I watched a Ted Talk today from Jackson Katz. It was called “Violence against women — it’s a men’s issue” It was about how many of the gender abuse problems come from men. Men abuse women but our culture will blame the Women. Or Women abuse men and our culture will blame the man. We blame the victim. We ask “what were they wearing?” “why were they with those people?” “why didn’t they just leave?” Men are mainly the one’s abusing women or other men. Jason asks “Why do men prey on your girls or boys, what are we doing wrong in our society?” There may be people more reliable than Jackson Kratz but he seems very reliable.
This relates perfectly to A Stolen Life. Why did Philip prey on Jaycee, what went wrong? How did our society not figure out that this man was a predator? He kept a girl and later her two daughters in his backyard. It wasn’t like he lived in a rural area, he had neighbors and he was a known criminal on parole. Why was it never thought to check his property to make sure nothing bad was happening? No one even questioned, and all that time Jaycee was being abused, sexually, mentally, and physically. The problem was not Jaycee, it was never Jaycee. “Why didn’t she escape when Philip was gone or when she was allowed outside?” “Why didn’t she contact her mother with the computer she was allowed to use?” Philip had conditioned her to believe that he was always watching and she would never be able to get away. She was scared; just like all the other victims of rape or abuse. 
Jackson Katz, Violence against women — it’s a men’s issue
a stolen life 