Friday, December 23, 2005

Homosexuality in Development

There are many that say that homosexuality is a nature (as opposed to nurture) issue and that the idea that a person can "become" homosexual due to circumstances is rediculous.

There is an article on C|Net.com about how a Boy Joins a Sordid Online World Through His Webcam. It's about how he got online with his webcam to meet girls and ended up as a major player in the online child pornography world including homosexual prostitution as a result of manipulation and "grooming".

he would pay Justin $50 to sit bare-chested in front of his Webcam for three minutes. The man explained that Justin could receive the money instantly and helped him open an account on PayPal.com, an online payment system.

"I figured, I took off my shirt at the pool for nothing," he said recently. "So, I was kind of like, what's the difference?"

Justin removed his T-shirt. The men watching him oozed compliments.

The article goes on to explain how this is developed and what made him suceptable to this kind of problem.

The emotional turmoil left Justin longing for paternal affection, family members said. And the adult males he met online offered just that. "They complimented me all the time," Justin said. "They told me I was smart, they told me I was handsome."

In that, experts said, the eighth-grade boy's experience reflected the standard methods used by predatory adults to insinuate themselves into the lives of minors they meet online.

"In these cases, there are problems in their own lives that make them predisposed to" manipulation by adults, Lawrence Likar, a former FBI supervisor, said of children persuaded to pose for pornography. "The predators know that and are able to tap into these problems and offer what appear to be solutions."

Overall it is a really interesting article with quite a bit to say. I was rather disappointed however that almost no focus was placed on what has helped to bring him back out of the problem, with just a quick note saying;
Justin himself has found a measure of control over his life. He revealed the details of his secret life to his family, telling them of all the times in the past that he had lied to them. He has sought counseling, kept off drugs, resumed his connection with his church and plans to attend college beginning in January.
But, such is life...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You seem to be saying that this show that people can choose to become homosexual. I fail to see where it indicates the boy "became" homosexual. Rather, he became enticed by money and compliments to help fill a hole in his life.

JCMasterpiece said...

Actually, later in the article he states that he went from being preyed upon to becoming a predator. Thus he continued in the lifestyle not because of the money, but because of choice.

Since he chose the lifestyle and had he continued in the lifestyle for an extended time, no one would have considered him less than homosexual, especially the mainstream counseling community.

JCMasterpiece said...

This was origionally researched and published in the NY Times.

Thank you for the correction Mike. I knew that i had seen it posted elsewhere previously, but i couldn't remember where.