The experiences of the wives of child abusers are rarely focused on, but the headline-driving allegations against former college coaches Jerry Sandusky and Bernie Fine are changing that. A recently released tape recording of a conversation between one of Fine's alleged victims and the coach's wife, Laurie Davis, appears to reveal that she knew about her husband's inappropriate sexual behavior. (CNN reported that Davis will claim that the recording was doctored.) Plenty have questioned whether Sandusky's wife, Dorothy, could have been entirely unaware of her husband's alleged abuse of boys over a 15-year period. The truth is that, should their husbands be found guilty, these women, along with Jasmine, are members of a unique and pained group; after all, the typical sexual abuser is a married man. How wives respond to the revelation of abuse varies greatly -- from reporting it immediately to convincing themselves, time after time, that it won't happen again. In plenty of cases, they aren't even aware that their husband was attracted to children in the first place, let alone that he would ever abuse a pre-pubescent child.

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Dershowitz's Harvard Legal Ethics class had a little debate about the Penn State situation. They all agree that Paterno had no legal obligation to do anything after assistant coach Mike McQueary told Paterno that he saw defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky raping children in the locker room shower. But what about his moral obligations?

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Just last week, the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abuse conference in Canada surveyed the latest research in the field. The narrative that emerged from the meeting is that we should place a stronger emphasis on something proved to actually reduce the recidivism rate: treatment. The potential for bias here is apparent -- it's like incarceration experts highlighting the importance of incarceration -- but studies show that treatment, particularly group approaches, can be highly effective. (Although, as a 2009 report put it, "Despite these advances we, as a field, continue to fall well short of the community's expectation of 'no more victims.'")

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As a 28-year-old grad student, assistant coach Mike McQueary, now on administrative leave, claims he witnessed Jerry Sandusky raping a 10-year-old boy in the locker room showers. McQueary immediately called his own father to tell him what he'd seen, according to the grand jury report, but waited until the next morning to notify coach Joe Paterno. Even given the powerful institutional hierarchy within the school's football program, which some have gone so far as to compare to the Catholic Church, most find it difficult to imagine standing by as a pre-pubescent boy is allegedly sodomized by a middle-aged man -- no matter who that man is.

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Turns out I'm far from alone in experiencing such early unwanted advances. On Monday, a study finding that sexual harassment between peers is widespread in grade school started making the rounds, and the New York Times' coverage swiftly climbed the most-emailed list. The survey, conducted by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), found that almost half of seventh to 12th graders had been sexually harassed during the last school year. Girls were the most frequent target of "unwelcome sexual behavior," but 40 percent of boys had experienced such an incident in the last year. The news has predictably stirred up significant media attention – the topic of kids and sex always does – but the phenomenon itself is hardly new. For decades now, countless studies have shown this to be a problem, and yet the message doesn't seem to stick.

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The narrative proceeded in a familiar fashion: There were villains, even some with military ties; then there is a rescue. Kristof tweeted, "Girls are rescued, but still very scared Youngest looks about 13, trafficked from Vietnam." And then, "Social workers comforting the girls, telling them they are free, won't be punished, rapes are over." He was accompanied by Cambodian anti-trafficking activist and forced-prostitution survivor Somaly Mam. Post-presidential niece Lauren Bush chimed in perkily, "Awesome reporting by @NickKristof as the (sic) raided a brothel in Cambodia with @SomalyMam this morning!"

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Year after year, new measures are introduced to keep registered sex offenders of all stripes from coming into contact with trick-or-treaters -- and yet there is zero evidence to support the legislative trend. In fact, the available data suggest it's a useless diversion of resources that creates a false sense of security. Just take a look at this absurdly misleading headline from a Fox News affiliate: "Police Work to Keep Halloween Free From Sexual Predators." (Because all sex offenders faithfully register and offenses are only committed by those with previous records?) Meanwhile, other outlets are playing up the danger: Albuquerque's KRQE advises readers to "beware of real monsters on Halloween," and talks to a 12-year-old girl who is "excited to go Trick-or-Treating" -- but only because her family has no idea that they live "in a neighborhood full of secrets." Dun-dun-dun.

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Tonya Cooley is a former "Real World Chicago" and "Real World/Road Rules Challenge" cast member. She's been a Playboy "Cybergirl of the Week," has worked with the Girls Gone Wild team, and done a little Cinemax softcore. And absolutely none of that means that she wasn't raped.

Two years after filming her "Real World/Road Rules" season, Cooley has filed suit against MTV, Bunim/Murray Productions, and her former castmates Kenneth Santucci and Evan Starkman, claming that Santucci and Starkman sexually abused her while the show's producers did nothing to intervene. Instead, she alleges, they just kept the cameras rolling. She says her castmates "took another male participant's toothbrush and rubbed the toothbrush around plaintiff's genitals, including rubbing her labia and inserting the toothbrush into plaintiff's vagina." She further alleges that male cast members were goaded to "inappropriately touch female cast members' bodies, including in intimate areas." MTV and "The Real World" and the "Challenge" producers Bunim/Murray have so far not commented on the case.

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This month, the agency made a major step forward to doing just that.

At a meeting in Washington last Friday, members of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), including representatives from police agencies in Chicago, Baltimore and Philadelphia, came together with FBI officials and victims' advocates to discuss the importance of broadening the definition of a crime that most experts believe is significantly underestimated by the FBI's Uniform Crime Report (UCR).

Currently, the only sexual assault the UCR collects data on is "forcible rape," which it defines as "the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will."  Because "carnal knowledge" is defined as penetration of the penis into the vagina, the definition excludes oral and anal rape, as well as assaults with foreign objects. It also excludes male rape.

