Library 4
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Whatever happened to false memory syndrome?
False memory syndrome, where therapists encourage patients in the mistaken belief that they were abused as children, may have been exposed. But the dangerous assumptions behind the quest for repressed memories have yet to be challenged, says Jennie Bristow. [...]
Recovered memory therapy took off at a time when society was becoming increasingly concerned about the prevalence of child abuse, particularly within the family, and the lasting effect of such abuse on its victims. [...]
From the widely accepted notion that the childhood experience of abuse can explain your problems in later life, it was only a small jump to the recovery of false memories.
False memory syndrome, where therapists encourage patients in the mistaken belief that they were abused as children, may have been exposed. But the dangerous assumptions behind the quest for repressed memories have yet to be challenged, says Jennie Bristow. [...]
Recovered memory therapy took off at a time when society was becoming increasingly concerned about the prevalence of child abuse, particularly within the family, and the lasting effect of such abuse on its victims. [...]
From the widely accepted notion that the childhood experience of abuse can explain your problems in later life, it was only a small jump to the recovery of false memories.
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False Memories: An Interview with Pamela Freyd,
Aug 28 2001
Chapter from the book, "Mind Controlled Sex Slaves And The CIA" by Tracy R Twymann, Nick Redfern and Commander X (July 4, 2008)
(Following is from Amazon.com)
Book Description
Publication Date: July 4, 2008
UNIMAGINABLE RAPE, TORTURE AND BLOODY RITUALS. . . LEADING POLITICIANS INVOLVED IN CHILD ABUSE RINGS. . . U.S. PRESIDENTS AND VICE PRESIDENTS COMPLICIT. . . USE OF OCCULT AND 'SATANISM' AS TRAUMA BASE . . . ANTI-CHRISTIAN NIGHT SERVICES AT CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. . .
Plus Exposing The Mind Controlled "Stepford Whores," as well as Human Sacrifices at Bohemian Grove Retreat . . . Indeed, what do Satanism, human trafficking, mind control experiments and child sex abuse have to do with the U.S. government? According to the testimony of experts and survivors, the CIA utilized all of these elements and more for their Top Secret Project Monarch, part of the MK-ULTRA mind control program. For reasons of National Security, dozens if not hundreds of people, many of them children, were allegedly subjected to unimaginable rape, torture, and bloody satanic rituals, with the aim of fracturing the human mind through trauma. This created multiple personalities that could then be programmed to perform specific tasks . . . Many of the purported victims say they were used to satisfy the sexual urges of the rich and powerful, even U.S. presidents. . . For these purposes, the CIA is said to have sought help from intergenerational cults, as well as child pornography and snuff film networks. As thousands of people were bought and sold on the underground sex market, our government supposedly looked the other way, seing it not as an atrocity, but as an opportunity.
- - -
Pamela Freyd is the co-founder of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.
"People with false memories believe them sincerely and with much conviction, especially if some hypnotic techniques are involved."
Chapter from the book, "Mind Controlled Sex Slaves And The CIA" by Tracy R Twymann, Nick Redfern and Commander X (July 4, 2008)
(Following is from Amazon.com)
Book Description
Publication Date: July 4, 2008
UNIMAGINABLE RAPE, TORTURE AND BLOODY RITUALS. . . LEADING POLITICIANS INVOLVED IN CHILD ABUSE RINGS. . . U.S. PRESIDENTS AND VICE PRESIDENTS COMPLICIT. . . USE OF OCCULT AND 'SATANISM' AS TRAUMA BASE . . . ANTI-CHRISTIAN NIGHT SERVICES AT CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. . .
