"Are We All Sex Offenders?" TEDx Talk

[@robertbusso6859]

This country is on a slippery slope, and it is only a matter of time before it loses its footing.

[@NihouNi]

Really interesting talk, but there is a difference between a teen being attracted to a teen and a mature adult doing the same and acting on it. I agree that labelling people as sex offenders can seriously hamper their reintegration into the community. Isolation is one of the key factors in creating behaviours deemed sexual offences.

[@mrcleanisin]

The DSM5 does not draw a line for attraction to teens based on age.

[@NihouNi]

@@mrcleanisin Not sure what your point is.

[@justfutureproject2918]

@@NihouNi Your comment indicates “there is a difference between a teen being attracted to a teen and a mature adult” with a similar attraction. We’re curious what you think the difference is? And we suspect that @mrcleanisin was attempting to highlight that the medical community doesn’t actually agree with you that there’s a difference from the attraction standpoint.

[@NihouNi]

@@justfutureproject2918 If a teen is attracted to a teen, then there is less likely to be a power difference, authority structure that can be manipulated etc. If a mature adult is attracted to a teen, that is less appropriate.

[@sj49770]

Even if you think it's appropriate to evaluate absolutely everything in terms of power--which is dubious--the existence of a power difference does not prove that power is being misused. It isn't misused simply because sex is happening.

[@mrcleanisin]

Good speaker, however, he could have made his point about all being sex offenders better by revealing that the age of consent historically varies in states and countries. Our bordering countries Mexico 12 and Canada 14 was only recently raised.

[@alondrazharick9544]

The fact that it was that low says everything about society.

[@sj49770]

@@alondrazharick9544 yes, it says people used to be saner than they are now.

[@michaelpaterno7298]

I'm going through this bs myself n boy do I understand how barbaric they r -

[@lmichaud8586]

Exceptional speech. I fell down from my chair. Galen Baughman. Two thumbs up. One thing I could add to what he says is that abuse committed within the family is under-reported in USA, compared to Canada, precisely cause the laws are super tough, and prison sentences are super long. Most victims are scared to report, cause victims and family members would often just like to be able to force an abuser to get a therapy. But reporting incest makes you buy a kind of corrupted gift basket where there's a lot of stuff you don't want, and will never need. They don't want to ruin their father's / step father's / brothers / cousins lives, and send them to prison for 5 years or more. Not only long sentences prevent people from reporting, but if long sentences were any good to prevent sex-offences in general, United States would have very low crime rates. Not some of the highest crime rates in the world. All tough on crime policies are doomed to fail. They are not making society better or safer. Their collateral damages will always outweigh any benefits.

[@jamespatterson6989]

Are there any communities or places where we can get more information like this? Or talk with others about this topic

[@justfutureproject2918]

womenagainstregistry.org & ajustfuture.org

[@jamespatterson6989]

THANK YOU FOR HAVING THE BALLS TO SPEAK THE TRUTH

[@iambelzar]

Food for thought child porn was legal in the USA until 1977

[@redeemingpatriot3487]

Your lying

[@iambelzar]

@@redeemingpatriot3487 nope it’s a fact. Look this up… Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation Act of 1977

[@justfutureproject2918]

*illegal images*

[@alondrazharick9544]

Thats disgusting.

[@tammielawson6423]

Thanks Galen!!! Powerful message and expressed in a way for people to understand civil commitment and it’s harsh measures. I share a common interest in these matters.

[@karlyoung5089]

No dawg! We are not all sex offenders!

[@lemarfouriesos8634]

Thats his whole point

[@wallytucker62816964]

Freshman in highschool? That’s like grade 9? The boy was 14?

[@itzystreamingplaylistsonch5471]

Yes freshman are 14 years old and this guy was 19. Disgusting

[@davidhorsley7698]

I would never hurt a kid or anyone what I do with a mistake and I paid my price I need that they need to let it go

[@toryellen2805]

No

[@redeemingpatriot3487]

@@toryellen2805 why

[@toryellen2805]

@@redeemingpatriot3487 tbh idk shoulda asked me 6 months ago when I wrote that 🤣

[@redeemingpatriot3487]

@@toryellen2805 lol

[@redeemingpatriot3487]

​@Rise Over here305 we need to balance this

[@RyanFord-wq3xf]

Super Brave....Trying to muster the courage to do a similar ted talk

[@amhharr6696]

Epic video!! Respect to you. God Bless you! Very powerful message!

