Religion is a Mental Illness

Daisy: There's a big conversation in society about allowing trans women into women's prisons. But you pointed out that the rates of sexual assault by other female inmates, is even higher than male on male sexual assaults in male prisons.

George: Well, that's a great example of the reality of data going against the popular narrative of violence. So yes, there's a lot of conversation about people like, Isla Bryson wanting to go into women's prisons. Although I understand, that is outrageous, and that has exposed sort of ideological blind spots in the political system, it is still only a tiny, tiny portion of the problem.

If you were interested in safeguarding women's prisons, you need to be talking about the entire population of that prison. And it's frustrating how in prison we just throw people in. We just throw people with addiction problems and mental health problems; you have traumatized people and predatory people, including women. Like, often we mix actual gangs together in prison, who are extremely violent, and we say nothing.

And you're absolutely right that there were higher rates of sexual assault in women's prisons between women, than there are in male prisons between men, and not even by a small amount, about 2 or 3 times more.

I just find the conversation around people like Isla Bryson, to be a little bit disingenuous, because it doesn't seem to be about prisoner safeguarding. And if it was, those people would've been talking about it a lot earlier, and a lot more broadly.

It should be said that in absolute numbers, the amount of sexual assault in men's prisons is significantly higher. You're talking about 900,000 cases just in America alone, and if you actually factor that in to all rape cases in America, men are actually the number one victim of rape, if you include prison rape. So, I'm talking about as a percentage of the population it's [female inmate assault] higher, but in absolute numbers it's higher, higher for men.

Daisy: George, you've also pointed out that, that boys are more likely to be victims of modern slavery, and sextortion. Can you tell us a bit about that?

George: So, two separate, two separate issues there.

Modern slavery, there's a push in the UK, for example, to expand the definition of modern slavery to include people that are criminally exploited, such as through gangs. Overwhelmingly, it's about 90% men, and young boys especially, that are brought into gangs and exploited, and in that widened view of modern slavery, men and especially young boys are the number one victim of modern slavery in the UK today.

Sextortion is a new and emerging problem of which boys are the primary target, and that's where boys are often targeted on social media, by both men and women, pretending to be women. It's not actually women doing it necessarily. And they're basically encouraged to send nude photos of themselves. And then those photos are then used to blackmail that boy, into sending money over.

And it's led to suicides, like dozens of suicides in America last year. And no one seems to be talking about it. Parents aren't safeguarding their boys, and if you get one thing from this interview, please talk to your boys, if you have a boy, about not sending certain photos to strangers online.

1. Rape of women and "made to penetrate" (i.e. male rape) occur at similar rates in the general population. (In some years, the CDC recorded significantly more male rape - "made to penetrate" - than female rape, although this was hidden by categorization.)
2. Sexual coercion is comparable for both men and women, but somewhat higher for women. Unwanted sexual contact is similar for both men and women, but slightly higher for men.
3. Sexual victimization of female inmates occurs at a higher rate by other female inmates than it does by men in the general population.
4. The rate of sexual victimization by other female inmates is higher, per capita, than male on male sexual victimization by inmates.
5. Due to differences of incarceration rates, in absolute numbers, men comprise far and away the majority of rape victims. And it's not even close.
6. For females in juvenile detention, female-on-female inmate sexual violence is the most common dynamic. For males, female guard on male juvenile is the most common sexual violence dynamic; 96% of guard-on-male juvenile inmate sexual assault is committed by female guards.

‘It can happen to any child’: parents of sextortion victim send out warning

Ros and Mark Dowey, whose son Murray took his life after being duped by criminals online, are calling for greater awareness and social media

the Guardian

Ros and Mark Dowey, whose son Murray took his life after being duped by criminals online, are calling for greater awareness and social media regulation

It was a relaxed evening at home in Dunblane, near Stirling, a few days before the turn of the year. The Dowey family – Ros, Mark and their three sons – were watching television when talk turned to plans for the new year. Murray, 16 years old and their middle boy, chatted about saving up for a holiday to Marbella he was planning with his friends that summer. At about half past nine, he went up to his bedroom. It was the last time his family saw him alive.

