This makes me mad
Had an unpleasant episode at work yesterday evening. A male person, wearing jeans and a beige jacket and lurking amongst the shelves of the children's area of the library, exposed his genitals to a young girl browsing the stacks. (I refuse to call such creatures "men", by the way. Biologically male he may be. A man he is not.)
Fortunately, the girl was a relative of a library worker, and felt comfortable and self-assured enough to immediately tell the library staff what was going on. When the cowardly sleazebag saw her going up to the library staff desk, he bolted out the door and was gone before anyone knew to stop him.
I'm glad nothing worse happened. My only wish? That some library staffer had known what was going on in time to stop him or at least identify him. Who knows how many other kids might not have felt self-assured enough to say anything?
One of the children's librarians spent a few minutes with the girl after the library had closed, both of them "practicing" screaming at the top of their lungs. Rehearsing what the girl should do if something similar happened again. (Her response, when asked what she would have done if he had touched her? "Bite him!")
Against my will, I now feel obliged to scrutinize all unaccompanied men entering the library. When I saw a middle aged man chatting briefly with a gregarious and intelligent young girl who frequently comes to the library with her homeschooling mom, I felt obliged to stay in the area and keep both of them under observation until he left. It's a dirty world we live in.
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1 comment:
Carlos @ 11:22PM | 2005-03-09| permalink
Whenever I'm tempted to switch to public librarianship (for geography's sake), posts like these change my mind.
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limes @ 10:09AM | 2005-03-14| permalink
I find it amusing how much stock you people put in the concept of "man". As if it meant more than an adult homo sapien with one x and one y chromosome.
It's interesting that no one places that much stock in the ocncept of "woman". No one says, "I'm not calling that female woman." I think it's indicative of the patriarchal mindset that to be a man is something important and sacred.
The funny thing about bad human beings is just that - they're still human beings. They're still men and women. They're just bad - evil, if you'd like. The more you dehumanize the problem of crime, the more you distance the solution. How can you possibly treat an "alien" problem. You've separated it from our realm, and have stuck it in with the realm of "others", which is a natural reaction, I suppose, but much like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand.
If you'd like to use an elevated term for an adult male homo sapien, I suggest you stick with "gentleman". I've been to jails, I've dealt with criminals. They're just men. So more bad than others. Men, Men, men, men, men.
That's my long rambling spiel this am.
Limes
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CArlos @ 12:47PM | 2005-03-14| permalink
The Manliness of Teddy Roosevelt. (The byline says that Mansfield has a book on manliness forthcoming from Yale.)
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