美国国家公共电台 NPR--The buzzword grooming is an age-old trope that feeds off fear

The buzzword grooming¹ is an age-old trope that feeds off fear

Transcript²

Old accusations⁴ of LGBTQ people "grooming" and "recruiting" children have gained new traction⁵. When have we heard this before? What's the most persuasive⁶ counter-narrative to win over public opinion?

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

One word features in a lot of recent right-wing rhetoric⁷, and that word is grooming.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT")

TUCKER CARLSON: They're grooming 7-year-olds and talking to 7-year-olds about their sex lives.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE INGRAHAM ANGLE")

LAURA INGRAHAM: This isn't programming. This is propaganda for grooming.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

J D VANCE: If you don't want to be called a groomer, don't try to sexualize 6- and 7-year-old children.

INSKEEP: OK. That was Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham of Fox News, along with Ohio U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance, just a few of those who've been pushing a baseless accusation³. NPR's Melissa Block reports it is a smear⁸ with a history.

MELISSA BLOCK, BYLINE⁹: Mallory McMorrow was stunned¹⁰ when she saw it. She's a Michigan state senator and a Democrat¹¹. What she saw was a fundraising email sent by a fellow senator, Republican Lana Theis. In that email, Theis wrote that children are, quote, "under assault in our schools" by what she called progressive mobs trying to steal our children's innocence¹². And then, McMorrow says, it got personal.

MALLORY MCMORROW: She accused me by name of grooming and wanting to sexualize kindergartners. I mean, my heart absolutely sank.

BLOCK: McMorrow says she kept thinking about her 1-year-old daughter.

MCMORROW: You know, grooming is the act of befriending a child for the purpose of molesting¹³ them - just the most horrific, disgusting, vile¹⁴ accusation that can be thrown at you.

BLOCK: So the next day, McMorrow stood on the Michigan Senate floor and fired back.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MCMORROW: I am the biggest threat to your hollow, hateful scheme because you can't claim that you are targeting marginalized kids in the name of, quote, "parental¹⁵ rights" if another parent is standing¹⁶ up to say no.

BLOCK: McMorrow made a point of saying, twice, I am a straight, white Christian¹⁷, married suburban¹⁸ mom.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MCMORROW: And I know that hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen.

BLOCK: That speech went viral. It's been seen millions of times. McMorrow hopes her words will counterbalance some of the hurtful rhetoric LGBTQ people are bombarded with.

MCMORROW: I talked to kids in my district in a high school last Monday, and the first question was from a girl, probably 15 or 16, who said, you know, I identify as queer. I'm LGBTQ. Why do they hate us? And it's just heartbreaking.

BLOCK: The grooming accusation hurled²⁰ at McMorrow, among many others, has a long history.

EVAN WOLFSON: Well, it's a despicable attack, but it's not a new tactic²¹.

BLOCK: LGBTQ rights activist²² Evan Wolfson calls it a classic trope of dehumanization.

WOLFSON: Think about the calumny²³ against gay people throughout most of our lifetimes, that gay people somehow are molesting kids or after kids or predatory.

BLOCK: That idea propelled anti-gay activist Anita Bryant's Save Our Children campaign in the '70s. And it led to a 1978 California ballot²⁴ measure to ban gays and lesbians from working in public schools, an initiative spearheaded by State Senator John Briggs.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHN BRIGGS: We are going to restore morality to the classroom and remove openly and blatant²⁵ homosexuals from influencing and teaching our young.

BLOCK: The ballot measure failed. But the homophobic attacks continued, fueling a moral panic. Evan Wolfson heard those attacks all through the fight he led to legalize same-sex marriage. Now, he says, there's an added layer of transphobia.

WOLFSON: The trans conversation is relatively²⁶ newer and therefore more susceptible²⁷ to confusion, to distraction²⁸ and to primal²⁹ fear, which is what pushing the button about kids is intended to do.

BLOCK: From charges of grooming, it's just a quick hop¹⁹ to accusations of pedophilia and sex trafficking, conspiracy³⁰ theories spawned³¹ by far-right extremist groups such as QAnon and propagated widely through social media and right-wing channels. It's appalling³², says Utah State Senator Daniel Thatcher³³.

DANIEL THATCHER: This idea of grooming, I'll tell you, to me as a survivor³⁴ of childhood sexual assault, I'll just tell you, I find it personally, deeply offensive. So why do they do it? Well, they do it because it resonates so deeply.

BLOCK: Thatcher is a Republican. Earlier this year, he broke with his party, speaking out against a bill that would ban transgender girls from competing in girls' sports. His positions in support of LGBTQ rights earned him an attack by a right-wing activist group that accused him of supporting the, quote, "grooming of children for gender³⁵ nonconformity in our public schools." Thatcher calls the explicit³⁶ email the nastiest thing I've ever seen.