Plus Exposing The Mind Controlled "Stepford Whores," as well as Human Sacrifices at Bohemian Grove Retreat . . . Indeed, what do Satanism, human trafficking, mind control experiments and child sex abuse have to do with the U.S. government? According to the testimony of experts and survivors, the CIA utilized all of these elements and more for their Top Secret Project Monarch, part of the MK-ULTRA mind control program. For reasons of National Security, dozens if not hundreds of people, many of them children, were allegedly subjected to unimaginable rape, torture, and bloody satanic rituals, with the aim of fracturing the human mind through trauma. This created multiple personalities that could then be programmed to perform specific tasks . . . Many of the purported victims say they were used to satisfy the sexual urges of the rich and powerful, even U.S. presidents. . . For these purposes, the CIA is said to have sought help from intergenerational cults, as well as child pornography and snuff film networks. As thousands of people were bought and sold on the underground sex market, our government supposedly looked the other way, seing it not as an atrocity, but as an opportunity.
- - -
Pamela Freyd is the co-founder of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.
"People with false memories believe them sincerely and with much conviction, especially if some hypnotic techniques are involved."
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Childhood sexual experiences and the perception of abuse among Latino men who have sex with men;
The Journal of Sex Research;
39(3, 2002),
This paper is based on interviews with men who have had childhood sexual experiences with an older partner (CSEOP). At the time of the interview, some of these men felt that their experiences were childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and some did not.
There is a substantial amount of sexual activity at a young age with older partners that is not perceived to be abusive by the men who experienced it. For this sample of men, a perception of abuse is associated with coercion and the age of the child.
This paper is based on interviews with men who have had childhood sexual experiences with an older partner (CSEOP). At the time of the interview, some of these men felt that their experiences were childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and some did not.
There is a substantial amount of sexual activity at a young age with older partners that is not perceived to be abusive by the men who experienced it. For this sample of men, a perception of abuse is associated with coercion and the age of the child.
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The Dilemma of the Male Pedophile;
Archives of Sexual Behavior;
31(6), 473–477
The public and scientific debate on pedosexuality is heated one.We find urselves involved in a difficult balancing act that demands utmost care if we are to avoid,
on the one hand, playing down the gravity of adult–child sexual acts and, on the other hand, overdramatizing its catastrophic potential. However, the tendency to polarize and overgeneralize is strong. Both, those inclined to deemphasize
the severity of the problem and those bent upon blowing it out of all proportion, distort the reality of children who are drawn into sexual contact with adults, colonizing their experience, their memories, and their own assessments.
It seems to me that one of the prerequisites for a more reasonable discussion is to disentangle the confusion of moral and clinical discourses. This requires that we argue, from a moral standpoint, where morals are at issue and, from a clinical point of view, when it comes to traumatizing effects. Above all, we hould not clothe moral judgments in the garb of clinical “expertocratic” language.
The public and scientific debate on pedosexuality is heated one.We find urselves involved in a difficult balancing act that demands utmost care if we are to avoid,
on the one hand, playing down the gravity of adult–child sexual acts and, on the other hand, overdramatizing its catastrophic potential. However, the tendency to polarize and overgeneralize is strong. Both, those inclined to deemphasize
the severity of the problem and those bent upon blowing it out of all proportion, distort the reality of children who are drawn into sexual contact with adults, colonizing their experience, their memories, and their own assessments.
It seems to me that one of the prerequisites for a more reasonable discussion is to disentangle the confusion of moral and clinical discourses. This requires that we argue, from a moral standpoint, where morals are at issue and, from a clinical point of view, when it comes to traumatizing effects. Above all, we hould not clothe moral judgments in the garb of clinical “expertocratic” language.
;
Is Pedophilia a Mental Disorder?;
Archives of Sexual Behavior;
31(6), 467 - 471
Conclusion:
Sexual arousal patterns to children are subjectively reported and physiologically demonstrable in a substantial minority of “normal” people. Historically, they have been common and accepted in varying cultures at varying times. This does not mean that they must be accepted culturally and legally today.
The question is: Do they constitute a mental illness? Not unless we declare a lot of people in many cultures and in much of the past to be mentally ill. And certainly not by the criteria of DSM.
Conclusion:
Sexual arousal patterns to children are subjectively reported and physiologically demonstrable in a substantial minority of “normal” people. Historically, they have been common and accepted in varying cultures at varying times. This does not mean that they must be accepted culturally and legally today.
The question is: Do they constitute a mental illness? Not unless we declare a lot of people in many cultures and in much of the past to be mentally ill. And certainly not by the criteria of DSM.
