Sex offence is a treacherous subject.

As a father, I am gripped by the slight nausea and immediate gut-reaction of wanting to hurt someone who hurts children. I’m okay with that. Child rapists are among the lowest of the low; that’s not something I will change my mind about.

I feel similarly, if less viscerally, about a man who forces himself on a woman — your standard rapist.

If our laws were directed specifically at those miscreants, there wouldn’t be the (same) problems we currently have. Unfortunately, someone, and I’m not sure who, decided that the only way to keep our children safe is to come down hard on sex offenders. Sex offenders has become synonymous with child rapists in the mind of the public, so anything done to and in pursuit of sex offenders is fair game.

That by itself is worrying, since even the lowest of the low have rights, but it just keeps getting worse.

While hiding behind the cry of “Think of the children!” legislatures compound the problem by lumping everything they possibly can under the penumbra of sex offence. That’s why we’re left with the issues of children’s lives forever ruined by youthful indiscretion.
That’s why we’re left with people who need help, but who end up sentenced to spend the remainder of their lives in prison.

Fear mongering is an insidious evil that permeates every aspect of our culture and our nation, and the reason it’s not going away is because it works.

When we allow ourselves to be convinced that our children are not safe without the draconian and over-broad sex offence laws, we cheapen and insult victims of rapists and abuse, as well as willingly relinquishing our rights and turning a blind eye towards justice.

I met with the Dean of our Career Development Office (CDO) last week. That’s not to be confused with the Office of Career Development (OCD). She is an extremely friendly person who is more than willing to go out of her way to help students; however, there is only so much anyone can help students — particularly non-traditional students.

I laid out the facts for her and saw her face tighten; I could almost hear her mind shrieking in frustration. Full-time work; no weekends available; minimum salary requirements; IT background… it just kept getting better. At one point I responded to the look of resignation on her face by laughing and commenting how I’m all over the place.

And then something changed. She straightened her shoulders, looked me square in the eye and told me that it can work. I mentioned how I’m rearranging my work schedule this coming semester for the mediation clinic, since there will be daytime mediations. That was all she needed to work with. I was given suggestions of paths to follow, suggestions of how to approach people regarding part-time internships and names of judges who enjoy hiring evening students as clerks.

Most importantly, however, was the fact that she was now aware of my situation and that I am actively looking for experience. When she expressed her hopes that she was being helpful, I honestly replied that I hadn’t expected any options to be available to me. She answered that there are always options; but she’s not entirely correct.

There are only options if you open yourself up to the possibility that options exist and take the first step.