THATCHER: Grooming is an act that happens as you break down barriers of someone. And so the argument that telling a child that you will support them regardless of who and how they love is somehow equivalent to teaching a child that they're not allowed to say no or set boundaries, like, to me, that is just reprehensible³⁷ to conflate the two.

SARAH KATE ELLIS: This does lead to real-world harm.

BLOCK: That Sarah Kate Ellis, head of the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD.

ELLIS: We're already seeing an uptick in violence against the community.

BLOCK: In response to the wave of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation, GLAAD has launched a media campaign with this public service announcement airing nationwide.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

AMBER³⁸ BRIGGLE: Do you want to meet to a family with a transgender kid? Here we are.

BLOCK: The PSA introduces the Briggle family of Texas and their transgender teenaged son. We see him doing backflips and playing his ukulele.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BRIGGLE: My family's just like yours. We love our kids unconditionally³⁹, and we will never stop fighting for them. Stand with us. Protect our families.

BLOCK: Individual stories like this one are crucial, says Evan Wolfson, who crafted messages in the Freedom to Marry campaign that were designed to personalize and humanize.

WOLFSON: When we showed gay people, when we elevated the voices of gay people as part of the conversation - and I say this as someone who is gay - we wanted to show the gay people as part of a family, the gay people as part of a workplace, the gay people in this case as part of a classroom. And I think the same lesson applies here, too.

BLOCK: The slogan love is love was the lesson learned in the Freedom to Marry campaign. Now, Wolfson suggests, how about protect all kids? Or, from Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow, this idea - hate won't win.

Melissa Block, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 grooming   

n. 修饰, 美容，（动物）梳理毛发

参考例句：

• You should always pay attention to personal grooming. 你应随时注意个人仪容。
• We watched two apes grooming each other. 我们看两只猩猩在互相理毛。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 accusation   

n.控告，指责，谴责

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。

4 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

5 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。

6 persuasive   

adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的

参考例句：

• His arguments in favour of a new school are very persuasive.他赞成办一座新学校的理由很有说服力。
• The evidence was not really persuasive enough.证据并不是太有说服力。

7 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

8 smear   

v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• He has been spreading false stories in an attempt to smear us.他一直在散布谎言企图诽谤我们。
• There's a smear on your shirt.你衬衫上有个污点。

9 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

10 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

11 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

12 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

13 molesting   

v.骚扰( molest的现在分词 )；干扰；调戏；猥亵

参考例句：

• He was accused of sexually molesting a female colleague. 他被指控对一位女同事进行性骚扰。 来自辞典例句
• He was charged with molesting a woman. 他被指控调戏妇女。 来自辞典例句

14 vile   

adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的

参考例句：

• Who could have carried out such a vile attack?会是谁发起这么卑鄙的攻击呢？
• Her talk was full of vile curses.她的话里充满着恶毒的咒骂。

15 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

16 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

17 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

18 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

19 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

20 hurled   

v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• He hurled a brick through the window. 他往窗户里扔了块砖。
• The strong wind hurled down bits of the roof. 大风把屋顶的瓦片刮了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

22 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

23 calumny   

n.诽谤，污蔑，中伤

参考例句：

• Calumny is answered best with silence.沉默可以止谤。
• Calumny require no proof.诽谤无需证据。

24 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

25 blatant   

adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的

参考例句：

• I cannot believe that so blatant a comedy can hoodwink anybody.我无法相信这么显眼的一出喜剧能够欺骗谁。
• His treatment of his secretary was a blatant example of managerial arrogance.他管理的傲慢作风在他对待秘书的态度上表露无遗。

26 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

27 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

28 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

29 primal   

adj.原始的；最重要的

参考例句：

• Jealousy is a primal emotion.嫉妒是最原始的情感。
• Money was a primal necessity to them.对于他们，钱是主要的需要。

30 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

31 spawned   

（鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产

参考例句：

• The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
• The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展，许多新公司纷纷成立。

32 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

33 thatcher   

n.茅屋匠

参考例句：

• Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher. 汤姆 - 索亚和撒切尔法官同乘一条小艇。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also. 撒切尔夫人几乎神经失常，还有波莉姨妈也是。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

34 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

35 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

36 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

37 reprehensible   

adj.该受责备的

参考例句：

• Lying is not seen as being morally reprehensible in any strong way.人们并不把撒谎当作一件应该大加谴责的事儿。
• It was reprehensible of him to be so disloyal.他如此不忠，应受谴责。

38 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

39 unconditionally   

adv.无条件地

参考例句：

• All foreign troops must be withdrawn immediately and unconditionally. 所有外国军队必须立即无条件地撤出。
• It makes things very awkward to have your girls going back unconditionally just now! 你们现在是无条件上工，真糟糕！ 来自子夜部分