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Pedophilia from the Chinese perspective;
Archives of Sexual Behavior;
31, 491–492
In traditional Chinese medicine, there has never been a mental disease called pedophilia (or an equivalent term), or homosexuality, or most of the other so-called sexual variations for that matter. Depictions of “child-romance” in ancient or modern Chinese literature are not difficult to find. Children are usually described as natural sexual beings and erotic stimulation and sex-play are seen as beneficial to their healthy development.
[...]
Some writers very vehemently question the capacity of children to give valid consent to sexual activity with adults. Despite their arguments, to the Chinese [...] the focus of discussions on the child consent issue in pedophilic activities is blatantly irrelevant and hypocritical.
[...]
There are certain occasions when the adults do respect the children’s wishes and ask for their consent, but only when the choices are within the adult acceptable range. [...]
Indeed, when it comes to a child’s sexual activity, the debate begins ...
In traditional Chinese medicine, there has never been a mental disease called pedophilia (or an equivalent term), or homosexuality, or most of the other so-called sexual variations for that matter. Depictions of “child-romance” in ancient or modern Chinese literature are not difficult to find. Children are usually described as natural sexual beings and erotic stimulation and sex-play are seen as beneficial to their healthy development.
[...]
Some writers very vehemently question the capacity of children to give valid consent to sexual activity with adults. Despite their arguments, to the Chinese [...] the focus of discussions on the child consent issue in pedophilic activities is blatantly irrelevant and hypocritical.
[...]
There are certain occasions when the adults do respect the children’s wishes and ask for their consent, but only when the choices are within the adult acceptable range. [...]
Indeed, when it comes to a child’s sexual activity, the debate begins ...
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Prohibited Sexual Behavior and Sexual Violence: Adult Sexual Contact with Children
[...] However, it is important to understand two basic facts:
1. Not every adult who has sexual contact with a child is a pedophile, and
2. not every pedophile has sexual contact with a child.
[...] most sexual offenses against children are committed not by pedophiles, but by non-pedophilic men.
[...] Many pedophiles manage to control their urges. Some even deliberately avoid the company of children. This self-control is the goal of preventive therapy
programs for pedophiles, since their sexual interests are not likely to change.
[...] Children are girls and boys before puberty. Only the desire for sexual contact with them should be called “pedophilia”.
[...] Current treatments try, above all, to prevent them from breaking the law. Thus, training a pedophile to live with his fantasies without acting them out protects both him and the children he meets.
[...] Legal Aspects ... Psychological Aspects ... Incest ... Child Protitution ... Chidls Pornography ...
[...] However, it is important to understand two basic facts:
1. Not every adult who has sexual contact with a child is a pedophile, and
2. not every pedophile has sexual contact with a child.
[...] most sexual offenses against children are committed not by pedophiles, but by non-pedophilic men.
[...] Many pedophiles manage to control their urges. Some even deliberately avoid the company of children. This self-control is the goal of preventive therapy
programs for pedophiles, since their sexual interests are not likely to change.
[...] Children are girls and boys before puberty. Only the desire for sexual contact with them should be called “pedophilia”.
[...] Current treatments try, above all, to prevent them from breaking the law. Thus, training a pedophile to live with his fantasies without acting them out protects both him and the children he meets.
[...] Legal Aspects ... Psychological Aspects ... Incest ... Child Protitution ... Chidls Pornography ...
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The Risks of 'Protection': Panic Over Youthful Sexuality Endangers Kids
Review of Judith Levine's book "Harmful for Minors".
Short report about the attacks of the Religious Right.
Levine's book is not dangerous, but there are dangers out there -- dangers that ravage at least as many lives as the pedophiles the cultish Concerned Women want everyone to worry about.
We as a society are way too quick to see aggression, molestation and outright deviance in healthy expressions of youthful sexuality -- and way too quick to shame, criminalize and patholologize healthy children for making all sorts of sexual explorations that are just part of their natural development. - Says Levine.
Review of Judith Levine's book "Harmful for Minors".
Short report about the attacks of the Religious Right.
