MK forum

Gene Long do you also have what NTM have to say about sexual abuse in their Child protection manual. Because Lori's physical abuse crossed over into sexual abuse when he required her to pull down her pants.

Lori, it is clear to me that what Gary Earl forced you to do after he beat you, and which his wife witnessed, fits NTM's Child Protection Manual definition of sexual abuse.

I imagine myself at age 10 or 11 being forced to do what he forced you to do, in that particular setting, and I just cringe. I know that I myself would have been mortified and humiliated.

I am so angry that this was done to you. It was so very wrong.

Good point, Lori. Physical misconduct? My Google search reveals very little about those two words put together. I think it's yet another way to NOT label it a crime.

As in the case of Little Red Riding Hood,

"What smart lawyers, you have, dear mission"

We have a little girl who only just turned 11 - she's about the exact age I was when my story happened. If someone beat her to bloody - no, if he just hit her with a board - no, if he even just slapped her - it would be "physical abuse." If he made her remove her clothing to show him her buttocks afterward, it would be "sexual abuse." If he dared either...he must not know her Daddy.

"Physical misconduct" waters it down, in my opinion. But I'm not a legal jargon kind of gal...is "physical misconduct" the normal legal wording for the beating and forced nudity of a minor child?

Lori, the only things I found on Google about the phrase, "physical misconduct" were related to sports. It doesn't seem to be a legal phrase.

Here's what one definition of it as related to cycling says . . .


Physical misconduct involves contact or non-contact behavior that can cause physical harm to an athlete or other sport participant. It also includes any act or conduct described as physical abuse or misconduct under federal or state law (i.e. child abuse, child neglect and assault). Generally physical misconduct can involve any of the following acts:

Examples of physical misconduct prohibited under this policy include, without limitation:


1. Contact Offenses

Punching, beating, biting, striking, choking, slapping or any similar act towards any participant
Intentionally hitting any participant with objects or sporting equipment
Providing alcohol to an athlete under the age of 21
Providing illegal drugs or non-prescribed medications
Encouraging or permitting an athlete to return to play prematurely or without the clearance of a medical professional, following a serious injury (i.e. concussion)
Prescribed dieting or other weight-control methods (i.e. weigh-ins, caliper tests) without regard for the nutritional well-being and health of the athlete

2. Non-Contact Offenses

Isolating an athlete in a confined space (i.e. locking an athlete in locker)
Forcing an athlete to assume a painful stance or position for no athletic purpose (i.e. requiring an athlete to kneel on a harmful surface)
Withholding, recommending against, or denying adequate hydration, nutrition, medical attention, or sleep

Exceptions

Physical misconduct does not include professionally accepted coaching methods of skill enhancement, physical conditioning, team building, appropriate discipline or improving athlete performance such as: assistance with stretching, massage by Soigneur, Chiropractic work including Active Release Techniques (ART), bumping exercises (exercises performed during practice to build an athlete’s ability to withstand “bumping” that occurs between riders during road races), seat post holding. If an athlete is uncomfortable, however, with any example mentioned herein, said athlete should notify his/her coach immediately.

In the 70's, spanking was still a huge part of raising children in a Christian environment. I was terribly embarrassed when my dad took a neighborhood teen into his workshop, and they made a wooden paddle. They put 22 holes in it with a drill, and my dad called it the "22 holes of happiness." He hung it up in the kitchen right beside the hallway where we would go to get paddled. The kids in the neighborhood would look at it and asked all kinds of horrible questions to us about it. He showed it to every visitor.

As far as I knew we never got bloodied, were bare, or even bruised. But I would never, ever, do that to a child.

But I'm wondering if the Gary Earl situation has come a little close to home. Even though my parents kept our clothing on for paddling, I knew cousins, other church kids who were not that lucky.

The fear might be that calling it "physical abuse" will bring on more accounts.