Peninsula Village

[Anonymous]

I was too in the Village, does anyone else remember how happy everyone was in the summer when the guy finally came by with the septic truck to clean the porta johns.  Do you remember how hard it is to wake up a horrible PV conselor in the middle of the night to walk you out to the port potties?  If you woke them up they would give you hell the next day, no matter if the medication they had you on made you pee a lot.   We had no heat either of course, just a wood stove and no running water, just  that fricken evil gott.  I get flash backs from a water cooler, how sad is that.  The damn thing weighed like 800 pounds and we carried it everywhere.   I think you are odd, because you say I don't know what PV is like.  I could not make any of this stuff up if I tried, you just don't want me to make PV look bad maybe, it is stupid hell, very stupid irrational and bad.  No damn sense to any of it.

[Anonymous]

Does Three Springs Waygooking  have anything to do with PV?  Does anyone else hate hospital gowns? I hate hospital gowns.  I really really hate hospital gowns, and being made to sleep on that damn cot in front of the counselor desk in a hospital gown, and made to sign in every what? fifteen minutes, ARGH.  The cubicals in PV have no front and the STU lockdown unit is small as hell, I still can't stand rooms with Plexiglas windows and heavy fire doors, I start looking for exits and moving toward them, and that carpeting and those group chairs.  Did you really mean to get me to start describing PV, I've already taken up like ten pages. Jesus.  They used to have a picture of the lock down unit on the PV website but they don't anymore because I guess it looked too brutal.  You can still find it buried back in a post somewhere. I was in there for like eight months, they sent me back. They say you are going to be in STU for a month or two, big lie.  I was pretty compliant too, I tried to please them and cried a lot, I felt like I had let my family down or something, so I needed to do well to fix things?  I felt like hell in PV to say the least.  It’s horrible what I did with the sexual abuse really, that’s what I did with it, but anyway.  They left the lights on in STU, they would turn a few lights down in the back, but in the front, towards the desk the damn fluorescents were blaring, ugh.

[Anonymous]

Every one who was in PV needs to post something, anything will do!! Just describe things or say above is true, write four pages, anything, the more stuff that gets posted the closer we get to shutting PV down!! Don't just read this and move on, log in with a fake email if you are scared, just write something!! You have one year to sue PV in TN, who needs a million dollars, get a lawyer!! Talk to a lawyer, they may take your case for free if they think they can win, which they should PV is a farce!! get to it!! Call the cops!! report PV to the child protection agency, even if they ignore you they can't ignore everyone!!  Does anyone remember sitting on those damn cubical beds all day asking permission to go to the bathroom and telling them what you had to do while they timed you?  Come on all PV people say something!!  I think it is good if people write a lot, the more the better, PV people need to post stuff!!

[Anonymous]

I have one more girl I was in with story then I'm done.  A girl I was in with was a foster kid, her parents were drug users and the state gave her to her eighty year old Jehovah’s witness grandmother.  Grandmother said no birthdays, makeup, jewelry, boys, dating anything.  Grandmother could be pretty crazy, pretty elderly.  Girl was a good student and a star basketball player. Cute as can be.  She went over to the head of the boys basketball teams house, after school, his mom caught them making out, called grandmother, grandmother read her the riot act and turned her over to foster care, who put her in a group home where she got into a fight with another girl about something, the girl was picking on her and she was somewhat feisty.  She was an anger addict according to PV and went to AA meetings with the rest of us.  She did no drugs, didn't drink, got good grades, had lots of friends, and was a star on the school basket ball team. she was fifteen, the group home turned her over to PV because she was fighting because she had been picked on.  True story swear on my life, whole true story, Hardly a hardened criminal, "Bad Girl."  She was African American, too for what thats worth.  Very nice girl.  PV staff was mean as hell to her of course.

[ZenAgent]

Excellent idea!  Enough voices citing the abuses at PV will make it more attractive to an attorney, who would take the case on contigency if it's strong.

I'm interested in hearing more from the guys who were at PV.  I talked to two, one of them is doing very well now.  I asked him why I didn't hear more from the guys, and he point blank replied "A lot of them committed suicide, especially the kids who lived in Tennessee,"  Maybe because of PV's reputation in TN...

[nimdA]

I think I'll bitch at ginger and see and make her set up a forum just for Peninsula Village. Definitely this material needs more publicity than it is currently getting.

I'd also be interested in interviewing anyone, but I only do those down in my own forum where guests aren't allowed to post.

So its up to the participant.

If you want a PV forum go honk and squawk at ginger in the thread I will start in about two seconds up in the tech section.

[stoodoodog]

,Defining why PV is such a horrible farce, maybe that is the aspect "we" don't like.  I don't think I make PV look like anything other than the idiotic hell hole it is.  Oh of course, the education requirements to be a counselor, or more accurately the lack of, Pellissippi State Community College forever.  Told you I had been in PV.

Pellissippi? Maybe back in your day, but Johnson Bible College educates more of the counselors these days...

