Talk:Genie (feral child)

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Why does someone want a photo on here? Seems completely inappropriate to the subject matter.

How can we compare Genie's skills to that of a normal child? How do you feel about the case? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.248.140.16 (talk • contribs).

how do we know of butler's ulterior motives?? is this fact or speculation? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.89.226.48 (talk • contribs).

Contents 1 Her name 2 Masturbation thing. 3 Real name 4 "Loss of funds and interest" problem 5 Name 6 Biographical details

[edit] Her name

she was referred to as "Jeannie Wiley" on the Arcadia, California article so I changed the page name to that. though feralchildren.com says the correct spelling is Genie. Arual

I added her address because it was used in a presentation I did to the Temple City Historical Society in September, 2006 JoeW4 05:41, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

The correct spellig is Genie. I've never seen "Jeannie". What's the source for this?--Cúchullain ^t/c 06:50, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

A Wikipedia user called her by this name Jeannie Wiley on the Arcadia, California article. Don't know who, don't know why. Arual

I moved it back. I can't find anything on her being called Jeannie Wiley. If it turns out that's her real name or something, provide a source.--Cúchullain ^t/c 19:08, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I don't know it would be too hard to find out her real name at this point. However, "Jeannie Wiley" is going to need a reference, as she is almost always referred to as just "Genie".--Cúchullain ^t/c 19:23, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Genie was the name used, not Jeannie. Her name is available if you know where to look but out of respect for her, it is not published. Her mother has died but her brother is still around. It was David Rigler who became her foster parent, not James Kent. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.62.235.21 (talk • contribs).

Uh, out of curiosity--is there a way to redirect to this page if a person is searching for 'Jeannie' or 'Jeanie'? After watching a documentary on this girl and wanting to know more, I made this mistake and had quite a time trying to find this actual page. Actually, I DID search for "Genie" after a while and came to the page on "Genies," or djinns... no disambiguation page. In other words, what I'm trying to say is - is there a way to make this page easier to find? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.191.151.167 (talk) 08:19, 26 March 2007 (UTC).

Done. See Jeanie (disambiguation). Wjhonson 17:30, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Masturbation thing.

"She masturbated excessively, which turned out to be the most serious anti-social behavior problem of all^{[citation needed]}. Many of the items she coveted were objects with which to masturbate and she would attempt to do so, regardless of where she was^{[citation needed]} (Robertson, 1987 -- need full reference for this)."

This might be vandalism. is it true?--Havermayer 01:38, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

It's mentioned in the Nova documentary and I also I heard it from my psychology professor. It's not vandalism, but it will need a source.--Cúchullain ^t/c 19:38, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Might we want to use another word than "excessively?" It seems pretty POV, since no amount of masturbation (that doesn't cause physical harm, of course) is considered "excessive" by the mental health community.

Perhaps "inappropriately" would be suitable, indicating that she masturbated at times and places not sanctioned by society (if that's indeed the situation; I'm not familiar with this case at all, having just run across it through a link)?

Septegram 16:00, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

The masturbation issue is highly suspect. I've studied this young girl for quite a while and have never come across anything alluding to this, moreover, feral children never exhibit this behavior. This may be the work of an idiot professor hoping to trap his students in a bind.

Well, I was mistaken about it being mentioned in the Nova documentary, looking through the transcript. [1] Where did you hear feral children never exibit the behavior? That could warrant removing the line, since she's the most famous one, so the source would clearly include her.--Cúchullain ^t/c 21:06, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

This behaviour is described in detail in Susan Curtiss, 1977, Genie: A psycholinguistic study of a modern day "Wild Child",Academic Press, and ::::was both excessive and inappropriate. Two theories are suggested, either that it was her only form of pleasure during her years locked in a

room, or that a behaviour typical to toddlers usually suppressed by parental admonishment was not suppressed in her case. How do you

manage to 'study this young girl for quite a while' without reading the standard workon the case? That makes me doubt the assertion that 'feral ::::children never exhibit this behaviour' - there are so few and their histories so diverse, I can't imagine anyone who knows what they're talking ::::about making such generalisations. Inappropriate/excessive masturbation is a symptom of various mental illness and disturbances, so it's

perfectly plausible in this case, as well as being documented.

It's also mentioned in Genie: a Scientific Tragedy, by Russ Rymer.

[edit] Real name

According to a UK TV Channel 4 Programme on Oxana and other feral children she is the daughter of Clarc and Irene Wiley, and has a brother John. -- Chris 73 | Talk 08:52, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Loss of funds and interest" problem

"Genie had not yet learned full grammatical English and only went so far as phrases like "Applesauce buy store."" implies that genie was capable of learning full grammatical english. this is not necessarily true. current theories of language acquisition--specifically those regarding a "critical period"--should be given a cursory mention at the very least. and the fact that genie played in integral part as a specimen in those studies makes it all the more important that it be mentioned.

[edit] Name

Surely it's supposed to be "Jeannie"

[edit] Biographical details

Sourced from primary documents, can be found here. Wjhonson 02:20, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Although her full, real name is sourced above, I've removed the direct link from the article since the website it points to is my own. If someone wants to add the link back to satisfy the {{fact}} request, feel free to do so. There is no prohibition on one Wikipedia citing another's work.Wjhonson 23:14, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

I readded the reference to your site. I wish we had a source to something besides a personal website, but the information is checkable and correct and there's no reason to doubt you, and that's what really matters. Thanks!--Cúchullain ^t/c 23:41, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. It surprised the heck out of me. I wasn't even looking for her name. I was looking for an obit on her father who shot himself at the end of 1970. Finding her name, right there in the *newspaper* was serindipity in action. Something genealogists dream about :) Wjhonson 23:53, 7 March 2007 (UTC)