On December 23, 2015, I blogged about a “Plot to Stop Santa.” My publisher found a photo to post of Santa and a Militarized-Sled Santa used to fight terrorists who stood in his way. Well, now there may be other reasons to deter Jolly Ole Saint Nick from doing what he does best: deliver gifts on Christmas morning.
Santa Clause may skip over a lot of homes and businesses this year, due to fear of being dragged into a sex scandal that would prevent him from being able to deliver all the gifts to all the boys and girls who have behaved. Who knows what someone may do who has drank a little too much Egg Nog. Alcohol does impair memory and behaviors.
Maybe he won’t pass over this prison, even though there are lots of perverts and thugs who would take all the gifts and his “goodies.”
In recent weeks, the news has been inundated with sexual misconduct claims against politicians, movie stars, television personalities and others in the entertainment industry; all complaints filed were by women against men in powerful positions.
I wonder at what point will a sexual advance on a date become grounds for a sexual misconduct claim?  Maybe some of the events in the news are just that. Will men stop making sexual advances because of paranoia about being sued by a would-be-potential mate? Maybe to a certain degree in America but highly-unlikely in more liberal nations.
I understand how wrong it is and know how angry I’d be if some pervert gave my daughter, granddaughters, sisters or other family members, a date rape drug and took advantage of them.
Do not misunderstand what I write in the following paragraphs. I do not condone and do not attempt to justify anyone, regardless of gender or any other factor, who sexually abuses someone. My true feelings for women is in “Women Rule the World” (03/27/17).
MEN GET ABUSED TOO: How long will it be before men began initiating sexual misconduct claims? No doubt, men too, have performed sexual acts and done personal favors to climb the corporate ladder, or to otherwise enhance their chance of success in the business world or entertainment industry.
Men also get sexually and physically abused by women. But if a man complained about a woman who sexually abused him, some may ask, “Why are you complaining? Be happy.” 🙂
With my release date approaching, and in considering my knowledge of vulnerability after serving thirty-years in prison, I must take extreme precautions to guard against any claim of sexual improprieties by an evil woman who lures me into her web so she can take advantage of me.
SEXUAL RESTRAINTS: No, not that kind of kinky stuff. I’ve been restrained too long with cuffs, chains, bars, walls and fences, to volunteer to let someone tie me up and pull out the whips and chains or to bound and gag me. Not my cup of tea!
The good thing about my extended stay in the federal prison system, is that I have gotten plenty of practice at restraining myself from making sexual advances toward women I find sexually attractive. I won’t even flirt, which is far different than the way I would have been many moons ago. I am damaged now!
PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE:Â I write from the perspective of a heterosexual male but the principles apply to anyone, regardless of sexual preference, gender, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status.
ENTERTAINMENT & CONSENT: Perhaps I will create a CONSENT AGREEMENT to cover all legal issues for any woman who wishes for me to entertain her wildest dreams (sounds good). I’d email a Consent Agreement to an interested woman and require her to fill in all blanks and agree not to bring suit against me for any action one may interpret as a sexual advance, within reasonable boundaries, such as placing an arm around her waist, over her shoulder, or on her leg if out on a date.
Casual touching or groping the erroneous zones requires special written permission, even if on a date or within the confines of one’s residence. Upon completion, she’d have to click to return the email to me before we engage in a relationship.
DISCLAIMER:Â For safety precautions, I’ll include a disclaimer should I fail to live up to her expectations or to give her more than she wanted.
Because a woman’s age is not obvious (some look years younger, others years older), the production of identification is required before we engage in romance.
PERSONALLY: I’ve given thought to the issues now facing males in an insane and monetary-driven world. I feel certain that most women are saying what they believe to be true in relation to their sexual misconduct claims. Personally, though, I suspect many claims are false and are driven by a desire to be paid, a new form of Gold Digging. It happens!
When I worked in the Personnel department at an Atlanta company, an attractive, African-American female, who had relocated to Atlanta, asked me to take her to lunch. I did.
After we ate lunch, she wanted to go to her apartment to pick up something before we returned to work. She invited me in to smoke a joint while there. I succumbed to her desires. She showed me the only furniture in the apartment: her bed, a lone mattress.
Nothing sexual transpired between us. I did not proposition her or make a sexual advance; however, if she had not indicated that she wanted me to furnish her apartment, it’s possible we would have had sex at a later date, but that wasn’t going to happen because I wasn’t into paying for sex.
A few weeks later, she was terminated for unexcused absences and for repeatedly being late for work. In an attempt to get her job back, she contacted the personnel manager and threatened to file a sexual harassment claim. She claimed we had sex in her apartment.
Did her memory reconstruct the event and twist the facts to best serve her purpose or did mine fail to accurately recall what transpired between us?
