It's a lie!!!!

I agree with Oliver for the most part. Steven even said that he was used to it and was fine with Parnell. But when he came home he realized what he had been through and was angry at him. Yes, he was brainwashed, but I don't agree that he was jealous of Timmy White. If you look at pictures of him, he's got the biggest smile(unlike Nemec in the film) and he seems genuinely happy with the attention. He doesn't seem like he's hiding anything.

Sympathy can raise your tolerancy level to astronomical heights. He said he "felt sorry" for Parnell, that's all I needed to hear.

he was brainwashed. do you understand that term, genius?

Yes! he was a victim,I agree but I think that at age fourteen it seemed that they were other things going on in his head.
Come on he was fourteen,he was not stupid he knew what Parnel was doing to him was wrong so How comme he didnt try to leave as soon as he was old enough?

He was abducted at the age of 7. By the time he was 14, he wouldn't have thought of it as 'wrong' anymore, it was just his life. Human beings can get used to anything, the worst type of abuses, and one of the first thing to go is any hope that there can be anything better for yourself. So no, if something has happened to you for half of your life, you aren't going to know that it's 'wrong.' How could you, what do you have to compare it too? Fuzzy memories of a family that supposedly didn't want you? Even if he did know it was wrong, it was what he felt he had to put up with in order to be loved and taken care of.

Grown adults get used to being abused in less time, particularly when they are dependent on there abusers, and often times even when they are not. Children want to be loved, and will take 'love' in any form they can get it. Isolating a child and being his soul provider of love, he or she will do anything for you and anything to recieve your love an approval.

Aditionally, our bodies are designed to enjoy sexual stimulation, so it's quite possible that he felt some pleasure during the abuse. This is what adds to the guilt, and the difuculy in dealing with the situation. Now you are 'bad' becuase you enjoyed something that you know is wrong. This pushes you into identifying with your abuser, you feel like you are in it together. Also, it's a lot easier on your self image to convince yourself that you are in love with someone than that they abused you. Our minds lie to ourselves in order to protect us. That happens all the time, and we often don't know our own motivations for our actions. (let alone someone elses)


___________
Amyanda2000
~You okay honey?

[deleted]

Their are many differences between the movie and the book:

Movie-Steven dropped out of HS after his sophmore year.
Book-He dropped out in the middle of his senior year.

Movie-Steven met Jody in HS and married her when he was 17.
Book-He met her when he was 19 and married her when he was 20.

Movie-Parnell allowed Steven to smoke when he was 8.
Book-Parnell didn't let Steven smoke until he was 11.

Movie-Parnell first molested Steven at his Cathys Valley cabin.
Book-He first molested Steven in an empty parking lot.

And the movie didn't cover Steven and Parnells life with Barbara and her family. And they barely covered the court case.

Thats why I wish they would make a theatrical version of this story, that way they could cover the 'whole' story.

This is to the person who first posted and cannot seem to get passed the fact that Steven did not try to escape before.

My view is Steven was an innocent 7 year old when abducted and sexual abused by Parnell. H e was too young to do anything about it and Parnell fed him lie after lie about why he was there so in the end Steven felt that he had no choice and thought he had to stay there. Then as Steven grew older he had been so brain washed by parnell that although he knew what was happening was wrong he felt powerless to stop it.

Parnell had total control over Steven and it wasn't until parnell abducted the other little boy that Steven finally found the courage to run away from him because he didn't want the little boy going through what he went through.

The fact that Steven saved the other boy from a life like he had shows how Steven felt.

I really dont think you should read too much between the lines in cases like these the facts speak for themselves. Steven was 7 years old when parnell took him away from everything he has ever known and a teenager although more phycially able to stand up for himself is still not mature enough to deal with alot of issues that steven was going through.

The bottom line is Steven was scared of parnell but showed how decent,brave and couragous he was by saving the other little boy.

Also in reply to the topic of his brother theres no evidence to suggest that their was anything wrong with their parents but look at the facts again His young brother was abducted and sexually abused all them years how would your parents react? Then he shows up completely different to how you remember him and is also suddenly famous so your whole family is in the spot light then the same brother dies tragically.How would you feel?

I am not condoning the murders and he deserves his prison sententance but dont you think the family should have been given more help and support. Parnell ruined so many lives by his sick actions and these are the far reaching effects of abuse.

This was the major problem. There were many circumsstances that led to Stevens torture. The same time he was kidnapped, he had a discussion with his father about respect for grown ups and that he has to obey. Today we know that this could led to the thing that a boy could be so weak that he has no chance to see what is really going on.

And I dont think that Steven was stimulated by the things Parnell does. Parnell only sodomized him (after that he bleeded!!!) and forced him to s... his d... till he ejaculated in the little boys mouth. You never can find a boy that likes these acts. The kid tried to talk to the school psychlogist, but the woman has not really heared the fear when Steven talked about his new dad. She was convinced, that she should helb him accepting his new dad instead of asking why the boy was so scared.