Levine's book is not dangerous, but there are dangers out there -- dangers that ravage at least as many lives as the pedophiles the cultish Concerned Women want everyone to worry about.
We as a society are way too quick to see aggression, molestation and outright deviance in healthy expressions of youthful sexuality -- and way too quick to shame, criminalize and patholologize healthy children for making all sorts of sexual explorations that are just part of their natural development. - Says Levine.
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Schweigende Lämmer und reißende Wölfe, moralische Helden und coole Zyniker : zum öffentlichen Diskurs über „sexuellen Kindesmißbrauch“ in Deutschland;
Pädagogik und Sozialwissenschaften;
12, 492 pp. 21 cm.
Using a sociology-of-knowledge approach, this book critically examines the German discourse on the ‘sexual abuse of children’ in the 1990s when it was already an emotionally highly charged subject. The author first identifies four concepts and illustrates each of them with a representative monograph: the ‘pedophile’ (Bernard, 1982); the feminist (Kavemann/Lohstöter, 1984); the incest theoretical (Hirsch, 1987); and the critical (Rutschky, 1992). A fifth variant, the child molester discourse, with its connotations of violence, death, and conspiracies, is found later to dominate the popular press to the near-exclusion of all others. On the basis of these concepts she then analyses both professional (articles and monographs) and popular (newspapers and weeklies) media. It was the feminist point of view that was found to be dominant, even penetrating the pedophile discourse, except in the popular press as previously mentioned.
The second part puts these results in wider contexts. The newer German feminism is examined first. It is shown how sexual abuse became the rallying point of this movement, how it served its interests, and how it transformed it. Only by adopting the child-saving rhetoric could feminism occupy its current influential position, ironically replacing in the process its original emancipatory, anti-patriarchal stance with a stout reliance on the state, the quintessential patriarchal power.
The discourse on children and childhood comes next. The connections between the child-saving and feminist movements, both in Germany and the USA, are discussed as well as the idealization of children in much of contemporary culture. The books by Ariès, de Mause, and Postman are cited as evidence for conflicting views currently held about childhood. Often childhood is elevated to a utopian ideal and associated with myths and felt to be endangered by reality and myths likewise.
The author next turns to the discourse on sexuality. Rousseau here has stressed the innocence of children, simultaneously seen as naturally given and extremely endangered. With the repudiation of Freud's insight into the essential psychic predisposition of trauma, the sexual life of children was also negated, and the aetiology of trauma became the subject of an extreme reductionism. The political right has had a field day here with the resurrection of sexual repression and censorship. The author turns to Foucault for insight into the historical interplay between politics and sexuality. If the person of the confessor has changed, she notes, the practice of (public) confession has regained prominence.
Violence and crime are the leading ideas of the discourse which is examined next. The almost universally negative appreciation of intergenerational sexuality (which, as she notes, ignores the voices of many children themselves) is not founded in reality or argument but grounded in a constant appeal to demagoguery and emotion. The law creates the very myth it defends.
The last discussion returns to the sociological vantage point and traces the career of intergenerational sexuality as a social problem. Like the deficient child or dangerous (male) sexuality, it is a myth (Barthes) which serves symbolic politics.
Using a sociology-of-knowledge approach, this book critically examines the German discourse on the ‘sexual abuse of children’ in the 1990s when it was already an emotionally highly charged subject. The author first identifies four concepts and illustrates each of them with a representative monograph: the ‘pedophile’ (Bernard, 1982); the feminist (Kavemann/Lohstöter, 1984); the incest theoretical (Hirsch, 1987); and the critical (Rutschky, 1992). A fifth variant, the child molester discourse, with its connotations of violence, death, and conspiracies, is found later to dominate the popular press to the near-exclusion of all others. On the basis of these concepts she then analyses both professional (articles and monographs) and popular (newspapers and weeklies) media. It was the feminist point of view that was found to be dominant, even penetrating the pedophile discourse, except in the popular press as previously mentioned.
