Ya know, I discussed this at a wrestling function last night. Immediately, one name amongst all of us came up as a "doctor who was a little odd". He did many of the certifications for weight classes in our area of the state, and was "the guy" to see for skin issues, as he was well-versed in wrestling skin diseases. We always thought it was weird when he'd have strip down for certifications or post-season skin checks at tournaments. The on-going jokes where common amongst teams and whatnot. "Oh you went and saw Dr. X for ringworm on your arm, but he made you drop em, right?"
I think this OSU case is very different. I'm not trying to draw parallels to the predatory behavior. I'm drawing parallels to the ways they were handled, even just a decade ago. Times are changing, and probably for the better.
I had an unmarried 8th grade male teacher who was also our church youth group leader (this would've been around 1980-82) and it was well known that he had his favorites, who always happened to be boys (and I was one). He was very active in our lives and every parent trusted him, as he was prominent in the (Lutheran) church. And no, nothing ever happened that I'm aware of. Even as kids we'd make jokes, though, because it seemed odd that he liked only boys.
Fast forward to about ten years ago, he was arrested following a pre-teen boy into a public pool restroom incident to a larger investigation. An investigation into him followed and uncovered a computer HD full of child porn. I believe he spent some time in prison.
So now I'm forced to wonder what everyone in positions of authority knew or suspected about him at the time. I wasn't his victim, nor do I know if he ever even had any victims, but we kids had our joking suspicions and they turned out to be accurate. In retrospect it's pretty clear he shouldn't have been near kids.
But at the time, deference to authority was such that pedophiles had a lot of cover in large part because people didn't really
want to know. I have a friend who went to Catholic school in the Philly suburbs who told his mother about such and such priest groped them and the kids got smacked for insinuating anything about a priest.
College and grade school aren't the same things, but my point is about the time period being one of an almost fawning deference to authority. Questioning a doctor about misconduct? It just didn't happen, his career was too important. And not getting molested was pretty much your personal responsibility, not the doctor's or the hiring institution's. It's one of the many reasons when I hear people wax nostalgic about the good old days when x, I tend to think they have selective memories, for good or ill.
