Protecting the Guilty

I quickly become livid when I hear that sexual abuse cases have been prosecuted "in house" at some institutions. 

Today, I watched Jorge Ramos grill a Catholic clergyman about the pedophile scandal in the church. 

In the past I've read about universities forming boards or committees to handle rape allegations on campus.

I always wondered why the proper civilian authorities weren't consulted in these cases. 

I learned from my own experience with rape in the military how it's easier to control the organizational image when the authority to judge and punish is left up to those who have the strongest vested interest in silencing the victims. 

The Catholic Church claimed authority in handling the issue of pedophilia and their version of doing so involved denying the truth and transferring the abusers to other parishes were they could continue to prey on young children.

Recently, a blog post outing the sexual misconduct of a 105-year old Zen teacher led to a lengthy article being published in the New York Times. Several of Joshu Sasaki former pupils came forward to talk about how his sexual advances ruined their lives.

According to the article:

"Susanna Stewart began studying with Mr. Sasaki about 40 years ago. Within six months, she said, Mr. Sasaki began to touch her during sanzen. This sexualizing of their relationship “led to years of confusion and pain,” Ms. Stewart said, “eventually resulting in my becoming unable to practice Zen.'"

One of the resident monks, Bob Mamosser had this to say:

“What’s important and is overlooked is that, besides this aspect, Roshi was a commanding and inspiring figure using Buddhist practice to help thousands find more peace, clarity and happiness in their own lives. It seems to be the kind of thing that, you get the person as a whole, good and bad, just like you marry somebody and you get their strengths and wonderful qualities as well as their weaknesses.” 

"Aside from the groping, Roshi Sasaki was a pretty cool guy"-says some dude who was never molested by him.

I love how insisting that someone let you fondle her boobs is lumped in the same category as a husband leaving the toilet seat up. 

"The witnessing council, which wrote the report, has no official authority. Its members belong to the American Zen Teachers Association but collected stories on their own initiative, although with a statement of support from 45 other teachers and priests." 

Oh good. An internal body with no legal authority has decided to make a report. Meanwhile, grandpa bad touch has escaped prosecution as have the people who protected him.

As in the case of most serial abusers, this man was an opportunist who used his power and authority within this organization to get away with repeated sexual assault. He had vulnerable young women who were isolated from mainstream society at his beck and call and he made the most of it.

Whenever they expressed their discomfort with his actions thing like this happened:

"Several women said that Zen can foster an atmosphere of overt sexism. Jessica Kramer, a doula in Los Angeles, was Mr. Sasaki’s personal attendant in 2002. She said that he would reach into her robe and that she always resisted his advances. Surrounded almost entirely by men, she said she got very little sympathy. “I’d talk about it with people who’d say, ‘Why not just let him touch your breasts if he wants to touch your breasts?’ ”

Forget your councils and focus groups. What these situations need are trained professionals from outside the organization who can arrest and convict these monsters. 

The truth will get out and when it does, these organizations will have to answer for protecting the perpetrators instead of the victims.