The second part puts these results in wider contexts. The newer German feminism is examined first. It is shown how sexual abuse became the rallying point of this movement, how it served its interests, and how it transformed it. Only by adopting the child-saving rhetoric could feminism occupy its current influential position, ironically replacing in the process its original emancipatory, anti-patriarchal stance with a stout reliance on the state, the quintessential patriarchal power.
The discourse on children and childhood comes next. The connections between the child-saving and feminist movements, both in Germany and the USA, are discussed as well as the idealization of children in much of contemporary culture. The books by Ariès, de Mause, and Postman are cited as evidence for conflicting views currently held about childhood. Often childhood is elevated to a utopian ideal and associated with myths and felt to be endangered by reality and myths likewise.
The author next turns to the discourse on sexuality. Rousseau here has stressed the innocence of children, simultaneously seen as naturally given and extremely endangered. With the repudiation of Freud's insight into the essential psychic predisposition of trauma, the sexual life of children was also negated, and the aetiology of trauma became the subject of an extreme reductionism. The political right has had a field day here with the resurrection of sexual repression and censorship. The author turns to Foucault for insight into the historical interplay between politics and sexuality. If the person of the confessor has changed, she notes, the practice of (public) confession has regained prominence.
Violence and crime are the leading ideas of the discourse which is examined next. The almost universally negative appreciation of intergenerational sexuality (which, as she notes, ignores the voices of many children themselves) is not founded in reality or argument but grounded in a constant appeal to demagoguery and emotion. The law creates the very myth it defends.
The last discussion returns to the sociological vantage point and traces the career of intergenerational sexuality as a social problem. Like the deficient child or dangerous (male) sexuality, it is a myth (Barthes) which serves symbolic politics.
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Social Interactions Among Paedophiles
[...] The purpose of this study is to explore the range and nature of social interactions among individuals who experience a sustained and compelling attraction towards young adolescents or prepubescent children of either sex. Such an attraction, of course, is prohibited and the target of extensive social controls, legal sanctions and therapeutic efforts. Given the widespread hostility they elicit, paedophiles are generally viewed not only as social outcasts but also as social isolates. This may explain the lack of research on the social networks of paedophiles. [...]
My substantive goal, here, is to analyze the variety of conditions that would allow paedophiles to overcome their social isolation, seek each other out and become, as a result, embedded in a deviant quasi-community or social movement. [....]
None of the [interviewed] subjects were known as having had to use force in seeking prohibited sexual intimacy, and none showed in our conversations the slightest indication of any sadistic or psychopathic predispositions. In short, they could not be meaningfully categorized as "sexual predators".
[... ... ... ... ...]
To the extent that age of consent offenders interact among themselves, they may ... define for themselves a new set of norms about the "appropriate" rules of courtship and about the appropriate settings for engaging in erotic interaction with juveniles ("a structuring effect"). [...]
As they attempt to actualize their attraction, the personal costs they impose on themselves and on their personal entourage (including the juveniles themselves), may trigger a self-reflection process that will commit them into abstinence.
[...] The purpose of this study is to explore the range and nature of social interactions among individuals who experience a sustained and compelling attraction towards young adolescents or prepubescent children of either sex. Such an attraction, of course, is prohibited and the target of extensive social controls, legal sanctions and therapeutic efforts. Given the widespread hostility they elicit, paedophiles are generally viewed not only as social outcasts but also as social isolates. This may explain the lack of research on the social networks of paedophiles. [...]
My substantive goal, here, is to analyze the variety of conditions that would allow paedophiles to overcome their social isolation, seek each other out and become, as a result, embedded in a deviant quasi-community or social movement. [....]
None of the [interviewed] subjects were known as having had to use force in seeking prohibited sexual intimacy, and none showed in our conversations the slightest indication of any sadistic or psychopathic predispositions. In short, they could not be meaningfully categorized as "sexual predators".
[... ... ... ... ...]
To the extent that age of consent offenders interact among themselves, they may ... define for themselves a new set of norms about the "appropriate" rules of courtship and about the appropriate settings for engaging in erotic interaction with juveniles ("a structuring effect"). [...]
