Swimmer Describes Culture of Abuse in Aquatics Community

[ensho]

http://www.kcbs.com/bayareanews/Swimmer-Describes-Culture-of-Abuse/6615544


Olympic champion Deena Deardurff-Schmidt was in San Jose today discussing personal allegations of sexual abuse by her former coach, as well as allegations against USA Swimming.

Deardurff-Schmidt was a gold medal winner in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.

Deardurff-Schmidt is being represented by attorney Robert Allard, who filed an amended lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court on Thursday against USA Swimming, the governing body of competitive swimming in the U.S., Pacific Coast Swimming in Contra Costa County, San Jose Aquatics, which employed Andrew King, a Bay Area swim coach convicted of felony child molestation who was sentenced to 40 years in prison, and King himself.

-snip-

The lawsuit, initially filed in August 2009, seeks monetary damages for one of King's victims, a 14-year-old female swimmer in San Jose. King turned himself in to San Jose police on April 2, 2009, after an initial complaint was made to the Police Department about inappropriate relations with the girl.

Andrew King was not Deardurff-Schmidt's coach.
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child sexual abuse is of epidemic proportions in the US

[Angry Dragon]

1. It seems that the problem

stems mostly from a huge dose of intolerance in the world today. Promoted by many world churches.

[stray cat]

2. Abuse? Meaning we should tolerate more of it?

[Angry Dragon]

7. That is not what I meant.

Intolerance of others breeds having the desire to control

[Lyric]

3. We live in a culture that intensely encourages the strong to prey on the weak

in order to maximize personal gain. Pedophilia and sex abuse of teens by adults is another twisted manifestation of this sick and perverse worldview. So when are we going to admit that the human brain is all about patterns, and that if you allow a pattern to pervade every other aspect of society (e.g., tolerating predatory capitalism) it will inevitably leak over and influence the other parts of the mind as well? When you look at the pattern and framework rather than at the details, what exactly is the difference between predatory capitalism and predatory abuse (sexual, physical, and mental)? Both involve someone who has power exploiting and abusing someone who does not, and all for personal gain and satisfaction. The banker is the abuser and the poor worker is the powerless child he preys upon--are we even going to be courageous enough to treat abusers of wealth-derived power and authority with the same severity and disgust that we treat abusers of other types of power--like child beaters and pedophiles?

These things are related in subtle ways. The longer we deny it, the longer it's going to take to heal our society. Abusers and exploiters must NOT be allowed to continue to get away with what they do--no matter what their chosen variety of abuse might be.

[Poll_Blind]

4. I only partly agree, but I think I agree more than not with that assessment.

Taken at its face value, your comment is easily caricatured but I believe the spirit of your point is valid. Very valid.

Thanks for posting that, I hadn't really thought about it in that way before.

PB

[Lyric]

5. Yeah. It's just that this national habit of taking advantage

of others, exploiting them for profit, the way that these things are encouraged and applauded, the "I got mine" mentality...I just can't believe that there's no connection between that and the rise of other exploitive crimes--like child abuse and sex abuse. That kind of thinking pattern is not going to stay confined to just one part of our minds. That's not the way that minds work. We don't compartmentalize like that unless we make a sincere and conscious effort NOT to--and there seem to be fewer people making that effort. :(

[Angry Dragon]

8. I like your response

[Quantess]

6. And yet, I don't think it is occurring any more often than it ever has.

The good old days were not so great. At least now, people are talking about sexual abuse.