[@Juror_Number_Eight]

As a fellow sex offender and a fan of TED Talks, I have to say this was very disheartening. When I first watched Galen talk about the circumstances of his offense, all sorts of red flags went up. Galen's Romeo and Juliet-esque tale of his sexual encounter with a freshman in high school while he was 19 years old struck me as evasive, minimizing and taking no ownership of what he did. It also seemed like he was leaving something out because one offense of this sort typically will not result in a state seeking commitment to a treatment facility. Then come to find out that he was caught violating his parole by carrying on conversations with more underage boys! Galen is NOT a good spokesman for sex offender law reform. The very first thing he needs to do is take complete ownership of his crime. Don't minimize it. Don't try to pass it off as a misplaced - or worse, misunderstood, love affair. WE hurt people by our offenses, plain and simple. The second thing he needs to do is commit himself to never hurting anybody again. We do this by avoiding the situations we allowed ourselves to be in to commit our crimes and by recognizing the triggers that allowed us to justify our crimes in our own minds. Only then can someone be an advocate for rational sex offender laws. We sex offenders are victims of our own deeds, not of society. We can't convince people that sex offender laws don't allow for reform and are a perpetual form of punishment if we are continuing to hurt other people; we need to show them that we are human beings who made horrible mistakes but can be contributing members of society given a fair chance.

[@justfutureproject2918]

Sadly, this comment reads like it was written by a spokesperson for ATSA or by a Containment Model vendor. People who have repaid their debt to society deserve to be free, not perpetually condemned to “avoiding the situations we allowed ourselves to be in” - which in this case was a teenager interacting with other teenagers. The crime that led Galen to be targeted for commitment was in fact the only conviction he has for adult behavior in the state trying to commit him. The person commenting is incorrect about Virginia’s indefinite detention practices - they have also sent 14-year-old kids who had 12-year-old girlfriends to Virginia’s shadow prison. It’s sad to us that this commenter feels justified in imagining they are an authority on the impact of Galen’s conviction from nearly 20 years ago as a teenager. But it’s most disturbing that they have apparently drunk the Cool-Aid from the “treatment providers” a case like Galen’s is inherently harmful and that Galen should never be free to live in our society like any other person. Galen hasn’t been charged - much less convicted - of a crime in nearly half of his life. An alleged technical probation violation is held up by this commenter as evidence of an effort to “hurt [some]body again” - which is patently ridiculous. We feel bad for the author of this comment. This is precisely why the Containment Model should be abolished, and so-called “sex offender treatment providers” need to find something else to do that doesn’t involve information-gathering and control for law enforcement.

[@Juror_Number_Eight]

@@justfutureproject2918 I am not affiliated with, nor a spokesman for, any association. The opinions I expressed are just that. Further, I do not imagine myself an authority on Galen's case in particular, but I do speak from personal experience and I smell the same BS that I used to convince myself was 'normal'. I do believe in treatment. I believe that sex offenders should seek treatment just as drug addicts, people with depression, alcoholics, and anybody else who suffers from anything that skews logic. In my case, texting young girls and passing it off as harmless communication when I clearly crossed a boundary in my past, would be skewed thinking, so I continue to use the tools taught to me in treatment to ensure I don't go down the same path. I do understand the nature of our overzealous prosecutors in the US and know that there are many people on the registry who were "guilty" of teen on teen sex, which disturbs me greatly. I think the vast majority of us on the registry know that we don't fall into that category. I also think that the vast majority of us on the registry are good people who made horrible mistakes and who, provided we have taken steps to ensure that we don't repeat those mistakes, should be able to live without fear from pitch-fork mobs. I believe that sex offender laws in this country are counter-productive and are in dire need of reform. I just don't think we'll be able to convince the rest of America of this by using someone who doesn't recognize his past actions as mistakes as our spokesperson. I'll concede the point about Virginia’s indefinite detention practices as I really don't know the facts in that state.

[@leonardodalongisland]

I can relate and agree with you.

[@sj49770]

Nothing Galen did would be criminal in a sane society.

[@BabyGirlRaven]

I’ve lived in Virginia my son was in junior high and he got into a fight with a girl and she slapped him, he didn’t exec hit her back but they were going to arrest him. Yes it’s two different issues but Amy point is Virginia will arrest and throw someone in jail or prison and not care why. Which is the reason good people are just sitting in their prisons for stupid reason because they could careless about anyone unless you have money

[@jarrodyuki7081]

no more registry. also no one should be banned from internet access since the internet is very important in the modern age.