Its a very tragic story because it happened so many times. Thats the reason why this evil thing got just normal. Steven said, that he got used to it.

And its just naturally, that the book has some differences to the movie. If a movie contains all these details, no one could show it. I say the movie and after a while a read the book. There are differences, but it is the same kid, the same story, only some parts had to be hidden due to the fact, that somebody should be able to see the movie.

In fact, I read something that this case was the third worst case of a child torture ever happened in the USA. After I read the book I can really not imagine what happened in the first two cases...

This is not directed at anyone, but I had to get something off my chest. I'm sick and tired of people second-guessing and blaming victims of abuse and rape. Unless you have been in such a situation yourself, you really shouldn't pass judgement. And Steven lived in what was thought to be a relatively safe neighborhood, in a small community - so his parents must have felt secure - after all, they had four other children who had never been exposed to anything violent or dangerous. Steven was a child, vulnerable and naive, and snatched cruelly from his family and fed horrendous lies and subjected to even more horrendous abuse. After a while, Parnell was the only parental figure he had and they moved quite frequently. I agree with the Stockholm Syndrome assessment that could very well be relevant in this case. And the police could have expanded their efforts rather than giving up Steven for dead.

The abuser has all the power, while the child is helpless in a relentless cycle. This was also a different time when the affects of abuse, the danger of abduction and molestation was not discussed and awareness had not been heightened the way it is now. I lived in an abusive home for years and never reported what was going on, out of fear, loyalty and the fact that I blamed myself. It's not as clear cut as just getting out and calling the police. It's much more complex to a child - the abuse becomes so much a part of your existence that it doesn't occur to you to live any other way. It wasn't until Parnell brought Timmy White into the picture that Steven realized that he had to take action - he couldn't allow this to happen again. He was selfless in that he risked both of their lives to escape Parnell and sent Timmy into the police station alone - it was only because Timmy got scared and ran to Steven that it was even discovered that he had been missing for seven years. His main concern was getting Timmy away from Parnell, not for himself.

The Stayner family is definately dysfunctional, and Steven's abduction obviously did not help matters. But keep in mind that Cary Stayner has admitted that he had fantasies about killing women long before Steven's disappearance. Perhaps if it had been caught earlier, but would they have known what to look for? Cary was extremely quiet (a word used to describe him by so many people), and uncommunicative, how could his parents have known what was going on inside his head? With so many other things going on, would you have been able to ascertain that there was a future serial killer in your family? Would you know what to do after your child had been abducted? There is no definate, clear answer. I just wish that stiffer penalties were doled out to abusers, rapists, kidnappers and stalkers. And that there was no more of the cycle of shame and sweeping things under the rug. None of the Stayners (including Steven) received counselling, perhaps because of the thought of sharing their ordeal with strangers, which is unfortunate because they clearly all needed help in dealing with the aftermath of Steven's captivity.

Sorry for rambling on - I just had to speak out!

http://vintagestars.proboards67.com

If Steven hadn't suffered for their incredibly horrific parenting, I would say it served them right to lose him like that.
But I eon't since the child did suffer. -.-

There doesn't seem to be evidence that their parenting was horrific. If their child turned out to be a serial killer, that does not mean they turned him that way. If that were true, wouldn't all of the children be deviants? And following that logic, everyone in prison must have had terrible, terrible parenting. That is a blanket judgement I am not willing to make. If you read any books on serial killers, there are a lot of things that contribute to starting that cycle. Sometimes parenting might make up a part of that. But sometimes it doesn't. And sometimes a child might have problems, and though the parents do everything in their power to help him he just turns out a certain way. I do not believe we can lay the blame at the door of parents for everything that happens to people. Sometimes there is just something wrong with someone.

This was 1972. Back then I'm sure many kids walked home from school alone. Although there were many child predators out there, I don't think parents worried as much back then. Alot of parents probably thought it could never happen to their child. I was in elementary school in the early 80's, and I always walked to the bus stop by myself

I also walked to school myself from 1st grade through third grade until we moved. I dropped my sister off at daycare in those years too. Back then people did not hear or know as much as they do now about that kind of stuff.
And the sad fact is, a child is way more likely to be molested by someone in his/her life that a stranger snatching him off the street. Yes, it does happen....and it always makes the news so we know about it. But kids who are molested by their relatives, teachers, coaches etc don't always tell. The statistics say 1 in 4 girls is molested before age 18. That is obviously way more than children who are kidnapped.
So I wouldn't judge Steve's parents harshly for that. It was a product of the time. And truthfully, we should all worry more about the people whi knwo and interact with out kids.....statistics say they are way more dangerous.