As a sports fan and clinical therapist, I follow how the facets of athletics, culture, politics, economics, media and psychology are interconnected.
Unfortunately, I was not surprised at the molestation charges brought against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky or at other charges against school officials.
Why? It's often the case that for every sexual molester, there are those who knowingly turn a blind eye to make it possible.
When I was working on my doctorate at Loyola University of Chicago, I studied families who were ordered by courts to therapy. Several teenagers, who were molested by their fathers or stepfathers, all reported that they held their own mothers just as responsible.
"How so?" I asked. One 16-year-old looked at me with anger and said, "Because she colluded. They all colluded."
My eyes said it all. I wanted more information but didn't have the words. My mind was racing. I was a wife and mother. My friends were mothers. My sister was a mother.
I sat in silence, and the teenagers spoke up, one by one.
A 16-year-old girl: "My dad slipped into my bed at night, pulled down his pajamas And that was when I was 8 years old. He did it 'til I got to seventh grade. And then he stopped. (My mom) did the laundry. And she kept complaining that I went through so many pairs of pajamas every week. so she knew."
A 17-year-old boy: "My mom worked swing shift as a waitress from 3 to 11 p.m. So our stepdad put us down at night. When he read me stories at bedtime when I was 5, he came into my bed and rubbed his hands up and down my legs and fondled me everywhere. I even told my mom that I didn't like him reading in bed with me and touching me. She scolded me, and said I was just jealous of him because I wanted my own daddy back. And she said I was just making things up anyway because that's what 5-year-olds do."
A 15-year-old girl: "When I hit eighth grade (my dad) came into my bed at least three to four nights a week and felt me up, especially my breasts So one day I told my mom about it, and she slapped me around real good. She told me to stop lying to her, and said he'd never do that She grounded me for three weeks, and I missed our volleyball tournament. I was real upset and didn't know what to tell our coach or the team. What would I say?"
Collusion. I got it. And now you should, too.
How many people possibly colluded in the Penn State scandal? I'll run it down, as reported by the Associated Press:
In 1998, Victim #6, 11 years old, is allegedly taken into the showers with Sandusky. When the boy is dropped off at home, his hair is wet. His mother reports the incident. The following officials were reportedly informed: Detective Ronald Schreffler and Detective Ralph Ralston, State College Police Department; Jerry Lauro, investigator with the Department of Public Welfare. Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar decides not to file criminal charges.
In fall 2000, James Calhoun, a janitor, allegedly observed Sandusky performing oral sex on Victim #8 as he was pinned up against the wall in the showers. Janitors Ronald Petrosky and Supervisor Jay Witherite are informed, but a report is never made.
In March 2002, a Penn State graduate assistant enters the locker room and allegedly sees Sandusky subjecting a boy, Victim #2, to anal intercourse. The graduate assistant goes to Coach Joe Paterno's home, where he reports what he has seen. Paterno calls Tim Curley, Penn State athletic director, and reports the incident. The graduate assistant meets with Curley and Gary Schultz, senior vice president for finance and business. No further action is taken.
From spring 2008 to 2009, two boys come forward with allegations against Sandusky of sexual assault. Authorities investigate, including the Pennsylvania attorney general.
There were several different "authorities" who potentially knew of the allegations of the sexual abuse by Sandusky, yet it took more than 13 years before he was arrested.
When politics, power, college athletics, national reputation, college alumni and Division I football make millions for the university, a few abused boys are trumped by Joe Paterno's 409 collegiate football wins and TV ratings.
After 30 years of working in this field, my empathy goes out to the mothers of the victims. Nearly all of these mothers were victims and survivors themselves. These moms suffered the same fate as their children, in one form or another. They had nowhere to go, no one to talk to, and the only way to escape their own abuse was to marry the first guy who came along to take them away from their own monsters.
For the many victims and survivors of Penn State, the monster is not just Sandusky. He may be at the head of the class, but it's also the other monsters who should have done their job, but didn't.
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Janice R. Gagerman is a professor of social work at California State University, Sacramento, a licensed clinical social worker and a therapist.