I do not like Sex Offender because it implies present tense. As in, someone committing an offense, not someone who did in the past. I don't like felon for the same reason.

Our government likes to make things look as bad as possible. I agree Coolrich.

I will tell people, my son is up on c.p. and facing the registry, if that is not clear enough, I will even refer to the registry as the sex offender registry, but i will never tell them my son is a sex offender. Goes for my friends who are on the registry, they may be innocent and never were a sex offender, they may be guilty and no longer sexually offending in which case they are no longer sex offenders. No one would call a recovering drug addict or alcoholic who kicked it, a drug addict or alcoholic in the present tense, implies they are still using. I think the same should apply to sex offenders. May be I just can not justify fighting for sex offenders and it is my way of defending my stance.

Nak, I hear you, I don't like calling my husband a sex offender as he got fucked by his family and the legal system when his cousin falsely accused him of something he didn't do to get attention from her feuding parents. A would call him more a victim than anything... same with your son, they were victims of our society and their insatiable appetite for putting people in prison in the name of 'safety' and 'the children'.

I think that making things look as bad as possible extends well past government and is really a part of the human condition. People like to watch misery, look at reality TV. People like to watch others 'go down' for stuff, look at the number of crime shows there are. People like to see others hurt is really the bottom line, look at the most popular sports, ultimate fighting, hockey, football, soccer (for those other footballers), they are athletic yes, but how many are hurt with career ending injuries every year? The general public LIKES to see people suffering. If they didn't the ratings wouldn't be so great when that stuff is played. As much as I like to blame the government for stuff, it is high time that the public take some responsibility for the governmental things that have come to pass.

The term "sex offender" is a harsh and rather coarse description by the government and victim rights groups for anyone who has been convicted of a sex offense regardless of its severity.

Personally, I have thick skin and am pretty much unflappable; I also am pragmatic. So it really does not bother me how other people refer to me, but I can understand why it bothers many people, especially mothers or wives of registrants. It really is a rather nasty and degrading term for a son or husband that made a mistake and may never offend again.

The term "sex offender" is one that immediately stigmatizes a group of people and it creates hate and a bias against the registrants.

The big problem is when "sex offender" is used, it makes people think that he or she IS---NOT WAS--- an offender and currently about to offend again. As CoolRich said, people think of it in the present tense. It creates an illusion to the general public that "once an offender, always an offender," because he or she is well, an offender.

When the work S*E*X is included in the title, the stigma is reinforced even more.

But the powers that be are perfectly content to use the term "sex offender" because it demonizes those convicted of a crime sexual in nature. They have no incentive to use any other term.

These labels just drive me crazy. Take the term "child pornography." When people hear that term they go into a conniption and immediately they think of a infant being raped.

But much of "child pornography" does not include children and it is not pornography.

Many of the images deemed as child pornography are of female or male adolescents, not children. When I think of children, I think of a person who has not even started puberty, a person under the age of 11 or 12. Many images considered child pornography are of people older than 12 years of age NOT children.

And much of "child pornography" is not what I consider pornographic. To me, pornography has to include the performance of some act sexual in nature. Not all child pornography does that. Just an underage image (under the age of 18) of a female standing there, not doing a thing, is considered child pornography according to the law. An image of someone's 16 year old girlfriend coming out of the shower with only a towel wrapped around her waist with her breast showing is NOT pornography.

But the government and witness advocate's groups do not have any problem whatsoever using the words "sex offender" and "child pornography" even though both terms are misleading. Why? Because it instills fear in the public and that fear is what keeps all this sex offender mess going. They demonize a group of people and it is much easier to continue their campaign---more federal grants in the form of money, equipment to fight cyber crime, etc.

They loosely use the terms pervert and pedophile in the same manner for the same reason.

This is all about labels and convincing the public that a group of people are mentally sick, can never be cured, and will most likely reoffend again. Scare the hell out of an uneducated populace so that protecting them is a high priority.

Folds, nothing in life is black or white, but different shades of gray.

rewdiazepam

Couldn't have said it better myself.

How about RC? Especially for those who are innocent.

I am like some others...look me up...I am a 'Registered Sex Offender', an RSO..That's what it says online..So what? it is a label, not unlike a N-er or a K!ke, or a Sp-k etc...Those people have risen above it,..Why can't we??? I've been called many other things that some may find just as offensive...To quote one of my heroes, George Smith Patton..."Fuck it, Drive on"..
It's a wonder that my middle finger isn't as big as my leg from the work out it gets...

Coastie,
i get what you are saying. However, it is much more difficult for our loved ones. It is a label that many hate.
I have been called more things than I can remember. Didn't and doesn't matter. But, we are not everyone.

Everyone handles this label differently.

Older guys, registrants who have had a lot of life experience, tend to just ignore it. They realize that it is just a label and nothing else. They have most likely been called worse at some point in their lives.

Younger registrants are more ashamed when they are referred to as a sex offender. Some see it as an affirmation that society deems them worthless.

But the mothers and wives really hurt inside when someone refers to their son or husband they love as a "sex offender." I can thoroughly understand why.

No mother who has raised her son since he was a toddler wants to see such a degrading and nasty sounding label put on her child. It causes a mom a tremendous amount of pain to see her son be referred to as a "sex offender." Who can blame them? I sure cannot.

Wives do not want their husbands who they are fully supporting to be called a "sex offender." This is the same guy they fell in love with, married, and vowed "to death do us part." This is quite understandable.

The term "sex offender" is just a very derogatory term meant to inflame negative passions. We each handle it in our own way.

rewdiazepam

That's all true rew... I don't call my son a sex offender. I've yet to call him anything. I refer to SO when , if we talk about things.
How are you going to change the probation office, police department , the registry and all those websites from sex offender to something we like? Aint gonna happen.

As a mom, It doesn't bother me one iota how your label my son. SO, REGI, RC. Just as ugly. I heard him being called ugly names, labels all his life. But society has deemed it SO. And, that sadly will how it will remain. There are a lot of innocent SO, REGI, RC whatever. But also there are people who are convicted and are truly guilty. Think I will just use the word S O N. That is what he is to me. Never going to change how people, government, family, police label him. To me "crazy" is more offensive.

pchix,
My wife calls me husband. My daughter, step daughter and both sons in law call me dad. My grandchildren call me pop-pop. My friends call me friend. So yes, he is your son first.