. He was standing by the door at closing time who would reach out and grab womens breasts as they walked out. Until he did it to me. I reached down and grab and twisted.

They learn early or they end up learning the hard way.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001

Come on now...can't the cops go catch real bad guys in New Mexico?

The boy should be punished. 2 years in the hole is a bit much. Drug dealers and drunk drivers get off easier than this. Oh, but druggies and alchaolics have a disease not a weakness. Touch a woman, go to jail, the mantra for the new millennium.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001

I would not have called the police on him, but teachers are obligated by law to report these kinds of things.

Yep- first discipline the kid, inform the parents of both the boy and the girl, maybe the principle. But the cops? Give the world a break, PC police.....

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001

Was the girl offended? If so let her and all other girls take a lesson from Cherri in the fastest and best type of behavior mod for big handed boys. Humiliation..nothing like it. If not, what the hell's the point of us adults getting involved?

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001

So, Carlos, what kind of "humiliation" do you think the young lady in question should have dished out to the boy who -- let's be technical, shall we -- assaulted her? What exactly was she supposed to do if the boy in question physically attacked her for humiliating him?

What do you think would have happened if you had tried a similar stunt in your workplace towards a female co-worker?

I guess the attitude of the girl's mother surprises me, for the simple reason that battering and verbal abuse towards young girls by teenage boys is on the rise across the country, and considered a matter of some concern by medical personnel. If I recall correctly, there is a program taught in schools to alert teen girls that it is not appropriate to be hit, slapped, punched, kicked or verbally assaulted by any male "friend".

Uncle Bob, your assertion that "boys will be boys" would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic. Domestic violence was hushed up for years (and dismissed as a "personal matter",) by batterers, who use control, manipulation, discounting and humiliation to silence their victims.

I don't believe that the young man should be in jail for two years, but I do believe that he needs some intensive counseling. Perhaps his mother should attend as well, if she has such a cavalier attitude towards her son's striking another female.

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2001

Well, I don't know how "humiliation" works on kids (e.g., this one's age), but I can tell you it works wonders once they get older.

Some years back (in the 1980s), I was on the subway going to work (for any familiar with NYC, it was the Lexington Avenue line; ALWAYS packed).

Having been a subway rider since the 1960s, one does gain a certain "feel" (no pun intended) for certain situations. IOW, one can tell when another is brushing up against you, and when one is brushing up against you.

I felt something on my butt.....it wasn't "incidental". So I grabbed the guy's hand and waited a couple of seconds for a "quiet moment", held his hand up over my head and yelled as loud as I could:

"WHO'S HAND IS THIS? I FOUND IT UP MY ASS!"

The guy RAN off the subway at the next stop -- had to barrel through a crush of rush-hour riders, but he managed to get off the train :-)

Then there was the time there was a rather nice-looking, very well-dressed man standing in front of me and my friend and he was, um, playing with himself.

A few well-timed, rather loud words such as "You have GOT to be kidding with that thing!!" and he, too, departed the subway faster than a speeding bullet. (And the train wasn't NEARLY as crowded as the previous incident -- you could actually see the floor this time.)

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2001

Patricia, roflmao!!! Your tactics probably were far more effective in curing these scumbags of their behavioral problems, and certainly cheaper, faster, and far more effective than calling a cop. Would love to have heard you deal with that last incident ...("you've GOT to be kidding with that thing"), lolol.

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2001

Patricia,

Remind me not to make you mad. :)

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2001

Gentlemen, it's all in the timing -- not to mention a certain amount of inflection coupled with the NY attitude-'n'-accent ;-) And if you had ever heard my voice, you'd understand how well that translates to "humiliation".

Someone (sadly, I forget who it was) once told me at a young age (I was in H.S. and I had been "flashed") that the best thing to do with these cretins is to humiliate them.

I had a similar incident a couple of years ago (yeah, OK, there must be something about me...) -- once again, the subway was involved; I was on my way home from work and it was probably around 6/6:30 in the evening.

This one was a bit more menacing. The guy actually stood directly in front of me and, um, performed. THAT one scared the hell out of me, but I somehow managed to keep my composure (simply amazing what one can do when one is really angry), LMAO in his face, and walk rather forcefully right past him (one of those "brave but foolish" moves, no doubt). My intention was to go to the token booth (at the opposite end of the station -- the only exit) and report this guy. Just as I got to the booth, the train pulled in.

Here's where the true NYer in me came through -- I'm standing there thinking, "The guy has GOT to be reported ..... the train is pulling in the station and I can go home ..... the guy has GOT to be REPORTED ..... but the TRAIN is pulling in the station and I CAN GO HOME .......".

The "train pulling in the station and I can go home" won that round. It really bothered me to realize that it's just another of those things that NYers "tolerate"; part of the price you pay for living there, I guess.

Sorry for the sidetrack there.....it's kind of sad if you think about it, but in these instances, a woman's only weapon is "humiliation". I don't know if it worked on that last guy, but I never saw him again (and yes, I'd recognize his FACE [g]; in fact, I can still see it as clearly now as I did that evening, it really shook me to the core).

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2001

Julie said...

Uncle Bob, your assertion that "boys will be boys" would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic.

Then, the lecture continued with Domestic violence was hushed up for years (and dismissed as a "personal matter",) by batterers, who use control, manipulation, discounting and humiliation to silence their victims.

Julie, I think I was speaking (typing) english. I didn't assert jack- shit. You see, here in America we have satire

Function: n Synonyms: lampoonery, raillery, satiricalness Related Word: banter, chaffing; causticity, irony; mockery, ridicule; pasquinade, persiflage, squib; parody, spoof, spoofery, takeoff Text: humorous ridicule often used to convey rebuke or criticism or to expose folly or vice

and we have facetious

Function: adj Related Word: jesting, joking, quipping, wisecracking; blithe, jocund, jolly, jovial, merry; comic, comical, droll, funny, laughable, ludicrous Text: Synonyms WITTY, humorous, jocose, jocular Contrasted Words grave, serious, sober, solemn, somber Antonyms lugubrious It was a joke, Julie...get a grip.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2001

Easy there Bob.

Julie has some history here. My hope is that it came off of daytime TV and wasn't personal. If it was personal, well, looks like I'm gonna have to testify against you there buddy.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2001