[ZenAgent]

Nah, a GED's good enough to get you a gig at PV running therapy groups, according to the last counselor job listing I read.  Bad counselors are made, not born, too much education makes it difficult to get the program into the counselor.

I know a few Village idiots are reading this now, and I'd like to offer up a rather hale and hearty ::fuckoff:: to you gooners.

[nimdA]

I think you forget that in general, this industry really doesn't have what you would call a good counselor. Even in schools where they are using master's level therapists the group sessions still end up being conducted like a kangaroo court. PV more than likely has reduced its hiring standards to keep a sufficient level of staff. Other facilities have actually upped them to attempt to claim that their counseling staff all have at the minimum a bachelor's degree of some sort.

Does this prevent abuse?

ummm no.

What you have in the case of PV isn't anything much to do with education. It is all about culture. The culture of the place is rotten. Sick thinking has pervaded the very core of PV with the ideology that torturing children in their care is an acceptable form of treatment/bullshit. The exact same sort of thinking is played out to lesser or greater degrees at other facilities with staff that is educated to some degree more.

This again comes down to culture. Tough love really has grabbed America by the balls when college graduates have gotten it into their heads that it is the next best thing to peaches and cream.

[psy]

The one guy starts telling a story about this guy having sex with a girl in Las Vegas, he was actually moving his pelvis and holding his hands like he, I guess, was holding on to a girls butt from the back, the story went on a little while too it seemed. This guy in Vegas was having sex and the doors in the hotel were a kind of glass that when you touched a button they became misted over but when you touched it again you could see through them, so he keeps touching the door while he is having sex so people can see through it and then can’t.  The final time he does it a security guard was there and he &^%& all over the glass.  I didn’t like this story much or the pelvic thrusts but I just nodded and smiled.  The other guy starts talking about seeing this thing on the internet where this guy tried to have *&^*&* sex with a girl and filmed it, there was &**& everywhere and the camera guy threw up and so did the guy, this story was much longer than the above sentence and very graphic.  I’m sorry to have to repeat this, even with editing but this is a reasonably ordinary form of sexual harassment. He also mention *&^* sex one other times in relation to his girlfriend, in a conversation, that started by talking about the test we had just taken?  This time was unrelated to the above story?  I have not talked to these kids much, and I look really ordinary, like everyone else in class, they were not singling me out.  I am not picking on men, or boys, I know very nice non before mentioned guys.  

Hmm....

First of all, I am a feminist, I am the daughter of a feminist (who is also a professor of women's studies and feminist writing), and I am married to a feminist. Now then:


From what you have described of the situation in the post above, you were not experiencing sexual harassment at that time. The term "harassment" implies repetition of an unwanted act or refusal to desist when requested to do so. It also implies intent.

You described a situation in which you were a passive member of a conversation which wasn't even entirely directed towards you. You described only one instance of the offending comments, and you did not ask them to stop speaking about it - you smiled and nodded. The persons you were engaged in the conversation with had no way of knowing that you were uncomfortable. Albeit, the subject matter was obviously offensive to you, but that in and of itself is not sexual harassment. Inappropriate maybe, harassment - not even close. Two people carrying on a conversation about anal sex (is that what you were implying with your bizarre self-censorship?) with their girlfriends is not in any way harassing you.

Feel free to clarify if there was more to the story than you first described.

 


Rachael

Well said.  I think "We are not free" has a little too high a threshold for what is considered sexual harsassment.  If she went around reporting stuff like that to staff, and she got people into trouble about it, I could understand why they would be pissed (and rightly so).  I'm guessing being abused, and being in PV is what caused her to be so sensitive...  Personally, I don't aggree that speech should ever be censored, no matter what.  You can't force people to be polite, and you can't force people to not offend you.  You're much better off saying, "hey, could you not talk about that, it hits home and makes me uncomfortable".  If they don't stop... FUCKING WALK AWAY!!!  There is nothing forcing you to be there, listening to them, and smiling as if you are entertained by their story (and then blame them for "harassing" you?!?!).  Bla bla bla.. You go on about males and a paternalistic society and bla bla bla...  If I can listen to such a story as a guy, and not be offended what makes you any different.  You want equality or superiority?  If you were telling that story, would I have a right to say "oh my god!  i'm being sexually harassed!!!"  As a guy, would anybody take me seriously.

Personally, I'm bi, and i really don't give a fuck about gender (what is so important about genetelia... it's what's inside that counts).  People are people and if you want to be seen as an equal, fucking act like one, and stop being so passive.  Don't try to censor others or you should expect a (rightly) hostile response.  If you're offended, say so. If you are really offended, tell they to go fuck themselves... or start telling a story about the details of Lorena Bobbit's escapade (something that would make most uncomfortable)...  Maybe they'll be intimidated.  You sure as hell won't have to worry about any of them wanting to fuck you...

Don't take this the wrong way but:  You need therapy... a lot of therapy...

Why me be so hostile?  Me no like censorship?

[Antigen]

Now, don't bee so harsh on We're Not Free. Unfortunately, what you're describing, WNF, is just exactly the line of bullshit the public schoolpeople tried to teach my daughter. I think we could probably hold a pretty interesting discussion about if and how much anti-sex, anti-male biogtry and propaganda contribute to all these school shooting sprees.