The next morning, Ros was preparing for a visit to friends in Glasgow. “I saw that Murray’s door was ajar with the light on,” she says. “I walked in and said ‘Are you up?’ and found him there.”

Mark was downstairs watching the football when he heard “this crazy, crazy screaming”. He shudders at the recollection. In the couple of hours since he had gone to bed, Muzz – as his family knew him – had taken his own life.

It took the police two weeks to gain access to Murray’s phone, and discover the truth – two weeks of “questioning every interaction”, says Ros, “trying to understand what we’d missed, how that happy boy who’d gone to bed that night was dead”. Neither Murray himself, nor anyone close to him, had ever expressed any concerns about his mental health.

Police Scotland told the Doweys there was evidence that, on the night he died, Murray was targeted by criminals involved in financially motivated sexual extortion – commonly known as “sextortion”.

“He was duped into thinking he was talking to a young girl,” Ros explains, “and she had an intimate picture with her. As soon as shared his own, it became very clear it wasn’t a young girl he was speaking to, it was criminals who immediately started to extort him, asking for card details and threatening to share his picture with all his contacts.”

The effect on Murray would have been catastrophic, says his mother. “He was very private and hated being the centre of attention.” She describes the “frenzied panic” he must have felt: “That’s why they target teenagers, because they don’t have the life experience to understand it will pass.”

Murray was clever and street-smart, says his dad, not glued to his phone, and, if anything, slightly dismissive of social media. An open family, they had discussed the dangers of sharing photos and messaging strangers “and yet he still fell for it. It can happen to any child.”

Ros and Mark reflect on Murray’s self-containment and it is clear that they likewise do not relish public attention. But they have chosen to speak to the Guardian and one national television broadcaster. “We are doing it for Murray”, says Mark simply. “We want young people as far as your readership goes across the world to get the idea that this is insidious – it comes into your home.”

“We were six feet away when this was happening. He just needed to come through to our bedroom. So it’s about putting the phone down, walking away, saying to someone else, ‘This has happened, what the hell do I do?’ Murray didn’t do that and we lost him.”

They describe their “lovely boy” as bright, funny, sociable, passionate about his guitar and his football team, Stirling Albion. He loved hip-hop – Kid Cudi, Lil Yachty and Benzz were on his funeral playlist – and camping with his tight-knit group of pals up at the local reservoir.

His friends are devastated. Dunblane high school delayed their prelim exams when they returned to class in January after Murray’s death, and while the school immediately addressed the wider issue with pupils, Ros would like to see more concerted awareness-raising across the education sector.

“It can’t be a soft message and it needs to happen now. This is growing exponentially and young people are dying.”

International data bears this out. The FBI has recorded a tenfold increase in the number of cases since 2021 and more than a dozen related deaths. In August 2023, two Nigerian men were extradited to the US to face charges relating to online extortion and their part in the suicide of Michigan 17-year-old Jordan DeMay.

Earlier this month, police in New South Wales, Australia revealed a near-400% increase over the past two years as they announced that two different men had been charged in Nigeria over the alleged sexual extortion of a 16-year-old Australian boy who took his own life last year.

UK campaigners highlight Report Remove, an online tool for under-18s developed by the Internet Watch Foundation and Childline, which allows them to report anonymously any image or video, which will then be placed on a watchlist used by all the main social media players.

But these platforms must themselves make it easier for young people to get help, say Murray’s parents. Mark believes children’s contacts should be private by default, thus depriving scammers of the pressure point of sharing intimate details.

Ros believes regulation is key. “Social media platforms are making billions and have complete free rein to do what they want – some of which is causing young people to die – with no consequence.”

Police Scotland is understood to be working with authorities in Nigeria as their inquiries continue, and the other international prosecutions give the Doweys some hope of justice for their son.

Ros is unequivocal: “There has to be a really clear message to these perpetrators that you think you’re anonymous and thousands of miles away but these countries will come after you. Not only to punish them, but to deter others from thinking it’s easy cash and it doesn’t matter what happens to the victims.”

“I don’t want any other family to go through this,” she adds. “We were just a normal family … a completely normal, happy, loving family,” – and the horror and the pointlessness of Murray’s loss feel close by. “Then your life is absolutely shattered in the space of a few hours.”