As they attempt to actualize their attraction, the personal costs they impose on themselves and on their personal entourage (including the juveniles themselves), may trigger a self-reflection process that will commit them into abstinence.
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Promoting sexual health and responsible sexual behavior: an introduction.;
The Journal of Sex Research,
Feb 01 2002
We are at a unique juncture in history and have a rare opportunity to develop global, national, and community strategies to promote sexual health for the new century. This opportunity has been created by the fact that the world is experiencing a new sexual revolution and a public health imperative. Much like the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, it is a revolution fueled by incredible scientific advances, as well as dramatic social and economic change (...).
We also face a myriad of sexual health problems, which is creating an enormous burden on societies. These two factors are putting pressure on health ministries to develop comprehensive approaches to sexual health promotion.
We are at a unique juncture in history and have a rare opportunity to develop global, national, and community strategies to promote sexual health for the new century. This opportunity has been created by the fact that the world is experiencing a new sexual revolution and a public health imperative. Much like the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, it is a revolution fueled by incredible scientific advances, as well as dramatic social and economic change (...).
We also face a myriad of sexual health problems, which is creating an enormous burden on societies. These two factors are putting pressure on health ministries to develop comprehensive approaches to sexual health promotion.
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Ethical Treatment for All Youth (Website)
This site documents how children and teenagers are severely stigmatized by a label that allows adults to do things to them that would be considered abusive and unethical in any other context. This occurs with little knowledge by the general public. Parents of the youth involved are too embarrassed or fearful to discuss it with others. The purpose of this site is to inform the public of what is happening, and to advocate for a much more humane and ethical approach.
This site documents how children and teenagers are severely stigmatized by a label that allows adults to do things to them that would be considered abusive and unethical in any other context. This occurs with little knowledge by the general public. Parents of the youth involved are too embarrassed or fearful to discuss it with others. The purpose of this site is to inform the public of what is happening, and to advocate for a much more humane and ethical approach.
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Historicizing affect, psychoanalyzing history: pedophilia and the discourse of child sexuality;
Journal of Homosexuality;
46(Februari), 79 - 109
Within the last two decades in Australia, Britain, and the United States, we have seen a veritable explosion of cultural panic regarding the problem of pedophilia. Scarcely a day passes without some mention in the media of predatory pedophiles or organized pedophile networks. Many social constructionist historians and sociologists have described this incitement to discourse as indicative of a moral panic.
[...]
Here, I will suggest a repressed discourse of child sexuality is writ large. I will argue that the hegemonic discourse of pedophilia is contained largely within a neurotic structure and that many of our prevailing responses to pedophilia function as a way to avoid tackling crucial issues about the reality and trauma of childhood sexuality.
The question that concerns me in this article is: If this incitement to discourse is indicative of a moral panic, to what does the panic refer?
Within the last two decades in Australia, Britain, and the United States, we have seen a veritable explosion of cultural panic regarding the problem of pedophilia. Scarcely a day passes without some mention in the media of predatory pedophiles or organized pedophile networks. Many social constructionist historians and sociologists have described this incitement to discourse as indicative of a moral panic.
[...]
Here, I will suggest a repressed discourse of child sexuality is writ large. I will argue that the hegemonic discourse of pedophilia is contained largely within a neurotic structure and that many of our prevailing responses to pedophilia function as a way to avoid tackling crucial issues about the reality and trauma of childhood sexuality.
The question that concerns me in this article is: If this incitement to discourse is indicative of a moral panic, to what does the panic refer?
;
Is the Pseudoscience Concept Useful for Clinical Psychology?;
The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice;
vol. 2, no. 2 (Fall/Winter 2003), ,
Jan 01 2003
Abstract:Talented entrepreneurs have been developing and marketing novel therapeutic methods, some touted as veritable miracle cures for diverse complaints.
This phenomenon has caught the attention of scientist-practitioners in psychology, many of whom criticize these approaches as “pseudo-scientific.” The purpose of this essay is to sketch a simpler, alternative approach to debunking dubious methods in clinical psychology. When therapeutic entrepreneurs make claims on behalf of their interventions, we should not waste our time trying to determine whether their interventions qualify as pseudo-scientific. Rather, we should ask them: How do you know that your intervention works? What is your evidence?