When my oldest started middle school, there was this boy who was just a little too friendly w/ the girls and couldn't take a hint. Probably his upbringing more than sadistic intent, but sometimes he pushed it so far the girl would cry. My kid told me this and wanted to know if she should report him for sexual harassment. I told her no, not just yet. Next time he messes w/ you, tell him to leave you alone and, if he doesn't back off, kick him hard in the balls and tell him again while you've got his undevoted attention. Not only will he leave you alone and all the other girls, nobody else will mess with you either. And that's just how it went down, too! If she had started a sexual harassment investigation the silly bastards who continually solicit complaints from unsuspecting little kids would only have humiliated everyone involved and put the kid, his rents and other affiliated ppl through some silly therapy. At the end of the day, he might have been the next school shooter. Instead, he just got a little more polite right quick and real cheap.

[Antigen]

Three Springs Waygooking posted a story about forcing a boy to push a rock with his face in the dirt and thinking it was funny.

The next day his moderating powers were gone.

Draw your own conclusions.

Uh... that's one way to go about it. Or you could ask the people involved. I done it, ok? I admit it. I not only yanked TSW's moderator status but, some time later, I even deleted every post he had every post he had made under that name. Man, I mean to tell you I was livid! Some of that shit was really, really good. I fucking HATE destroying good prose and thoughtful conversation. But, well, they were his words, he asked me to do it, I didn't have much choice.

I knew TSW was a former staffer just about as soon as he turned up. So is Dysfunction Junction. There have been a good many former staffers and even the occasional current staffer posting anon over the years. All are welcome. Fornits really isn't an exclusive club in any way. It's all about giving everyone enough rope to either hang themselves or haul something. Course, we don't mind them others who want to make rope swings over jello pools with it either.

Anyway, just catching up on this thread.... had to drop that in.

[nimdA]

Now, don't bee so harsh on We're Not Free. Unfortunately, what you're describing, WNF, is just exactly the line of bullshit the public schoolpeople tried to teach my daughter. I think we could probably hold a pretty interesting discussion about if and how much anti-sex, anti-male biogtry and propaganda contribute to all these school shooting sprees.

When my oldest started middle school, there was this boy who was just a little too friendly w/ the girls and couldn't take a hint. Probably his upbringing more than sadistic intent, but sometimes he pushed it so far the girl would cry. My kid told me this and wanted to know if she should report him for sexual harassment. I told her no, not just yet. Next time he messes w/ you, tell him to leave you alone and, if he doesn't back off, kick him hard in the balls and tell him again while you've got his undevoted attention. Not only will he leave you alone and all the other girls, nobody else will mess with you either. And that's just how it went down, too! If she had started a sexual harassment investigation the silly bastards who continually solicit complaints from unsuspecting little kids would only have humiliated everyone involved and put the kid, his rents and other affiliated ppl through some silly therapy. At the end of the day, he might have been the next school shooter. Instead, he just got a little more polite right quick and real cheap.

OH nOES A horny grade schooler?

Thing to remember about We aren't free is the context of the environment. She was in the Village of Evil, aka Pennicilin Villian, where confrontation was breathed, eaten, showered, swam, snorted, farted, burped, and squished into every part of the resident's existance.

Such hyper awareness of boundries is merely another part of the program. Now the difference between We aren't free and others may well be here intentions weren't to use the incidents to shine via confronting the negative behaviors of her fellow peers. Something tells me she might have believed confronting the behavior was just the right thing to do.

It can take some time to unwind the tension that TBS puts on a kid, staffer, or parent. In the kids place it requires them being able to intergrate into the world around them. In my own case I had to back off my absurd level of expectations of the people around me. Not sure what the parents have to do, maybe stop snorting ritalin?

Either way it is important to recognize that we aren't free has made a lot of progress in her "Deprogramization" efforts. Lets not shit on her hard work.

Yo! We aren't free! You are doing good so keep at it.

[Anonymous]

Raps, group, feedback. You leave the program, it doesn't leave you.

[Antigen]

Was just talking with a friend about this thread and some of my horrid memories of coming out of the fog.

There was the time a fellow waitress bent down to straighten my sock for me. I'd started to notice that most of the staff were gay, so this freaked me the fuck out! I didn't know any appropriate way to respond, so I just stiffened up and said "Please don't touch me!" in such a way that it frightened the poor girl. I lost that job soon after.

Then there was the time I got a short pay check. Stormed over to the office and started screaming accusations and threats about ripping me off and... and... then realized I had forgotten to clock in one day. Fired on the spot.

Then there was the time I called the Broward County library looking for a copy of a radical, political self published book and gave that poor sob an earful about censorship and government control.

I basically had two modes; totally passive, submissive, obedient even and pissed the fuck off. No idea at ALL how to gage the veracity of whatever suspicions crossed my mind or how to deal peacefully and respectfully w/ conflict resolution.

God! I got bullied into several bad long term relationships just that way.