[@jarrodyuki7081]

@Rise Over here305 its not even that. you need the internet for information or basic living. uber food. studying. everything due to the pandemic what about working form home. the 21st century the internet and digital age is part of our lives. banning someone from the internet is like taking away someones eyes in the 21st century.

[@jarrodyuki7081]

@Rise Over here305 not important, vital crucial.

[@alondrazharick9544]

Sex offenders should definitely be on a registry.

[@jamesbeemer7855]

YES WE ARE ! Don’t deny it ! We all should go to prison ! Except those under the age of 9 years .

[@neeneelee1973]

No! Everyone isnt a sex offender period!

[@jarrodyuki7081]

the registry is unconstitutional.

[@neeneelee1973]

@Rise Over here305 Do not lable me as a sex offender!! DONOT! your comment just got TURNED IN...YOU ARE WRONG.. NEVER LABEL ME WITH THAT TERM YOU HERE ME! YOU JUST GOT TURNED IN Keep your religion to yourself...you do not lable innocent people as sex offenders on a public forum period! You just got your self turned in..

[@orbitrox.9559]

@@neeneelee1973 That's a rather extreme reaction for someone who is so sure of themself...

[@neeneelee1973]

@@orbitrox.9559 You better realize the seriousness of labeling innocent people as sex offenders, you're damn straight I've got a problem with that bullshit..

[@chrisstorrer]

It's a rhetorical question.

[@juneelle370]

He still feels that what he did is just fine. It’s not. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be treated with human dignity ... the examples he gives at 9:50👉some of the examples he gave are overreach. But what HE DID is a sexual offense. He knew DAMN WELL at 19 what the legal age of consent is. He literally said--if we’re all sexual offenders, then maybe there’s no such thing. That’s a lie. He sexually offended and I’d consider him high risk because at no point in this did he express any guilt or accountability whatsoever.

[@sunandabehera5075]

Yes everyone should deserve a chance to change

[@sj49770]

The law is a bad law. The age of consent should not be as high as it is. He did nothing morally wrong.

[@somexp12]

The issue actually is that those "experts" are redefining "sex offender" from being someone who *did* a thing to someone who *has* a condition. However, the diagnostic criteria for this condition actually applies to an enormous swath of the population. If a "sex offender" is just someone who commits a sex offense, then his status was addressed by those 9 years. If, however, it is someone with this condition, then we don't have enough prison space to contain them all. The logic behind their justifications is just asinine.

[@juneelle370]

@@somexp12 he’s a person who committed the offense… he belongs on a registry. And no the “condition” that leads to actual offenses should NOT be normalized because it’s the condition itself that leads to offense of children. I agree it should be studied on how to help them be cured so they will not offend or if that’s not possible to have assistance/structure/medications/agreed upon limitations to ensure they do not offend.

[@somexp12]

@@juneelle370 Has nothing to do with the registry. They wanted to extend his imprisonment indefinitely, under the assumption that his "condition" predestined him to prey on others. First 9 years was for the actual crime. The indefinite commitment was for whatever this "condition" was. It's not me blaming a "condition". It's them. As for your use of the word "normalize" (whatever that's supposed to mean), you demonstrate that you live in a fantasy world. Only the tiniest number of people are trying to legalize child abuse. Every supposed indication of some vast conspiracy to do this is just the product of people's desperate craving to believe such a movement exists. People trying to invent a villain so they can play pretend that they're "protecting" society.

[@quartzboye]

There are many people in jail and prison, who don’t belong there for things like this.

[@raghavmantri3464]

i think so, just an opinion

[@jenniecadwell7909]

Love it ty

[@rojack1947]

I for one am glad to see that this is going out so others can chime in on they're thoughts. We do need communication and we do need to understand that these laws are useless and damaging to anyone on them. People do make mistakes but they shouldn't have to suffer for the rest of they're lives for a mistake. YES, it is a bad choice. But there are way worse people out there than a sex offender. People that murder anyone for any reason except for an accident should be on this list if a sex offender is on this list. But alas. There shouldn't be any list to begin with. You did the crime you paid your time and that should be that. Carry on with normal life.

[@leonardodalongisland]

Exactly.

[@tbosley314]

​@@lildude09-e1e damn right this comment section is full of creeps

[@sj49770]

Sex, in itself, doesn't fuck up anyone's life.