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The sponsor of the event, B4U-ACT, a support group aimed at preventing pedophiles from acting on their attraction to children, hopes to influence the relevant entry in the upcoming revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Understandably, the idea of pedophiles helping to define their own mental illness has some unnerved. Earlier this week, the Daily Caller wrote about the event in a piece headlined, "Conference aims to normalize pedophilia." It's true that many in the community believe that attraction to pubescent or pre-pubescent children isn't a mental illness at all, but the symposium itself has the stated aim of raising awareness about fundamental problems with the proposed revision to the DSM's entry on pedophilia.

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At the time, Kris Bucher was only 17 and his girlfriend, Jessica Fuller, was 18 -- but he isn't claiming sexual assault on statutory grounds. Bucher says Fuller climbed on top of him in the back seat of a car, held him down as he repeatedly said "no" and raped him. According to the St. Petersburg Times, "He said he tried to push Jessica off [but she was heavier than him]. He said he tried to pull the door handle to open the car door. He said she slammed her hand over the lock. He said it was over pretty fast."

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Democratic leaders had called for a House Ethics investigation after the initial reports of the allegation. Wu had said that whatever occurred was consensual.

Wu said Tuesday the well-being of his children should come first, so he will resign after Congress resolves the debate over the debt ceiling.

Wu, 56, has won seven terms. In 2004, he won despite acknowledging a decades-old college incident in which he tried to force a former girlfriend to have sex. Voters said they disliked an opponent's attempt to use that against Wu as part of a political campaign.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Rep. David Wu of Oregon was being pressured to leave Congress sooner rather than later after the House Democratic leader sought an investigation into a young woman's allegation that she had an unwanted sexual encounter with him.

Wu, 56, a seven-term Democrat from Portland whose unusual behavior had been the subject of news stories earlier in the year, has said the encounter was consensual. Still, his office announced Monday that he would not seek re-election in 2012.

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Now, however, his political career has taken an all-too-predictable path: Top House Democrats are calling for the Ethics Committee to investigate him on allegations of sexual misconduct. And, like Rep. Anthony Weiner did just weeks before him, Wu is refusing to step down, despite calls for his resignation.

The seven-term congressman has been accused of engaging in an "aggressive and unwanted sexual encounter" last Thanksgiving with the teenage daughter of a longtime friend and campaign donor. Although refusing to resign, Wu's adviser has said the congressman will not run for reelection in 2012. Wu gave a brief comment on the accusations:

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Guinean-born Diallo, who goes by "Nafi," spoke out about her sexual assault charges against the former IMF chief, first in a lengthy Newsweek interview and then in an interview with ABC's Robin Roberts, which aired Monday on "Good Morning America."

"I want him to go to jail. I want him to know there are some places you cannot use your power, you cannot use your money," Diallo told Newsweek. She repeated a similar sentiment to Roberts.

ABC's Roberts called Diallo's media blitz "an unusual and risky move." But Diallo and her team are trying to regain control over the narrative after several weeks of stories in which her background and credibility have been questioned. "Because of him they call me a prostitute," Diallo told ABC.

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The French weekly L'Express reports that Anne Mansouret -- the mother of Tristane Banon, the journalist accusing the former IMF chief of attempted rape -- told Parisian investigators that she had sex with DSK three years before the alleged incident with her daughter. (Cue classy quips about how IMF really "stands for International Mother F---er.")

Mansouret, according to the newspaper, described to officials sex that was "consensual but clearly brutal." L'Express reported that she told authorities Strauss-Kahn behaved like an "obscene" (or "lewd," depending on your translation) soldier. The newspaper also claims that she "describes DSK as a predator who isn't looking to please but to take, and behaves like an obscene boor. Sexual lust makes him want to dominate."

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It all started with a video blog from Rebecca Watson, founder of Skepchick, about her experience at an atheist conference last month in Dublin. She participated in a panel in which she talked about the problem of sexism among atheists, and the rape threats she had received from men in the community who don't agree with her. Importantly, Dawkins was on the panel and the guy who went on to hit on her was in the audience. Afterward, she went to the hotel bar with conference-goers until 4 a.m., when she told everyone that she was tired and wanted to go to bed. A male attendee followed her out of the bar and into the elevator, where he said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but I find you very interesting and I would like to talk more. Would you like to come to my hotel room for coffee?" This is what she had to say about the encounter:

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However, a leading sleep forensics expert tells Salon that he is highly dubious of the defense in this particular instance, and worries that the case misrepresents a serious condition.

With the caveat that he doesn't know all of the particulars in this case, Michel Cramer Bornemann, co-director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center and lead investigator at Sleep Forensics Associates, says that the broad strokes do not "pass the smell test" for sexsomnia. It was alleged in court that a teenage girl who was staying at Stephen Davies' house became ill and decided to sleep in the 43-year-old's bed since his room was cooler. The accuser claimed that she woke up to find Davies touching her and, as she cried out of terror, he turned her on her side and had sex with her. Afterward, she said he went downstairs to put a kettle on the stove and then returned to the bedroom to sexually assault her again. The next day, Davies texted the girl to ask if anything had happened, and he told police he couldn't remember having sex with her. During the trial, Davies' ex-wife and another former sex partner testified that they had experienced his sexual overtures during sleep.

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Shortly after the yearbook (a charming relic from the pre-Facebook age) was handed out at the end of the school year, a seemingly innocuous photograph taken at a Big Bear High School dance drew people's attention. Upon closer inspection, a sex act was discovered in the background between a 17-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl; he reportedly had his hand up her knee-length skirt and there was some sort of alleged penetration. I would be more descriptive but the image is legally forbidden; police called on all students to return their yearbooks or face being locked up for possession of child pornography.

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