When Girls Just Wanna Have Danger

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Rape suspect enters not guilty plea

Central Islip, N.Y. -- A man who prosecutors say lured underage girls he met on a vampire-related Internet site to cemeteries for sex pleaded not guilty to rape and sodomy charges.

Eric Fischer, 23, was ordered held on $350,000 bail after entering the plea Thursday on a 25-count indictment .... Prosecutors said he contacted his victims using a Gothic culture Web site and arranged to meet them in cemeteries on Long Island....

If the indictment is true -- and likely it is, because Internet-based crimes are usually easy to document, and 25 counts implies lots of victim statements -- this guy is deeply dangerous and needs long-term confinement. Hopefully with a rape-minded male population. (Think of Mark Steyn's great line from this weekend's column: "There haven't been any Zionists anywhere near Damascus in 60 years, and Syria is, in effect, Iran's first Sunni Arab prison bitch.")

But what are these girls thinking? Cemeteries at night are not exactly thronging with people to protect you. Guys who want to meet you there aren't exactly the kind you'd take home to mama. Their behavior doesn't mitigate his crime, but it certainly makes them guilty of gross stupidity.

What are the cultural dynamics behind girls like this? What kind of role model have their moms provided them? What have their dads told them about boys and safety? Are they swept up in a dangerous lifestyle with absolutely no safety net of reason or morality laid beneath them?

Youthful rebellion is a fact of life, as is the dangerous mix of kids not seeing themselves vulnerable, while at the same time not being able to imagine life after 30. But most rebellious kids have some little voice of caution that leads them away from the most dangerous situations. For these girls, the voice was too dim, too distant, to be of any help.

Related Tags: Goth, Culture, Crime