Guest View
By Shivani
This is in response to Gina Hutchinson: The Untold Story by Heidi Hutchinson.
Even if a 22 year old man tries to ingratiate himself with a family and fit in as a friend, most reasonable, responsible mothers and fathers wouldn’t want their 14 year old daughter being the object of his “romantic” intentions, when the daughter is still a growing teen and the man is inappropriately too old for her maturity level.
This is fairly common knowledge about the parameters we have set for our own American culture, and many strive to be protective of their young and inexperienced teenagers; you don’t decide to “let them out to sea” without your parental love and guidance.
I can only wish to turn back time and that your intuition and instincts, Heidi, could have prevailed.
I am so sorry. A cruel, sickening, clever man with no conscience is Keith Raniere. It is too late for the best thing that could’ve happened to him: that he might have been stopped in his tracks for sneaking his perversions onto your sister.
If only the Ranieres and Epsteins and Maxwells would evaporate into some kind of nonexistence. Forevermore.
Instead, Raniere grew his pile of sh*t into Executive Success.
This is not meant to blame anybody for Keith’s deceptiveness not being curtailed, nipped in the bud. We do not go around expecting evil to sneak in the window, especially when it works to appear friendly and charming and helpful.
So often, somebody like Raniere is the last thing that people expect to encounter. It can be very difficult to deal with evilness if you do not even recognize its disguises.
What the hell can we do now? Vow to be more equipped to deal with the Keiths who come along later? How to find the balance between courage and caution.
A young teen is distinctly overburdened and is experiencing inner disturbance, confusion and some pretty tough crossed wires when the object of affection is not even definable.
Heidi mentions how Gina thought of Raniere as a father figure and as kind of an older brother. Yet, she was the object as well of his sexual sickness. Add to this that he behaved as if he were her spiritual mentor, some godlike phantasm. How to make Buddha crude, not that the monks really need any extra help, as they sit around repressing their sexuality until it turns rotten and leaks.
Raniere was really after Gina, who was barely into her teenage years, for sex and dominance. Raniere positioned himself as Gina’s everything and then he kept letting her down. No way she was ready for this at 14, 15, 16. Who is?
Also, the trauma itself changes how one feels, how one perceives and how one is able to keep growing.
But those who do not “grow” an operable conscience do not have the inner or outer equipment to be able to give a damn.
It can be too much for a woman or a man to decipher a sickening mentality, especially one concealed by persuasiveness, never mind for Gina.
The bastard led her to sacrifice her life. And he seems to have never felt any emotion about it, other than glorying in his “power” over others and pretending to care.
It is good that I needed to move a big bed today and can let some of my own anger about what we make out of life GO into moving a heavy object. Heidi, maybe your Gina will help! Or at least I can dream that she still surrounds Heidi and many of us with her strength and love. She will never really be gone. She has her Heidi. And she now has many more of us, resolutely keeping her in our hearts. Through it all.
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Keith tried to teach all the women who came to him. Some learned. Some didn’t. Don’t blame Keith.
WOW,
Exactly, he tried to teach them how to become submissive and stupid. Some learned and brought in others. Some saw him for the creep he was.
Thank you, Shavani. I’m already a huge fan of your writing on FR and I know Gina would be, too. I’ll comment again after a reread but a couple notes in defense of our folks: I never told them, anyone, Keith and Gina were sex partners and doubt if they ever suspected until maybe she was of age, if then. It was not spoken of those days, especially in our Dad’s Mormon culture we were reared in.
The pic of Gina in the powder blue pinafore (thank you for running those, Frank) is Gina on her Mormon Mission. I think you had to pass as a virgin to even go on one. Gina, sadly, got kicked off hers for proselytizing the gospel of Keith Raniere, basically.
I’ll fill you in on more deets if it comes up on this thread. You’re absolutely right that parents’ need be vigilant to protect children and teens from these often well-disguised predators but it was big sister who fucked up in this case.