The story of the Jaycee Dugard who spent 18 years in her kidnaper's backyard and having borne two kids fathered by her kidnaper is one that sets aside all those tenets of Eurocentric psychological that usually predicts vague premonitions of disaster based on trauma,social isolations,cognitive impairment and the usual garbage(no pun intended) of developmental theories. All indications are that Jaycee shows no signs of being traumatized and have achieved appropriate cognitive functioning and well adjusted. The Stockholm syndrome idea gives the impression that captives bond with their captors unwillingly and goes through a sublimated process to justify their coping process in the situation. But in Jaycee's case she had many instances to escape but might have thought that she could make some positive outcomes to her situation.This ability to seek some positive outcomes to her situation and to be a good mom and minimized the impact of her captivity I refer to as "strategic acculturation"( More on this later). I do not condone pedophilia,but Ashley Montagu have noted that there is The Natural Superiority of Women to cope with extraordinary circumstances.Jaycee and her kids can read and write well and no shows no impairment in cognitive,social,and emotional development. How could this be? It goes against the "nurturists" freaks on Tips. I suspect that psychologists will have to rethink the idea of what is an environment.It could be that her access to computers provided most of the necessary tools. There might also be a need to re-assess the positive aspects of silence,solitude,and minimal social isolation. As the cross-cultural dude on Tips,I often wonder if Americans have a condescending and overprotectivenss attitude towards women. If an American woman gets kidnapped by the enemy we often perceive the worse possible outcome for her such as rape and so on.Americans do not seem to like seeing their women in dangerous type of situations. On the other hand Scandinavian women have been flying jets for years but they do not worry about the outcomes. Both Israeli and Palestinian women have been in battle lines. But Americans seem to envision worse possible outcomes for their women. Of course men do get sexually assaulted and raped which could be just as traumatic. Jaycee! You go girl! See if you can send me something.
Michael Sylvester,PhD Daytona Beach,Florida --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
