Well, Adrea Yates was found guilty yesterday of murdering her five kids, and I really don't have a problem with that. It really doesn't matter what happens to her at this point, because she's done her damage, and I don't think she's a threat to anyone else. I think she's insane, but not as crazy as they tried to make her out to be...all that demonic crap they tried to say after the fact was just to cover her ass. But I do think she was driven to a deep depression that gave way to psychosis. And who is responsible for driving her to that point? Her "loving" husband, Rusty. To me, that guy is the one who's really guilty in all this.
Everyone who knew Andrea, including Rusty, has said she was depressed after the birth of the couple's third child (her third in just five years). So what does Rusty do? He knocks her up again...doesn't let her out of the house, doesn't give her any help with the kids (even demands that she home school them). After the fourth kid, she was so depressed she sought professional help and reportedly attempted suicide, but what did Rusty do? He pumped his poisonous seed into her yet again and forced her to breed for a fifth time in seven years. The woman was physically and mentally exhausted. She'd been robbed of any identity of her own and had been reduced to a walking, breathing birthing machine. We all know now about the evil Taliban Regime and its enslavement of women; well, what Rusty did to his wife wasn't much different. Except he used his sperm to keep her chained inside, rather than Islamic Law.
One of Andrea's friends testified that she told Mr. Yates that Andrea needed help in the weeks before the murders. She wasn't sleeping, wasn't bathing. I'm sure Rusty was already planning his next step in helping his poor wife: knocking her up AGAIN. But did he get her a nanny or a sitter, or take her away for the weekend? Of course not; her job was to mother those kids, period.
There's been a lot of press about how Rusty has heroicly stood by his wife since the murders. Whoopty-fucking-doo! HE should be the one on trial here. I don't buy his act for a second. All he's doing is positioning himself, with the help of the press, to lure in the next Mrs. Yates, so he can start pumping out a new brood. I was particularly disgusted when he came out and publicly blamed the psychiatrist Andrea had seen for not "helping her". Talk about passing the buck! Doctors can only do so much. If you smoke three packs a day your whole life, it's not the doctor's fault when chemotherapy doesn't cure your lung cancer. The shrink wasn't the one who kept Andrea chained to a baby crib her whole adult life.
One thing I haven't heard much discussion of is the Yates' religious background. They were obviously Christian. That's obvious for two reasons: one, the children's names were all biblical, and two, if they weren't Christian, we would have DEFINITELY heard about it. Can you imagine the uproar (even before sept 11) if this had been a Muslim family, or (even worse) an atheist family? Or what if they hadn't been white and upper middle class? We'd be hearing ALL KINDS of talk about how their lifestyle was to blame for the murders. But since they're good, white, Christians, and since Rusty is such a doting husband, it obviously had to be some horrible aberation like Post-Pardum Psychosis or a demonic posession.
Bullshit. It was psychosis all right...psychosis brought on by abuse and neglect, by a rediculous amount of pressure being put on a frail woman for far too long. My guess is that the Yates belong to a church that tells women their sole job is to be mothers, in which case that church is to blame here, too. But Russell Yates is definitely to blame. So until he's on trial for destroying the five lives of his children AND the life of his wife, I don't give a damn about the Yates case. Andrea is a side issue. But since examining the real cause of this horrible crime would mean turning our idea of ideal families on its ear, you can bet we'll see no such discussion in the media, ever.