Most of us were surprised and a little disturbed that after drugging and raping nine women in four states, former NFL safety Darren Sharper only got 10 years in a plea deal. But as documented by Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com, the deal involves quite a bit more than that:
“Among other things, Sharper must consent to a penile plethysmograph test, in which a sensor will be attached to his genitals for the purposes of measuring arousal in response to specific stimulants.”
“He’ll be required to permanently wear a GPS device, and he’ll be prohibited from ever attempting to contact any of his victims.
“Sharper also is prohibited from possessing or consuming alcohol — for life — and from ever entering a bar. He’ll be required to provide urine or breath samples upon request from law enforcement.”
OK, so most of that makes sense. But not all of it.
A “penile plethysmograph” is a test that basically measures the blood flow to the penis by measuring its circumference. The measurement can be made in response to certain stimuli to distinguish groups of men with biastophilia (paraphilic rape in which sexual arousal is dependent on, or is responsive to, the act of assaulting an non-consenting person).
So my assumption was that Sharper has biastophilia. Apparently not. So now I ask myself, if he gets it, why? What do you do to develop this? Is it a suggestion that you’ve raped another woman? Or is it just a suggestion that all of the sudden, presumably for some other reason, you just want to? What are you going to do if he fails the test? Send him to jail for being sick in the head?
I’m not sure I understand any of this. Perhaps more explanation will be provided at another point.