Social conservativism and sexual offences

It’s been a bad couple of weeks on the moral high ground for the Republican Party. To start with, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the so-called “D.C. Madam,” released her phone records for the last decade.

The first victim was the conservative Republican Senator from Louisiana, David Vitter. A private investigator for smut king Larry Flynt found his name with an online reverse lookup. Vitter, a married father of four, confessed to sinning and apologized to his constituency. As if this weren’t enough, Vitter, a staunch advocate of teenage abstinence, foe of gay marriage, and all around family values kind of guy, was claimed as a customer by former New Orleans brothel owner Jeanette Maier, the "Canal Street Madam."

Hypocrite number two on the D.C. Madam list was John (Jack) M. Burkman, Jr. He is a Republican operative, pundit, and sometime lobbyist for the ultra-conservative Family Research Council. He also got nailed last year on a MySpace page by a woman he approached on the street in Washington D.C. Allegedly, he later offered her and her friend a thousand dollars to have sex with him.

Let us not overlook the case of Florida State Representative Bob Allen, a conservative Republican who recently tried to augment his legislative salary by offering oral sex to a man in a public restroom for $20. The man happened to be an undercover cop, and the rest is news.

And then there is North Carolina Republican Representative David Almond, who recently resigned while under investigation by the GOP caucus for alleged "serious, improper behavior." The unofficial word is that he exposed himself to a female staff member and chased her around the office while demanding that she perform oral sex on him.

It gets repetitive. Mark Foley (R. Fla, lewd emails to pages), Bob Livingston (R. La, adultery), Randall Tobias (Assistant Secretary of State, D.C. Madam customer), Henry Hyde (R, Ill., adultery), Newt Gingrich (R, Ga., adultery). Then, of course, there are people such as Ted Haggard (conservative pastor, former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, client of male “escort”). Sure, the Democrats have Bill Clinton, but what’s with all these conservative, religious, “family values” Republicans following their genitalia around like a toddler trying to walk a Rottweiler? As is my wont, I look for the scientific explanation.

The summary of my review of the relevant studies: If you’ve got a problem with sex, you probably have a problem with sex. Witness:

The 1993 Janus Report on Sexuality concluded that social conservatives are more likely to commit adultery. (Janus is the name of the lead researchers, but I find it amusing that it also happens to be the name of the two-faced Greek god.)

Divorce rates are higher among conservative Protestants, and highest among the most conservative Baptist sects. Atheists and agnostics have the lowest divorce rates. Divorce rates are higher in southern and midwestern states and lower in the New England states. Massachusetts is lowest, and aside from easy-divorce Nevada, the Bible belt tops the breakup list.

Science writer and former Catholic priest John Hules compiled over 100 studies on religion and sexual deviance. His summary:
“More than 100 reports in the scientific and professional literature, involving more than 35,000 subjects, indicate that rapists, child molesters, incestuous parents, and sexually motivated murderers are typically very conservative in their sexual and social values and sometimes more religious than average—suggesting that in many cases traditional sexual morality is a contributing factor in sexual abuse rather than a deterrent. At the First International Conference on the Treatment of Sex Offenders in 1989, there was broad agreement that Western societies with repressive sexual attitudes and traditional male/female roles are more likely to have high rates of all forms of sex crimes.”

Another study found that victims of sex abuse by family members were much more likely to be conservative Protestants.

Yet another study found a significant association between intense religious experience and childhood abuse.

An article in the Biblical Recorder quotes a 1993 survey by the Journal of Pastoral Care. The survey reported that 14 percent of Southern Baptist pastors had engaged in “sexual behavior inappropriate for a minister.” That’s one out of seven, folks.

I should note that these studies don’t seem to indicate a correlation between more socially moderate religious practice and sexual misbehavior.

Oh yes, I almost forgot: The Catholic Diocese of Los Angeles just agreed to pay 660 million dollars in compensation to victims of sexual abuse by priests. Seems as if the moral high ground has become a sinkhole.

The pattern that emerges is that people with strict, disapproving, absolutist attitudes about sex quite often violate their own principles, and are more likely to offend than people with tolerant worldviews. When someone views sex as bad, then they tend to see all kinds of sex, both legal and illegal, as the same. (In a strange way, this reminds me of business practices in post-Soviet Russia. All private enterprise had been a crime, so Russians had a hard time distinguishing between legit business and organized crime.) The absence of a normal channel for the expression of sexual desire leaves only the illicit channels. There is also an accentuating effect to the cycle of abuse. The abused child often becomes an abusing adult. In the case of someone from a sexually phobic religious background, the shame, guilt, and secrecy are compounded, reducing the probability of effective treatment and increasing the trauma. The socially conservative tradition of male dominance and female submission manifests itself in the belief systems of most sex offenders. This same attitude appears to be responsible for widespread domestic dissatisfaction among social conservatives and the resulting adultery and divorce. And woe to the man born homosexual among the believers. He faces a life of shame, secrecy, and overcompensation. The right-wingers recently outed by their own desperate behaviors were among the most strident critics of gays and lesbians.

Sexual misbehavior among social conservatives should be no surprise. Given the deep denial of people in this condition, it is also no surprise that they continue to focus their disapproval outwards at the more liberal and secular segments of society. They claim to be interested in positive social outcomes, and that their belief system is the route to such outcomes. The reality is just the opposite. Those of us outside the religious conservative enclave should apply some back pressure to their moral crusading. Tell them to clean their own houses before criticizing ours.

Comments

[Richard H. Randall]

Thanks for this: I'll use it in my classes. I'm a retired army officer, and teach philosophy at North Idaho College, where there is a substantial amount of right wing hatred and billious conservative viciousness.
There needs to be a better general awareness of this and other perversions of the right--misogyny, misanthropy and willful ignorance. This is no mere intellectual exercise--people get hurt by this, and the sooner it is exposed the sooner it can be addressed.
Thanks again.