WI - Sr. Norma Giannini for sex abuse of teen boys, Milwaukee, 2006

[Filly]

A year? A lousy year? Four decades them two guys had to deal with that. Plus, how about her other victims? A year? What a disgusting, manipulative, creepy excuse for a woman let alone a servant of God. A year!

 

[paddy01]

Just sick, I was raised Catholic. Wish I had a dime for everytime I was told while growing up, "We should not only be pure of mind, but of soul". IMO, she should get a lot more time.

 

[Parmenides]

Come on, the guys accusing this nun are just being vindictive. 13 year old boys are interested in sex. So this nun had them touch her breasts, so what? Her actions were wrong, but I don't see how it could really harm them, not like if it were a man doing it. Putting her in jail for a year achieves nothing - Mary Winkler didn't even serve that much. The woman is 80 for heaven's sake, and the events happened over 40 years ago. Let bygones be bygones. I know I'm going to get flamed, but I don't think women should be held accountable for sex crimes in the same way as men. With men, sure throw the book, but with women perps I cannot see it as so serious.

 

[southcitymom]

Come on, the guys accusing this nun are just being vindictive. 13 year old boys are interested in sex. So this nun had them touch her breasts, so what? Her actions were wrong, but I don't see how it could really harm them, not like if it were a man doing it.......

This post suggests that a male committing sexual abuse is somehow more damaging than a female committing sexual abuse. Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth.

I am married to a man who was sexually abused as a child by a female. One of my sisters and many of my dear female friends were sexually abused by males. All of these people, regardless of their sex or the sex of the perpatrator, have had the same struggles through this abuse.

Shame, fear, lack of trust, shattered self-esteem, drug and alcohol abuse. Yes - sometimes sexual abuse hurts physically more than other times - but it always hurts emotionally, psychologically and spiritually, and it hurts this way, in some form or fashion, forever.

Most 13-year-olds, male or female, are interested in sex. That does not mean that raping them is okay or that people who want to see rapists punished for such actions are vindictive.

 

[kentuckybound]

You are kidding me right? You cannot seriously think that because the difference of the gender in the sex crime that there should be a difference in the punishement? A sex crime commited by a male or a female makes no difference.
And you say it doesnt really harm the victim? Yes, YES it does! Boy or Girl,
It does harm them. Some people are stronger than others in overcoming
things like this but yes it does harm the vicitim none the less.

Come on, the guys accusing this nun are just being vindictive. 13 year old boys are interested in sex. So this nun had them touch her breasts, so what? Her actions were wrong, but I don't see how it could really harm them, not like if it were a man doing it. Putting her in jail for a year achieves nothing - Mary Winkler didn't even serve that much. The woman is 80 for heaven's sake, and the events happened over 40 years ago. Let bygones be bygones. I know I'm going to get flamed, but I don't think women should be held accountable for sex crimes in the same way as men. With men, sure throw the book, but with women perps I cannot see it as so serious.

 

[deanws]

Ok...let me just throw something out there. Women can and do get raped against their will. Now, with guys it has to be hard to work. (I am not talking about gay rape, which of course can happen against their will and causes horrific damage) So, for a 13 year old guy to have sex with this nun, he would have to be hard for intercouse. If he didn't want to, it would have gone soft, thus the act could not be completed. I am not saying it is RIGHT. All I am saying is that it is hard for me to think that it is the same amount of damage that a girl of 13 substains when raped. JMO

 

[southcitymom]

Ok...let me just throw something out there. Women can and do get raped against their will. Now, with guys it has to be hard to work. (I am not talking about gay rape, which of course can happen against their will and causes horrific damage) So, for a 13 year old guy to have sex with this nun, he would have to be hard for intercouse. If he didn't want to, it would have gone soft, thus the act could not be completed. I am not saying it is RIGHT. All I am saying is that it is hard for me to think that it is the same amount of damage that a girl of 13 substains when raped. JMO

What if the girl got wet - would her rape damage somehow be lesser? What if she had an orgasm? Plenty of victims of sexual abuse get aroused while they are being abused. This is part and parcel of the shame they feel. It is the same with boys.

I went to school with a boy who - along with other boys at my school - was repeatedly sexually abused through middle and high school by an adult male member of the staff. This boy had ejaculations during the ongoing abuse - does that mean his repeated rape at the hands of a man 30+ years his age was less damaging?

Sexual abuse is assault - whether or not our bodies respond in a "normal" way to the sexual stimuli involved, it is assault.

 

[deanws]

What if the girl got wet - would her rape damage somehow be lesser? What if she had an orgasm? Plenty of victims of sexual abuse get aroused while they are being abused. This is part and parcel of the shame they feel. It is the same with boys.

I went to school with a boy who - along with other boys at my school - was repeatedly sexually abused through middle and high school by an adult male member of the staff. This boy had ejaculations during the ongoing abuse - does that mean his repeated rape at the hands of a man 30+ years his age was less damaging?

Sexual abuse is assault - whether or not our bodies respond in a "normal" way to the sexual stimuli involved, it is assault.

I know it is assault. I am talking about the PHYSICAL damage. I don't believe the physical damage is the same. I didn't say the "mental anguish" wasn't the same.

 

[Parmenides]

Ok, some fair points, but I still don't think you can completely compare the situation of male and female perps. There is a difference between a woman inviting someone to touch her breasts and a man forcibly touching the breasts of someone - the first case is much less threatening, icky yes but not so directly abusive, IMO.

What about the case of the babysitter who invited an 8-yo boy to touch her breasts. The boy told his mother, who complained to the police about the babysitter, but it was the boy who was arrested because he was the one who did the touching. By the same logic, in this case, it should be the boys who are charged with a crime, not the nun. You don't know what went on beforehand. Surely she didn't just 'whip them out' all of a sudden. The boys, or should I say young men, were probably looking at her breasts and showing a sexual interest, or at worst she misinterpreted it that way.

 

[Bobbisangel]

It's to bad that this truth came out so late in this woman's life. She deserves a lot more than a lousy year in jail. Of course I guess you could say that she got life as she is so darn old she will probably die in there!

Catholic children are taught to look up to priests and nuns. Back then we all looked up to certain people...teachers...cops, etc. Maybe it is different now but back then you did look up to people like nuns. This woman took advantage of the boys that looked up to her. Does she even feel any remorse?

 

[Parmenides]

Sadly, I don't think she knows what remorse means. According to the stories, she begged for forgiveness from the bottom of her heart. What she should have said was that she was sorry from the bottom of her heart.

Mind you, I was not impressed by the supposed victims either, since they could not find forgiveness in their hearts even after 40 years. What it says in the Lord's Prayer - forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against others - is true, and those of us who cannot forgive people who have harmed us cannot expect to receive the forgiveness of God. Instead of hounding the poor old woman for something that happened a long time ago, these men should have been glad of the opportunity to forgive something so serious, as there would have been a chance God would offset it against their own miserable sins. However, now they can be sure they will be judged as harshly as they have judged.