A new type of cybercrime, primarily targeting teenage boys, is sweeping across the social mediaverse, and has already silently claimed dozens of lives.

‘Sextortion’ is a new type of cybercrime that uses fake profiles to lure a target into sending explicit photos of themselves, and then uses these photos, alongside threats, to blackmail and extort money from the victim.

It is not about the sexual gratification of the predator, nor are these the actions of disgruntled former partners. This is purely about money, and getting as much of it from the target as possible.

Worse, unlike other types of cyber crime, where other demographics are targeted; sextortion does not need a long runway for the scammer to build trust, it can take hours, or even minutes, to get what they want.

So what makes teen boys uniquely vulnerable?

Well, boys have not been subject to the same awareness campaigns as girls, who are taught to be mindful of what they send, and to whom. Instead, boys’ fast and loose approach to sending explicit photos of their body, and the unique shame they feel when exposed, is what makes them an easy and lucrative target.

So who will speak to, educate and protect our boys?

How many more lives will have to be devastated, and lost, before we take the same meaningful action taken to help girls, to support boys too?

Is it time we talked about sextortion?

Is it time we protected our boys?

What do you think?

Sextortion Scams Are Driving Teen Boys to Suicide

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Thousands of teen boys are being extorted in sexting scams - The Wash…

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"The totalitarian concept of the afterlife: The hideous idea doesn’t even occur in the violent, rape and genocide filled books of the Jewish bible. There’s no punishment of the dead. When god has destroyed your tribe and had your virgins and your children murdered in front of you, and had your flocks and herds scattered and so on, and you also fall down to a bronze sword, he’s done with you. The earth can close over you. That’s it. You tangled with the wrong tribe, the one he favored. Not until gentle Jesus, meek and mild, are you told: – If you don’t make the right propitiations you can depart into everlasting fire – One of the most wicked ideas ever preached, and one that’s ruined the lives and peace of mind of many, many children preached to them by vicious, child hating old men and women, in the name of this ghastly cult, which we’re met here to discuss tonight." -- Christopher Hitchens

extortion | ikˈstôrSH(ə)n, ekˈstôrSH(ə)n | noun the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats.

"Religion does not teach morality. It instils fear of retribution. That's not morality. It's obedience through mental terrorism."

"You must be out of your mind if you think I'm going to trust the alleged word of an unapparent deity whose punishment for the non-reciprocation of unconditional love is eternal torture and torment."

-- Michael Sherlock

“God gave you free will so that you have the choice to either worship him or go to hell.”

-- Ricky Gervais

“It is safe to say that Christianity would never have amounted to much without a doctrine of hell.

The bright promise of salvation - and the terrifying threat of hell - have all along been the biggest guns in the Christian arsenal.“

-- Keith Parsons

“I won’t be told, ‘I have a supernatural offer for you, and if you don’t accept it, you can be tortured forever.’ I won’t be talked to like that. That is the language of fascism and dictatorship. It’s directly immoral, and it’s a great relief to know that it’s completely mythical.”

-- Christopher Hitchens

See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply

Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

He [Jesus] said unto him [a certain lawyer], What is written in the law? how readest thou?

And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

• would know that love is given, not taken.
• wouldn’t need to command good people to love it - they just would.
• wouldn’t be angered by those who didn’t - it would love them anyway.
• wouldn’t prize the love of bad people to the point of absolving their crimes by simply flattering it.
• could love without a blood sacrifice.

Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

Paying Jizyah is a Sign of Kufr and Disgrace

Allah said, (until they pay the Jizyah), if they do not choose to embrace Islam, (with willing submission), in defeat and subservience, (and feel themselves subdued.), disgraced, humiliated and belittled. Therefore, Muslims are not allowed to honor the people of Dhimmah or elevate them above Muslims, for they are miserable, disgraced and humiliated. Muslim recorded from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said, (Do not initiate the Salam to the Jews and Christians, and if you meet any of them in a road, force them to its narrowest alley.) This is why the Leader of the faithful `Umar bin Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, demanded his well-known conditions be met by the Christians, these conditions that ensured their continued humiliation, degradation and disgrace.