OPINION

The Creep Factor

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Would you let your young daughter anywhere near Joe Biden?

It’s time to have a candid discussion about Joe Biden’s down right creepy behavior around little girls. It cannot be ignored any longer.  It’s the big donkey in the room. Joe certainly doesn’t hide his conduct. He proudly parades his predilection in front of cameras during primetime appearances.

Joe even talks and jokes about it.

The #MeToo madams are predictably silent over the troubling public spectacle exhibited by the democratic presidential candidate around little girls and young women. Like all politicians, photo opportunities are a necessary evil of the business, but Joe Biden relishes them, especially when little girls are in attendance and within his clutching grasp. The evidence is abundant and very troubling.

There is an old saying in addiction treatment programs. You have brains in your head and feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. For a very long time, Joe Biden has been steering himself toward little girls, burrowing his head in their hair and sniffing it. It’s on full display, in plain sight for all to see.

Surely, every American has now seen videos of Biden’s bizarre behavior and winced with revulsion. Our eyes aren’t deceiving us, yet there is no national discussion about this man who has a propensity, moreover, an apparent compulsion to bury his face and nose while sniffing the hair of unrelated, unfamiliar little girls and young women who find themselves in his presence.

Joe Biden’s behavior is very disturbing.  As a lifelong child advocate, it is dangerous to ignore and dismiss his conduct which is highly inappropriate and makes children very uncomfortable, despite the prominence of the perpetrator.

Watch this gut wrenching compilation of Joe Biden sniffer events. Here. Obviously, the young girls are extremely uncomfortable in his presence. These females physically recoil from his impermissible and unauthorized advances. In my professional experience, children instinctively know when their personal and bodily space is being violated. Notice how these little girls flinch when Biden moves in and intrudes on their personal boundaries.

Yet, in a speech with children on stage, Biden actually discusses his experience that children touch and rub the hair on his hairy legs in a pool and that he “loves when kids jump on his lap.” Watch this cringe worthy video, here.

Are you creeped out yet?

Seemingly, Biden cannot control his behavior. It’s inevitable when young children are in his presence, Joe moves in for the sniff. These little girls are clearly not consenting to Joe as he buries his face in their hair and sniffs it, often whispering in their ear.

Let’s be honest; Joe Biden’s interactions make little girls very uncomfortable, uneasy, and repulsed.

They do not trust him.

They shouldn’t. He creeps them out.

He should creep out all Americans. It’s time to take our collective head out of the sand and identify and denounce such creepy conduct. Biden’s bizarre and troubling behavior occurred well before he was losing his mental faculties. He is, after all, running for the most powerful office in the world.

Is there a psychological description for people who compulsively sniff hair?

Trichophilia, is identified as a hair fetish. It occurs when a person feels sexually aroused by or attracted to human hair. The most common focus for this attraction seems to be human head hair. This bizarre fetish is described in detail here.

In Dr. Anil Aggrawal’s 2009 book Forensic and Medico-legal Aspects of Sexual Crimes and Unusual Sexual Practices, trichophilia is a sexual paraphilia (and/or hair fetishism) in which individuals derive sexual pleasure and arousal from human hair (most commonly head hair). The source of sexual arousal may be derived from viewing and touching.

If this fetish causes distress in the perpetrator or victim, a doctor may ultimately diagnose the patient with a paraphilia disorder. According to Dr. Margaret Seide, a board certified psychiatrist, “if a person acts on an urge to touch the hair of a non-consenting person, then the drive to act on a fetish can be quite strong and, unfortunately at times, can override the person’s better judgment.  Notably, Seide points out that “If trichophilia goes beyond a normal sexual preference and causes distress to yourself or others, a doctor may diagnose you with a paraphilic disorder.”

Some professional might want to diagnose Joe Biden for the sake of little girls who cross his path.

Here’s the reality check: A high profile politician seizes a public moment to sniff a child’s hair. It’s often acted out in front of the child’s parents, causing the child to be visibly repulsed and very uncomfortable. Are we going to ignore Biden’s behavior? Does Joe Biden get a pass because he’s the proverbial nice guy or the darling of the Democrats? The mainstream media remains complicit and silent over this disturbing public display by the presidential candidate.

If there is a child within striking distance, Biden immediately zeroes in on the child, burying his head and face into the child’s hair. This unseemly behavior exemplifies Joe Biden when he is around children. Wake up, America. He’s a creep.

While the media and the public give lip service to child protection and safety, they look the other way when it is on display right in front of them, by a presidential candidate.

Listen here to the roars of laughter from the audience at the National Brotherhood Union of Electrical Workers when Joe Biden jokes that the children on stage have given him “permission to touch them.” The entire room loudly erupts as Joe glibly quips about his nefarious reputation of touching children inappropriately.

Wink-wink, folks nothing to see here.

A cautionary warning to Joe and the union crowd: children cannot consent to unwanted touch.

You are not funny, Joe.

You are a creep.

 Elizabeth Yore is an international child protection attorney who served as General Counsel of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. She investigated many clergy sex abuse cases. She is the former Special Counsel to Harpo Inc., Oprah Winfrey’s Production Company.