Maclean’s Magazine investigates the revelation that a surprising number of pedophiles arrested by the Toronto Police are Trekkies:
The first thing detectives from the Toronto
police sex crimes unit saw when they entered Roderick Cowan’s apartment
was an autographed picture of William Shatner. Along with the photos on
the computer of Scott Faichnie, also busted for possessing child porn,
they found a snapshot of the pediatric nurse and Boy Scout leader
wearing a dress "Federation" uniform. Another suspect had a TV remote
control shaped like a phaser. Yet another had a Star Trek
credit card in his wallet. One was using "Picard" as his screen name.
In the 3 1/2 years since police in Canada’s biggest city established a
special unit to tackle child pornography, investigators have been
through so many dwellings packed with sci-fi books, DVDs, toys and
collectibles like Klingon swords and sashes that it’s become a dark
squadroom joke. "We always say there are two types of pedophiles: Star Trek and Star Wars," says Det. Ian Lamond, the unit’s second-in-command. "But it’s mostly Star Trek."
Neva Chonin at the San Francisco Chronicle isn’t convinced there’s a connection.
"Star Trek" fans get no respect. When they’re not being derided for
living in their mothers’ basements, they’re being mocked for studying the
Klingon alphabet. Life for Trekkies is especially tough these days, with their
television franchise finally fading into retirement after decades of spin-off
series and film adaptations.And now this. An April 27 Los Angeles Times story on the exploits of the
Toronto Police Service’s Sex Crimes Unit reported on "a dark fact" uncovered
by its Child Exploitation Section: "All but one of the offenders they have
arrested in the last four years," the article revealed, "was a hard-core
Trekkie."Wha … who … huh? I know that the Vulcan mating ritual of Pon Farr can
arouse some unruly passions, but hey. Kiddie porn? Child exploitation among
those benign nerds who flock to comic conventions in their Federation
uniforms? Say it isn’t so. Or at least present plausible evidence why it is……Yeah, right. Color me skeptical, but I require a little more to sell me
on the "dark fact" that "all but one of the offenders they have arrested in
the last four years was a hard-core Trekkie." If there’s empirical evidence,
trot it out. (Hard-core Trekkie membership cards? Salacious action figure
dioramas? What?) If there’s a causal relationship, at least try to explain it.
If you "can’t really explain it," don’t bring it up. Geeks get enough grief as
it is, man; they don’t need to be labeled perverts.
I think I remember reading that the ‘dark fact’ is incorrect, and the Toronto unit never said such a thing.
I’ll try to track down a source. I think that the whole Trekkie thing is probably way overblown.
Well, I found a reference:
http://www.corante.com/importance/archives/2005/05/30/hopefully_the_last_post_on_the_star_trekpedophilia_connection.php
It looks like they’ve backed off the ‘all but one’ claim, but I remain skeptical on the whole matter, as they don’t seem to be able to provide any numbers. This usually indicates that there aren’t any numbers, and it’s just something that ‘everone’s noticed’.
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/#111791333142388753
Actually, there are a lot of things that might make the correlation appear higher than it actually is.
1 – The percentage of Trekkies is probably higher in on-line populations than off-line. All of these pornographers (viewer of porn – pornographee?) were captured due to on-line activities.
2 – (Note: following is my assumption based on observations of non-porn world) I would assume it takes a fair amount of on-line seat time to reach the kiddie porn world and have the knowledge to do all the encrypting, code words, etc. that one reads they do. The more time spent on-line, the higher the likelihood that one lives in a cave filled with sci-fi figurines.
3 – There is a collector mentality. If one collects kiddie porn, one probably collects other things as well. Hence, the sci-fi paraphernalia.
4 – Crime investigations usually start with one person, then try to find their contacts. If the cops are operating in this way, they are probably catching friends and acquaintances with a common interest.
5 – The sci-fi guys probably have poor social skills and are low hanging fruit for the cops. The police haven’t gotten anywhere near the guys who wear Armani and live in all grey and chrome penthouse apartments.
6 – The Armani guys are probably setting up the Trek guys to keep the police busy and off their tails. (Hey, there’s a story here!)
A TYPICAL SUNDAY STROLL IN CYBERSPACE
Trekkies and Kiddie Porn: Maclean’s Magazine investigates the revelation that a surprising number of pedophiles arrested by the Toronto Police are Trekkies. … Neva Chonin at the San Francisco Chronicle isn’t convinced there’s a connection. While wer…
A TYPICAL SUNDAY STROLL IN CYBERSPACE
Trekkies and Kiddie Porn: Maclean’s Magazine investigates the revelation that a surprising number of pedophiles arrested by the Toronto Police are Trekkies. … Neva Chonin at the San Francisco Chronicle isn’t convinced there’s a connection. While wer…
Hmmm,
One of the overlapping traits between the two groups, it seems to me, is a tendency toward social immaturity. I hadn’t thought too much about what makes a pedophile a pedophile until the whole Catholic priest scandal, and one expert interviewed commented that pedophiles tended to be socially–and as a result sexually–immature, though I tend to view that as an oversimplification.
Now, to slam all Trekkies as socially immature isn’t fair, but if they’re suggesting hard-core Trekkies whose life revolves around the shows, rather than people who have found them reasonably enjoyable entertainments for the last 30 years, then I would argue that yes, they probably are socially immature and yes, there may be some overlap with pedophiles.
That said, I’ve always suspected that the pedophiles caught tend to be the losers who aren’t competent, and there are plenty of socially adjusted (if that’s possible) pedophiles who get away with it.
Mark Terry
I will remain sceptical on this (as I was at length when you raised it before) when you can explain how and why this is so when 99% of kiddie diddlers are men and at least 75% of Star Trek fans (and probably a far higher percentage) are women.
It simply doesn’t compute.
It all goes down to the “correlation versus causation” issue.
I agree with Mark Terry that there are undoubtedly plenty of socially adjusted (using the terms loosely) pedophiles out there. Now and then that type does get caught, and they’re usually the type who make headlines because it seems so shocking.
6 – The Armani guys are probably setting up the Trek guys to keep the police busy and off their tails. (Hey, there’s a story here!)
I nearly spit coke on the computer screen. That’s a riot!
But if you’re dealing with primarily “computer pedophiles” (ie, the hunting-in-the-chat-room type creeps as opposed to hunting in the playgrounds or shopping malls) it’s not surprising that you’ll find that they have interests in other techno-related things like sci-fi or perhaps videogaming.
A cause or a warning sign? No.
It’s the same for ex-marines. Even if he was one more than thirty years ago they will start the story by:
Ex-Marine Joe Blow arrested for drinking and using a cell phone while waiting in line at Starbucks …..
Same old story.
ok ok It’s REALLY sad that I know this, friend once told me:
Trekkies are just fans of Star Trek – technically including me I suppose.
The obsessed fanboy/fangirl-esque make-my-house-look-like-a-spaceship go round with a commbadge on people are TECHNICALLY – according to them- Trekkers.
However, like the difference between Hackers and Crackers, this is such a little known/ understood distinction I prefer just to say ‘Yeah I quite like Star Trek.’
Sparky