Angry scenes as nursery worker appears in court on sexual assault charges
Vanessa George remanded in custody after crowds jeer from public gallery and throw missiles outside court
The Guardian, UK, by Steven Morris, June 11, 2009
A nursery school worker was jeered and spat at when she appeared in court today, charged with sexual assault and making and distributing child abuse images.
Vanessa George, 39, who worked at the Little Ted's nursery in Plymouth, was remanded in custody amid angry scenes in and outside the city's magistrates court.
George, of Plymouth, faces three counts of sexual assault on girls and one on a boy. She is also accused of making, possessing and distributing indecent images of children.
The charges relate to offences alleged to have taken place between 1 January 2007 and June this year.
The first charge relates to an assault in Plymouth of a girl aged around one. In the second, she is alleged to have touched an "infant girl". The third is a serious sexual assault on an "infant boy". Another involved an alleged serious sexual assault on an "infant girl".
The other three charges were that she took, possessed and distributed indecent images of children.
Before George appeared, the magistrate, Hilary Anderson, warned parents in court not to disrupt the hearing.
"This case is of a very sensitive nature and I would like to remind those in the public gallery that they should remain silent during proceedings," she said.
"Anyone causing disruption will be removed from the court and if necessary the court would be cleared."
George, wearing a white T-shirt and black trousers, spoke only to confirm her name and address. She entered no pleas.
She was jeered and hissed by people in the public gallery as she emerged from the steps below the dock.
As details of the charges were read, parents cried and yelled, with one man running from the court in tears. When George was led away, a man leaped from the public gallery and spat at her.
Outside court, there were more angry scenes as people shouted at the police van carrying George away. Some chased the vehicle, hurling bottles of water and a substance that looked like flour. Two men were removed by police after blocking the path of the van.
Prosecutor Michael French applied for the case to be sent immediately to the crown court. No application for bail was made and George was remanded in custody. She is due to next appear at Plymouth crown court on 21 September.
Why boys are in trouble
Boys have been painted as the bad guys in the push to encourage girls to succeed, leaving many young men feeling confused and alienated, wondering what they did wrong
The Associated Press
January 5, 1999
According to psychologist and author William Pollack, 'sports are the one arena in which many of society's traditional strictures about masculinity are often loosened, allowing boys to experience parts of themselves they rarely experience elsewhere.'
When Harvard Medical School psychologist William Pollack administered a test to a group of 150 teenaged boys a few years ago, the results were shocking.
The Boy Crisis Book
The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It
Authors- Waren Farrell PhD and John Gray PhD
What is the boy crisis?
It's a crisis of education. Worldwide, boys are 50 percent less likely than girls to meet basic proficiency in reading, math, and science.
It's a crisis of mental health. ADHD is on the rise. And as boys become young men, their suicide rates go from equal to girls to six times that of young women.
It's a crisis of fathering. Boys are growing up with less-involved fathers and are more likely to drop out of school, drink, do drugs, become delinquent, and end up in prison.
It's a crisis of purpose. Boys' old sense of purpose-being a warrior, a leader, or a sole breadwinner-are fading. Many bright boys are experiencing a "purpose void," feeling alienated, withdrawn, and addicted to immediate gratification.
So, what is The Boy Crisis? A comprehensive blueprint for what parents, teachers, and policymakers can do to help our sons become happier, healthier men, and fathers and leaders worthy of our respect. Read More ..
Health Canada Publication
The Invisible Boy: Revisioning the Victimization of Male Children and Teens
"... the existence of a double standard in the care and treatment of male victims, and the invisibility and normalization of violence and abuse toward boys and young men in our society.
Despite the fact that over 300 books and articles on male victims have been published in the last 25 to 30 years, boys and teen males remain on the periphery of the discourse on child abuse.
Few workshops about males can be found at most child abuse conferences and there are no specialized training programs for clinicians. Male-centred assessment is all but non-existent and treatment programs are rare. If we are talking about adult males, the problem is even greater. A sad example of this was witnessed recently in Toronto. After a broadcast of The Boys of St. Vincent, a film about the abuse of boys in a church-run orphanage, the Kids' Help Phone received over 1,000 calls from distraught adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse. It is tragic in a way no words can capture that these men had no place to turn to other than a children's crisis line."
American Psychological Association
Dating Violence Statistics in the United States
Nearly one in 10 girls and one in 20 boys say they have been raped or experienced some other form of abusive violence on a date, according to a study released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.
The mean T-shirt: From the Stupid Factory
Todd Goldman says his popular boy-bashing T-shirts are simply funny.
So why are retailers having second thoughts? Read More ..
Why boys are in trouble
Boys have been painted as the bad guys in the push to encourage girls to succeed, leaving many young men feeling confused and alienated, wondering what they did wrong
The Associated Press
According to psychologist and author William Pollack, 'sports are the one arena in which many of society's traditional strictures about masculinity are often loosened, allowing boys to experience parts of themselves they rarely experience elsewhere.'
When Harvard Medical School psychologist William Pollack administered a test to a group of 150 teenaged boys a few years ago, the results were shocking.