Paternity fraud and violent behaviour – Is there a correlation?
Published:Thursday | July 7, 2022 | 12:06 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
It’s nearly a year since Heroy Clarke, MP for Central St James, made his intention known to bring a motion to Parliament that would see DNA testing done shortly after birth. As is well known, the proposal was never even brought to the House, courtesy of the strident opposition from women’s rights groups and individual women. Their most potent, and many times only, weapon was to label the MP and the men who supported the proposal as misogynists.
The manner in which women reacted to the proposal left no doubt that they were prepared to fight to the bitter end for it not to see the light of day.
This degree of resistance to the proposed DNA testing provides sufficient evidence that women are hell-bent on reinforcing the stereotype that it is the man who is prone to being unfaithful in the relationship. Therefore, accusing men who supported the proposal of being misogynists was nothing more than a strategic manoeuvre to keep the dust under the carpet. Worse, is the refusal of women to even entertain the idea of having a conversation about the issue.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE
It is regrettable that the narrative about mandatory DNA has been centred on the mother and the tricked father. No one seems to realise the enormous psychological damage done to a child who is the subject of paternity fraud. To be foisted on a family via that deceptive act makes the presence of that child in the family a lie. It also means that that child may never know who his true siblings are. As a result, he/she could end up in a romantic relationship with brothers and sisters.
And for those who may think the ill effects of paternity fraud are being overstated, what about the probability of a correlation between paternity fraud and the fact that too many of our citizens have a propensity to violent behaviour. This hypothesis is strongly supported by the finding of one testing facility, that 70 per cent of its testing results proved that the fathers’ names on the children’s birth certificates were not the biological fathers.
The seven years that have elapsed since those findings does not seem sufficient time to cause our collective conscience to be so nauseated that we put our hands on our heads and bawl.
When this shocking level of paternity fraud is juxtaposed with a 50 per 100,000 homicide rate, who can be so audacious to say they are unrelated?
For the immeasurable grief, pain, heartache and darkness caused by violence in this country, even an admission that a correlation between paternity fraud and the high level of violence is a possibility, should cause a radical change in our behaviour.
CASHLEY BROWN