The State We're In, 24 April 2010: we ask if there’s a cure for sex offenders. Jesse White tells us about how his assault on an underage girl landed him in jail, and how he feels the chemical treatment he received has turned his life around. We also speak with the doctor who treated Jesse. Finally we talk to Bill – not a sex offender – but someone who felt his sex drive was the bane of his existence...until he castrated himself.
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The offender
Jesse White (not his real name) had sexual fantasies about underage girls for years. Then he acted on them, assaulting an 11-year-old girl. Jesse tells host Jonathan Groubert about how he was arrested and jailed for his crime and how, in prison, he finally started to receive treatment for his disorder.
The treatment
Jesse talks about how intensive therapy and use of anti-libidinal drugs freed him from having sexual thoughts about children. Now he has a job, an age-appropriate girlfriend and hope for the future. All that remains is telling his girlfriend about his past.
The doctor
Dr. Paul Federoff is Jesse’s clinician. When he first started working with paedophiles, he was told that he couldn’t help them, only manage them. Now Dr. Federoff says he can “cure” paedophiles and help them lead productive, normal lives. Link - The Royal Ottawa Health Care Group
Web extra - can sex offenders such as paedophiles be 'cured'? Dr. Paul Federoff thinks they can.
Click here for our Q&A with Dr. Federoff
The eunuch
Bill is not a sex offender. But all his life he was plagued by hyper-masculine sexual behaviour that made him difficult and deeply unhappy. So he decided that he’d be better off without his sex drive. Bill tells Jonathan the story of how and why he castrated himself with an instrument called a burdizzo.
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so...the guy who castrated himself has more self control now, it sounds like...he's not throwing tantrums anymore...so he had to go through that to basically become mature? how he's acting now - is that not how a mature adult responds to things (parking tickets, etc.)?
Important, riveting show. Great reporting (the questions that came to me were mostly all asked). Uncommonly acknowledged topics covered thoroughly and compassionately. The sort of intelligent assessment of issues all journalists should aspire to. Plaudits. Much appreciated.
One of the best programs I have heard on the radio ever. Maybe because I'm lost in being gay. I feel like a black man trying to become white; living my now life in the Internet porn world. I will listen to the other programs on your site. Also the comments have been very intelligent, they were long but I read them through.
You make it sound like castration could cure a sex offender. But the second guy said that chemical castration was not permanent, and if it's not permanent, than how can it be a cure? What if the guy stops taking his pills? I think, if they want to castrate sex offenders, they need to do it permanently, not just with pills.
"There were too many unanswered questions in this interview. Simply because there are no answers except a complete change of heart. Most are not prepared to seek from where that could come. "
The therapist specifically said that most of his patients do not WANT to be feeling these things. They have the will and simply need a way. But most can learn to control those thoughts and avoid any further problems - just as anyone else with a compulsion or addiction can learn to control it - with behavioral therapy and appropriate treatment as needed.
"I was disappointed that he showed so little compassion or care for the child that he had raped."
White did have something of a matter-of-fact manner, but do recall that he said his primary feelings during the trial were those of shame. And for a long time, all he wanted was to die. He thought he was incurable. He had no hope whatever. And now even off the medication, he gives less thought to seeing a child, than the average man does upon seeing a beautiful woman.
Sounds like a success story to me! I wish him all the best in his new life.
April 26, 2010
The Prish is not a sex offender. But all his life was plagued by hyper-masculine sexual behaviour that made him difficult and deeply unhappy.
Then the Papa shall recomend that all Catholic Prish shall be eunuch
This was one of the most chilling interviews I have ever heard. Whilst I felt some compassion for this man, Jesse White, I was disappointed that he showed so little compassion or care for the child that he had raped. It is dreadful to think that chemical intervention is the only way to stop pedophiles targetting our vulnerable, but from your programme it appears that this is the way forward for those who have chosen to try to help such individuals. Science can provide a cover-up for these perverted sex drives, but ultimately the person would still have them, as Jesse White confirmed. Now that he is off the drug, he has to practice blocking such thoughts. But what if he has too much to drink. What if his girlfriend rejects him, horrified at what he did? How safe are children with him if his life goes down hill. We all face periods of emotional turmoil from time to time. Would another little girl have to suffer before this man, or others tghat share his predelictions, ask for the drug again. Would he be prepared to take it if he was married, and risked losing all sexual feeling? There were too many unanswered questions in this interview. Simply because there are no answers except a complete change of heart. Most are not prepared to seek from where that could come. We all want what we want, and to think that there are 1,000's like this man made this programme chilling and disturbing for me.
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