S C Johnson and the new social revolution

It does seem that women, even young teenage girls, are not going to take it anymore.

S C Johnson's family brings us Pledge, Johnson’s Wax, Off, Raid, Ziplock, Windex, baby oil, and dozens of other household products.  The namesake is accused of sexually abusing his step-daughter these past three years.

The irony, of course, is that the company brands itself a family company.

At 15 the young teen victim tells NBC that her step-father sexually abused her.  She’s speaking out now to protect her younger sister. The maximum penalty for Mr. Johnson is 40 years in prison.

His brother, protecting the company, tells us that every family has its own crises, and that S C does not represent the company. Yet we see him on video on the morning news, proudly pointing to his products in the grocery store aisles.

We wonder  if corporate might beef up the sexual harassment component of S C Johnson wellness workshops, invite the upper echelons.

How prevalent is incest? All we really can measure are reported crimes, and 49% of all sexual crimes in the under 5-year old age group are family related. The numbers go down to 24%, nearly one in four, as children get older, move into adolescence, the 12-17 year-old range.  But acquaintance rapes, sexual assaults by friends, mentors, neighbors, etc.,  rises proportionally to 66%.

The good news is that with treatment, recidivism is low for incest. Only 6-13% of incest perpetrators who are caught and go through treatment become repeat offenders, as opposed to extrafamilial offenders of boys— 23-35% are repeaters. 

Mr. Johnson’s step-daughter's action signifies empowerment, what we hope will be the new wave for children who suffer sexual abuse.  Opening up, speaking out, especially against a powerful perpetrator is embarrassing, difficult.  The crime of sex against teenagers is normalized in our society, unfortunately, the sexualization of children, no longer something news-worthy, it seems.  We see it every day on television.

Mr. Johnson is being accused of having a sex addiction.  In my neck of the woods we call it ephebophilia, having a sexual obsession with adolescents. 

A sex addiction is a nice way to say that S C can't stop his behavior.  He might buy time with that.  We don't know, really, if he is guilty, or if he has a sex addiction, or ephebophilia.  This is America, and we are all innocent until proven otherwise.

The hope here is that if it is true, that S C Johnson owns his behavior, doesn't lie about it, uses his money to make amends, to help other children who are losing their childhood to sexual assault.  He’ll have the best of legal defenders, but it is likely that no one will feel sorry for him unless he does this.  That would be newsworthy. 

Kudos to children with the energy, the self-esteem, and surely the resources and support to strike back.

Now.  If she could only get back her innocence.

Linda Freedman, PhD, LCSW, LMFT