The Summer the Sex Offenders Moved in & Forced the Girls to Cover up

How convicted offenders neighbouring a school raised important questions about human rights and the concept of safety.

The year I turned 13, the authorities in my small school town implemented a rather controversial social initiative: grouping convicted sex offenders together and rehousing them in a top-secret location for their own protection.

The intention: To rehabilitate and reintegrate them safely into society.

The location of choice: An apartment complex next to a girls’ school.

When I was younger, I attended an all-girls private school in a nearby town. Like all private schools in the area, it was mandatory for us to wear a school uniform at all times and have a school-branded sports kit.

Aside from the summer and winter versions of each, both uniforms remained the same from ages 11 to 18 — music to the ears of parents with multiple daughters, who could optimise a hand-me-down system to avoid the stratospheric yearly cost of buying new.

So, imagine our collective surprise when, in the summer of 2005, we discovered that there had been a complete overhaul to the designs of both uniforms, and we were required to purchase the new versions immediately.

• Gone was the option of wearing a school skirt without tights underneath — it was either tights (even in summer) or full-length trousers, which were a totally new addition.
• Gone was the lightweight fitted cotton shirt, now replaced by a loose poplin substitute to prevent the visibility of bras underneath. No unbuttoning was permitted whatsoever.
• Gone were the sports briefs (similar to the ones worn by #634 and #910 in the image above) — swiftly replaced by knee-length baggy shorts for summer or ankle-length tracksuit bottoms for winter.

We were notified of the changes via a letterheaded, pre-term “welcome pack” sent by expedited post. A thick, brown envelope containing a newsletter from the headmistress, a detailed list of new standardised uniform items, and a comprehensive explanation of a new rule system that was to be implemented upon our return — everything EXCEPT an explanation for this sudden and surprising upheaval.

It wasn’t just our uniform that came with changes.

We also had to abide by a new set of operational rules:

• We had to sign in and out every time we left the main building.
• We were not allowed to wait outside to be collected.
• We needed written parental permission to leave the premises unchaperoned.
• No walking to the sports field in groups of fewer than 3.

Considering it was one of those traditional schools with a Latin motto and a strict code of conduct, it was a fairly smooth adjustment for the most part. Of course, some students were reprimanded for failure to respect a rule or two, but it soon became our new normal.

And yet, there was an undercurrent of curiosity — a whisper among the gossip between the parents in the car park.

Why did nobody know the reason behind it?

One evening I stayed behind after school to finish up an art project in one of the unoccupied classrooms. As I left in search of some materials from the supply closet, I passed by the assembly hall where I overheard a meeting taking place between a handful of staff members and about 40 or so parents, mine included.

“At what point were we going to be informed that there are convicted paedophiles living next door to our daughters’ school? With the amount of money we pay to send them here!”

“You do realise that these people are perverts and menaces to society. How are we supposed to feel knowing that they’ve been spying on our children during sports lessons?”

“My 11-year-old daughter told me that a man has tried to talk to her on three separate occasions as she’s gone to catch the bus.”

Questions and comments fired like bullets from a gun as the crowd of incensed mums and dads warily eyed the teachers facing them. I could hear our headmistress trying to assuage certain individuals over the loud buzz of chatter filling the room.

“While we understand your concerns, we are powerless to do anything because so far no crimes have been committed against any of the children.”

This particular attempt at consolation enraged some parents to such a degree that they got up and left the meeting right then and there. Soon after, several girls were taken out of the school and sent elsewhere — my best friend included.

My parents forbade me from taking the bus home, instead dropping me off and collecting me each day until I also left the school shortly after.

Word spread like wildfire on social media and any posts put up were taken down, any evidence relating to the matter was scrubbed away as quickly as it emerged.

To this day, I’ve only been able to find one single article referencing this situation.

A few years later, I started reading Plato’s Republic and his ideas about what is considered just and what isn’t. As a philosophical thinker by nature, remembering what my headmistress said raised a lot of questions for me. And still does to this day.

Do we have the right to police people’s thoughts?

If a person has particularly perverted fantasies but doesn’t act upon them, are we justified in vilifying them?

The reason we were required to change our sports attire for something more modest was that, apparently, men had been caught routinely watching us down at the sports field during P.E. lessons. It’s unknown whether these men were the convicted sex offenders in question or not, however, we were all children and these were adults so this renders that detail somewhat moot regardless.

As far as I’m aware, there were no reports of sex offences carried out against any of the students during my time at the school. However, that doesn’t guarantee the absence of sex offences (or attempts at them) by any means.

It also doesn’t absolve anybody of the crimes that got them convicted in the first place.

But given the nature of nuance and its sneaky ability to slither into any and every facet of life, it’s impossible for anyone other than these men to know the true motivations behind such spectatorship, even if it’s easy enough for the rest of us to infer.

So, if one of them had claimed a devout passion for sports as the reason for his vested interest in the physical activities of schoolgirls, is anyone legally or morally justified in condemning that?

If he’s not behaving in an overtly inappropriate manner, do we have the right to be concerned since there’s no measurable threat to safety?

Gabriel S. Mendlow, Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan Law School, argues against the policing of people’s thoughts:

“Punishing a person for her mere thoughts isn’t simply disfavored by the balance of reasons but is morally wrongful in itself, an intrinsic (i.e., consequence-independent) injustice to the person punished… thought’s immunity from punishment relates to a principle of freedom of mind…”

I suppose that reinforces the fact that the human mind is the safest place for a lot of fantasies to inhabit. That, if not acted upon, it’s almost as if the fantasy doesn’t exist.

It’s acting upon something that gives it legitimacy. And there can be no harm without action. That is the boundary that needs to be crossed in order for consequences to be justifiable.

That’s not to say that mental perversion isn’t a cause for concern, and I’m in no way downplaying the severity of having prolonged or consistent unhealthy thoughts.

We would drive ourselves insane attempting to make total sense of what is “right” and “wrong”, but I think we can collectively agree that any alternative to exacting harm on an innocent being is always going to be the preferable option in any given situation.

Lastly, I also know that when it comes to parenting, the notion of moral justness pales into insignificance when the safety and integrity of one’s child are potentially in jeopardy. While policing the thoughts of others is not legally or morally permissible, the parental outrage, I feel, was wholeheartedly understandable.

When it comes to situations like these, I’d argue that each person is wholly entitled to define their own boundaries and act or react accordingly.

And that’s what makes these things both easy and totally impossible to understand.

What are your thoughts on this situation? I’d love to know.

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