Rape preferable to masturbation
Mary Rita Ridgway explicitly told Gary that it was better to rape a woman than to masturbate — a message delivered right as he entered puberty.
Snapshot · Last Podcast On The Left
Episode 671: Gary Ridgway : Redux Part I - Wrong Way Gary
Explore episode
Jul 3, 2026
Where this was said
Religion, Rape, and Window Peeping: Gary's Sexual Pathology Takes Shape
At 46:13 · chapter starts 44:00
Mary Rita Ridgway's religious instruction at puberty was catastrophic: she explicitly told her sons that masturbation was one of the worst possible sins — worse even than rape. [1] — Marcus Parks "Mary Rita Ridgway told her sons that masturbation was one of the worst sins imaginable — worse, in fact, than rape. Delivered right as Gary…" 46:10 Meanwhile, the family's new home was surrounded by Pacific Northwest forest, where Gary explored and became deeply familiar with the landscape he would later use to hide bodies. Gary's father Thomas was barred from attending the family's Catholic church because of a prior divorce, deepening the home's dysfunction. Gary began window-peeping on neighborhood girls, attempted to show his erection to his older brother's friends during TV sessions, and became a frotteur — using casual physical contact as a sexual outlet since he believed masturbation was forbidden. Mary Rita also told Gary how she was aroused by measuring men at her JCPenney job, while Thomas shared necrophilia stories from the mortuary. The sexual education Gary received at home was a concentrated disaster.
Rape Over Masturbation: The Theology That Broke Gary
Mary Rita Ridgway told her sons that masturbation was one of the worst sins imaginable — worse, in fact, than rape. Delivered right as Gary entered puberty, this instruction sent him into window-peeping, frotteurism, and compulsive visits to sex workers. He could not release pressure without sinning, so he went looking for loopholes.
Similar snapshots
Sued for $250B before Uber
Before Uber, Kalanick built a peer-to-peer file-sharing system and was sued for a quarter of a trillion dollars by 33 major media companies.
Arms dealer Edwin Wilson: 52-year sentence
CIA operative Edwin Wilson, part of the illegal arms network used by Oliver North, was sentenced to 52 years for supplying Libya with 10,000 machine guns and 20 tons of C4.
186-year prison sentence sought
US prosecutors sought a 186-year prison sentence for Kim Dotcom, largely because of his financial support for WikiLeaks.
Mario Tabraue sentenced to 100+ years
Mario Tabraue, a central figure in Monsters of God linked to drug trafficking and murder, was sentenced to over 100 years in prison but served only 12 years.
Disappeared October 3, 2024
Zelig Williams disappeared on October 3rd, 2024 after leaving his mother's home in Columbia, South Carolina and has not been seen since.
Season 5 — 6 new unsolved mysteries
Dateline: Missing in America Season 5 features six new unsolved missing-persons mysteries, hoping a listener may hold a crucial clue.
Strickland got 2 felony GBI charges
At a high school party, Strickland broke one victim's nose, jaw, and knocked out teeth requiring multiple reconstructive surgeries, resulting in two felony GBI charges.
55 years unsolved
Joyce LePage's murder has remained unsolved for 55 years despite active investigation from the start.
Mark's mental institution history
Joyce's own letter revealed that Mark Wadley had once stayed at a mental institution for trying to strangle people — a detail investigators apparently never followed up on.
