Wednesday, March 11, 2009

I was reading an article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/world/europe/11castrate.html?pagewanted=all) about a debate currently happening in Europe regarding castration for sexual predators and came across the following quote:

Whether castration can help rehabilitate violent sex offenders has come under new scrutiny after the Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee last month called surgical castration “invasive, irreversible and mutilating” and demanded that the Czech Republic stop offering the procedure to violent sex offenders. Other critics said that castration threatened to lead society down a dangerous road toward eugenics.
I wonder if the Council of Europe's anti-torture committee considers voluntary sex changes to be "invasive, irreversible and mutilating" as well? I won't even touch the inherent contradiction in their fear that voluntary castration can lead to eugenics at the same time that they embrace abortion as a "reproductive right".

2 comments:

  1. The contradiction astounds me. I also feel if sexual predators are a victim of urges they cannot control, then castration might be a viable option. They won't be able to live a normal life anyway, so they might as well not be a danger to society.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What I find interesting is that this is a procedure that is "offered" to offenders. It is not even an either you take this option or be put to death option, yet the committee demands that option be taken off the table.
    Their values have always confused me.. Can't declaw a cat (better to have said destructive kitty put down), dock a dogs ears or tail.. NEVER!!!
    Change the sex of a person, no problem. Abort a baby, absolutely... Let a non perfect child die of thirst.. call it not born.. no problem..
    Yet give a obviously twisted person a chance at never hurting anyone.. and that becomes barbaric. But the real problem may be that Europeans just don't believe that "trans-generational sex" is really an unnatural thing.
    And some here in the US want to be just like them. sigh.......

    ReplyDelete