I signed a sworn affidavit that we did not have sex and that I never propositioned her to have sex. In the affidavit, I agreed to take a polygraph test (lie detector test) to attest to the same.
SELECTIVE BUT NOT-SO-RELIABLE MEMORY RECALL:Â According to the field of Psychology, we use memory to guide us in our decision making process and thus use the past as a guide into the future.
The memory stored in our minds is not always an accurate portrayal of events, because, as humans, we “reconstruct” events to make sense of our experiences.
The fallible memory process lead to false convictions that caused numerous men to be sentenced to death. If not for the advent of DNA that allowed the defendants to prove their innocence, the witness’ unreliable memory would have put the defendants six feet under or led to cremation of their bodies.
MEMORY IS NOT A CAMERA: Some people may think of memory like a movie camera or tape recorder, recording vivid details of their lives. That is not an accurate assumption: Memory is more akin to a series of snap shots from a group of unconnected frames that the human brain lays out to reconstruct in order to “figure out” what the missing parts of the scenes were like.
British Psychologist, Sir Fredric Bartlett (1932), was one of the first scientist to conclude that memory is in large part, a “reconstructive process.” We often take complex information and modify it in ways to make sense out of what we know or think we know.
Since Sir Bartlett’s conclusion, hundreds of studies have confirmed that we do that with our conversations and personal experiences. Is the reconstructive process behind the delayed claims of sexual improprieties? Possible.
Maybe that is why humans argue? Everyone believes their reconstructed memory is correct.
The fallible memory process applies to the accused as well as to the accusers; both may be right or wrong or only remember parts of what is true.
FLASHBULB MEMORIES:Â When memories fall under the spell of emotional events, Roger Brown and James Kulik labeled such memories as “flashbulb memories”; the term captures what appears to be photographic detail, surprise, and illumination associated with the recollection of the event.
The mind also alters those types of memories, and with the passage of time, are also subject to error.
CONFABULATION: Another unusual aspect of the reconstructive memory process is a subject’s ability to confuse an event that happened to someone else as “their” experience. In other words, the person believes something that happened to someone else happened to them, when it did not. Facts become mixed with fiction.
SEX & HOLLYWOOD:Â In the entertainment industry, sexual misconduct has always been a part of it, if Harold Robbins used the truth to form the basis behind what he wrote about the industry in THE LONELY LADY, a book I read in the early eighties.
I am convinced that numerous producers, agents, and major players in the movie industry, including other stars with sexual desires, used the offer of screen roles and movie contracts as a “dangling carrot” to entice victims into performing sexual acts to win the prize. However, I am not convinced that everyone accused of sexual misconduct is guilty.
In 1986, I chose not to sign a modeling contract with the PIZZAZZ Modeling Agency in Atlanta, Georgia, because of my belief about sexual exploitation in the industry, which I based strictly on my belief, nothing more. During the interview, I was not propositioned or given any reason to believe sex had anything to do with me being given a contract to review, sign and then return to the agency with my portfolio.
TIME CHANGES THINGS: Over the last several decades, society has changed considerably, a very different society than the one I left in 1988. Some of the events that fueled many changes over the years are terrorist attacks, mass shootings, and changes in the legal climate, which includes what constituted rape and sexual abuse of children.
In the fifties, it was not viewed inappropriate for a twenty or twenty-five year old man to marry a fourteen or fifteen-year old girl:Â Society evolved and determined it inappropriate, based, in part, on the fact that the mind of a young girl has not developed as fast as the rest of her body.
Even in the sixties, some rapists were not found guilty because of the way a woman dressed. If the woman dressed seductively, a jury or court often failed to find the man guilty if he claimed the sex was consensual, and because she “enticed” him into having sex by the way she dressed.
Absurd, yes, but true, even though I am writing from memory and do not provide specific case citations to support my position.
It is equally as hard for me to understand some idiot spilling coffee on himself and then winning a law suit against a McDonalds’ restaurant because he did what he did; supposedly, the courts awarded the man a million dollars. I do not know for sure, since I am relying on what I’ve heard others report, which is not the best source of information, nor is the fallible memory process.
Hopefully, Santa will still crank up his old sled to spread joy throughout the world, and not worry about any of the events plaguing the nation or false claims that may be made against him along his journey. For me, this Christmas will be my last behind bars so life is good.
In 2018, maybe Santa will bring me someone special to have fun with and enjoy life. Then again, solitude may be safer. 🙂
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Purchase the most recent writings by Wayne T. Dowdy online at your favorite eStore. eBooks available at Barnes & Noble, Smashwords.com and many others. UNKNOWN INNOCENCE and ESSAYS & MORE STRAIGHT FROM THE PEN are must reads for those who want to see life on the inside, as well as inspirational stories of recovery. Check out his Smashwords Authors page at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/WayneMrDowdy.