[@brian91613]

I'm glad he got out. Hope he got money from the prison system

[@davidhorsley7698]

I'm not saying what happened with me and that girl was right but we had a baby together and was getting married you stayed Alabama accuses her mother and everything agreed to say Alabama kind of crushed human but no more I agree with you all the time so many things but some of the stuff I've done is not right or alright but but everybody makes a mistake God forgives and why can't he why kind of human being Nashville New Jersey are supposed to be human too for videotaping in KZbin they shouldn't deny my video to be on the internet after all we do have the First Amendment right and I cannot take the dog more rights away for something I've done and I paid the price for it I shouldn't be paying no more prices for now on how is somebody will talk to Montgomery and federal law justice peace about it because it is very wrong

[@anthonykane9985]

Not everyone. You.

[@jarrodyuki7081]

fuck you!! its unconstitutional.

[@toryellen2805]

Jarrod Yuki no. Pedophiles are criminals are are exempt from the right to life.

[@braininajar8474]

Victoria White Please read the definition of pedophilia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedophilia?wprov=sfti1

[@Greg-yu4ij]

Maybe he should’ve protected this kid instead of messing with him. Maybe the kid wasn’t even gay but just looked up to him. We’ll never know because he decided to do that. We’re not living in sparta anymore where older men take on boys. That being said, it’s inhumane what was done to this guy. Even if he gets out his life is shot. We have no path for forgiveness in this country anymore. You are either an in grouper or an out grouper. truly the opposite of what Jesus taught us. He taught us to love our enemy. He taught us to love our neighbor. He taught us any sin we have committed all we had to do was confess our sins and ask for forgiveness. how many times can you go to confession over 10 years? He taught us not to hate.

[@alondrazharick9544]

@riseoverhere3054Bitch what 😂

[@davidhorsley7698]

I made a video of the police in Odenville and the police denied it because I was I was in prison at one time for married to a young girl with a baby cuz she was younger than I am now what you give for it I think that is wrong Berrington at my videos I have a right to the First Amendment a video

[@blackbettybambalam4006]

Im confused

[@Itsnobigdealowillbeokay]

“I’m a rapist and I don’t want to take accountability for it”

[@sj49770]

Someday you should learn that words have an exact meaning.

[@Itsnobigdealowillbeokay]

@@sj49770he’s a pedophile bro

[@abrahampalmer8761]

9:36

[@byleethomas3190]

Teenagers are not sex offenders

[@jamespatterson6989]

I think your wrong lol. If a 15 year old sends nudes to another 15 year old, he has committed sex crime and is by definition someone who has offended in the domain of sex crime...otherwise called sex offence/offender

[@redeemingpatriot3487]

​ James Patterson there are videos posted of teens who commit crimes of that nature, too

[@sj49770]

In Michigan, two 15-year-olds who have sex are each guilty of third degree rape. Two 12-year-olds who have sex are each guilty of first degree rape. There was a woman on the registry for something that happened when she was 10, until the law was changed. I'm not saying it's usually prosecuted that way, but it has been and it can be.

[@FirstName-mb5dp]

sex offender on ted talk.. wtf

[@alondrazharick9544]

There are multiple.

[@wallytucker62816964]

Yeah Ted talks have gone down hill quite a bit

[@Tao33316]

Great message!

[@alondrazharick9544]

Hell no wtf is this.

[@brandenwilliams9784]

He is seriously trying to justify being a child predator wow oops I mean convicted child predator SMH

[@braininajar8474]

As I understand it, he’s trying to argue that he shouldn’t be locked up indefinitely for having consensual sex with someone 5 years younger.

[@j_morco]

The root of the message is that the state has passed laws that place actual child predators and non-predators into the same category. I don’t believe there need be a “justification” for actions that are non-predatory, consensual, and where no victim exists. When people are placed on registries, it is done without due process. It is automatic, and there is no burden of proving that an individual is a danger to the public. That in itself would be unconstitutional for any other convict, including murderers. There are more effective ways of protecting potential victims, without destroying the lives of people who are not “sexual deviants”, or “chomos”. The whole point is, the courts are refusing to even make a differentiation between them.

[@sj49770]

He did nothing predatory. Illegal does not mean predatory.

[@karlyoung5089]

​@@sj49770Total BS!

[@alondrazharick9544]

Fr this shit is weird.

[@Think_For_Yourself_]

Disgusting

[@user-qm8by7sh6m]

Explain

[@kell_checks_in]

No.

[@asheyre1866]

adults and juveniles are not the same. at all. i think dont really get what he is saying