The story of Genie is a heart-wrenching tale of a child held hostage in her own home. Deemed mentally challenged by her abusive father as an infant, she was tied to a chair and locked in a dark room with little to no human contact for twelve years. This severely impacted Genie’s ability to eat, drink, sleep, speak, learn, move, and move forward doing regular activities most twelve-year-olds are fully capable of. Her father forbade her from moving, talking, or making any noise at all, and to prevent her from doing so he would mentally and physically punish her for doing any of the previously stated actions. Genie was a victim of abuse for twelve years, and it violently stunted both her mental and physical growth. This documentary is vital for any profession involving children, anywhere from law to psychology, it is necessary that people understand how horrible a case can be, especially when it involves children.
I chose the documentary about Genie’s case because I am entering the field of law as a prosecuting attorney. I intend to focus on cases involving all types of child abuse – physical, sexual, emotional, etc. Genie’s case is a great base for the types of situations I need to learn to prepare myself for. So often people in certain professions go in knowing it will be hard, but not realizing that cases like these will eventually find their way to you. It is horrifying to know that so many children struggle with being abused, and due to lack of preparation for difficult cases, it keeps them in terrifying conditions for an extended amount of time. This extended time is even more hazardous to the well-being of the child, and all problems need to be solved as fast as possible. While one can never truly be numb to a situation similar to Genie’s, it helps to be more emotionally prepared. Being more stable while dealing with the situation allows you to work and learn faster because you are not so caught up in the pain of the child.
In the psychology field, seeing children who are both emotionally and physically damaged takes a toll on people, and it is never easy. Showing the documentaries in class was an extremely well-thought-out way of exposing students to severe cases of abuse and the effects of such abuse on children and how it follows them into adulthood. Exposing students to these effects allows them to better prepare themselves for horrendous cases of abuse and the rage and pain it instills in children around the world. Assessing these documentaries teaches us how to begin picking through the mind of the abused and start figuring out how to help them. There are so many ways to help the abused, but sometimes we have to create new methods because the case is so extreme.
Genie’s story shocked me the most because we never truly realize how bad abuse can get and how parents can be horrible enough to subject their own child to this. We know abuse is bad enough to kill the victims, but something about seeing them still alive is just as bad. The pain they will continue to endure while healing is so painful to think about and I cannot even imagine that kind of fear. Genie was a victim of solitary confinement – a form of punishment used on prisoners who act out. Her father locked her in a room and punished her for making noise, which lead to her being nonverbal. This punishment, clearly, took a toll on her psyche. According to Terry A. Kupers, a prisoner, who went by the alias Tanya, was put into supermax confinement for two years, and it caused her extreme mental damage. She had fits of rage, anxiety, and paranoia. Tanya compared solitary confinement and associated it with when her mother would beat her and then lock her inside a closet. While reliving the memories of her abuse as a child, she reveled in phobias of rats and dogs. Tanya told Kupers that “officers used searches to harass prisoners and that they did it more to her because they knew she couldn’t control her temper” (Kupers, 2017). While Tanya’s experience did not leave her as debilitated as Genie, there are similarities between the two. The fits of rage, anxiety, fear, and many emotions both experienced put them in similar mental places. While their situations, clearly, are not the same, they do relate as their confinement created several emotional struggles for them.
The research into Genie’s case can also be seen as several different methods of helping her grow and heal. Genie was first taken to a children’s hospital where the studies began. Following this, she moved in with one of the hospital’s rehabilitation therapists, Jeanne Butler. Upon moving in with Butler, Genie clearly became more comfortable and her rate of improvement increased. Due to the success during Genie’s stay with her, Butler applied to be her foster. Her application was eventually denied, allegedly because Butler worked in the hospital and allowing a patient to legally move in with hospital staff was against hospital policy. Despite also working at the hospital, Genie was moved to the home of David and Marilyn Rigler. Dr. David Rigler argued that Genie was not moved from Butler’s home due to being hospital staff, but because Butler often interfered with the research of the case. Both parties argued that the researchers were exploiting Genie and turning her into a human guinea pig through daily testing. Genie ended up staying with the Rigler family for four years, where she listened to music, got to enjoy the company of siblings, and learned basic household tasks and life skills. Although, this did not come until after a few weeks in which she violently misbehaved and even self-harmed during tantrums. For Genie and the family, her living there was a blessing to them in ways. The Riglers’ income increased due to federal funding for language studies and other new sources of income. Genie also became better at socializing and doing regular house chores. It seemed that she was slowly, but surely, developing. Susan Curtiss, a researcher on Genie’s case, considered Genie to be a friend and would take her shopping and interact with her on more of a friendship level. After four years of living with the Rigler family, federal grants were no longer approved for the family as the National Institutes of Mental Health had concluded that Genie truly was not improving. All while Genie was with the family, Butler constantly filed complaints against the family and made several statements that Genie had actually been falling back in her recovery due to whom she lived with. The research on Genie was both helpful and dangerous. While being studied, she did improve in a few basic aspects of language and life, but she never fully blossomed. Genie was a guinea pig who has moved around more than she should have. Even if it was only moving three times, it was not good for mental development.
The interventions for Genie were not completely appropriate. It seems as if they took a newborn rat and just played with it until the test subject could not take it anymore. Genie, for most of her life, was used to one setting and a simple, painful routine. They took this damaged child, moved her around, and studied her like a lab rat instead of a child who needed help. The constant back and forth of places and lack of stability did not help her. The researchers and doctors should have helped her with her language before they jumped in and had her move from place to place.
Genie is now living in an assisted living home for mentally unstable adults. I cannot say that I fully disagree with the outcome of her life. The way she was studied made this outcome inevitable and has put her in a horrible position. Although, I can say that I do disagree in the sense that her life should not have turned out this way. Genie was a broken child who needed stability and love, not needles, and hundreds of people who kept coming and going, constantly saying what is wrong with her instead of saying what is right. She survived her father, she survived experiments, and she survived her own anger and sadness. Genie was a child with more potential than we realize, and the fact that she was not helped properly is something that cannot be changed now.