Syag:
I am actually an avid supporter of victims (or survivors), and I have worked with many of them for many years in a variety of capacities. This is besides for quite a few years of formal study of the field. I made simple statement. Pleasure does not counteract pain. No, I was not minimizing the magnitude of gratification a victim might get from watching his perpetrator get a long prison sentence or other punishments. All I said was that this is not the formula to resolve the problem. Yes, there should be confrontation. Yes, the victim should experience some form of closure to put the trauma into a place in history that no longer affects his life. The invalidation that has been so rampant is horrible, and this must change drastically (it has begun to change, but that fails to help the one who was victimized and invalidated). I have supported personal confrontations with the asking of mechila, providing both parties were ready for that. As useful as one would hope this is, it accomplishes just a little to aid in the healing. These type meetings are rare, mostly because either the victim or the perp is unready for it, and conducting a charade is futile, and sometimes a repeat form of abuse. And I still would push for financial compensation. All that troubles me is the circus of outrageous monetary awards that will only bankrupt yeshivos (for actions that predate the involvement of the current administrations and faculties) and still not accomplish healing for the victims.