Abstract:Talented entrepreneurs have been developing and marketing novel therapeutic methods, some touted as veritable miracle cures for diverse complaints.
This phenomenon has caught the attention of scientist-practitioners in psychology, many of whom criticize these approaches as “pseudo-scientific.” The purpose of this essay is to sketch a simpler, alternative approach to debunking dubious methods in clinical psychology. When therapeutic entrepreneurs make claims on behalf of their interventions, we should not waste our time trying to determine whether their interventions qualify as pseudo-scientific. Rather, we should ask them: How do you know that your intervention works? What is your evidence?
;
Child Abuse,
Oct 03 2003
Defining Abuse in Historical Context, Innocence and Abuse, Preventing and Prosecuting Child Abuse
Entry from Gale Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society
Child abuse, as a historical subject, is deeply problematic, since the concept of abuse is inevitably relative and can be only very tentatively applied across cultures and across centuries.
The watershed in the history of child abuse must be dated as recently as 1962, when child abuse received its modern formulation by the American medical establishment as the battered-child syndrome.
The attribution of innocence implied the possibility of violation, and the necessity of protection.
A full generation after "The Battered-Child Syndrome" was first published, there is general public recognition that various forms of child abuse are pervasive – but also an awareness that abuse may remain largely concealed within the domestic walls that protect family privacy.
Furthermore, just as treatment of children in the historical past may appear abusive by current standards, so there is also a divergence of perspectives within contemporary society about what exactly constitutes abuse.
For all these reasons, child abuse is a social problem that has been recognized but by no means resolved.
Defining Abuse in Historical Context, Innocence and Abuse, Preventing and Prosecuting Child Abuse
Entry from Gale Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society
Child abuse, as a historical subject, is deeply problematic, since the concept of abuse is inevitably relative and can be only very tentatively applied across cultures and across centuries.
The watershed in the history of child abuse must be dated as recently as 1962, when child abuse received its modern formulation by the American medical establishment as the battered-child syndrome.
The attribution of innocence implied the possibility of violation, and the necessity of protection.
A full generation after "The Battered-Child Syndrome" was first published, there is general public recognition that various forms of child abuse are pervasive – but also an awareness that abuse may remain largely concealed within the domestic walls that protect family privacy.
Furthermore, just as treatment of children in the historical past may appear abusive by current standards, so there is also a divergence of perspectives within contemporary society about what exactly constitutes abuse.
For all these reasons, child abuse is a social problem that has been recognized but by no means resolved.
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The 17-year-old Child An Absurdity of the Late 20th Century
No language in the world ever used the term “child” for persons beyond their early teens. No person beyond its early teens is a “child”.
It was the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 which first did away with the distinction between children and adolescents and labelled all minors under 18 “child” (Art. 1).
The European Commission took this concept over into the criminal law area when it proposed an EU-Framework Decision on Combating the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Child Pornography in December 2000. This framework-decision obliges all the member states of the European Union to create certain sexual offences which goes far beyond what is known in that area in any European state so far.
The proposal of the Commission defined as “child” every person up to its 18th birthday (Art. 1 lit. a). It did not differentiate in any way between various age groups, i.e. it did not distinguish between children on the one hand and adolescents on the other. The proposal treated a 17-year-old young man in the same way as a 5 year old child.
This implementation of the same criteria for sexual protection and abuse to a five-year-old child and a 17-year-old adolescent leads to absurd and dangerous consequences.
No language in the world ever used the term “child” for persons beyond their early teens. No person beyond its early teens is a “child”.
It was the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 which first did away with the distinction between children and adolescents and labelled all minors under 18 “child” (Art. 1).
The European Commission took this concept over into the criminal law area when it proposed an EU-Framework Decision on Combating the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Child Pornography in December 2000. This framework-decision obliges all the member states of the European Union to create certain sexual offences which goes far beyond what is known in that area in any European state so far.
The proposal of the Commission defined as “child” every person up to its 18th birthday (Art. 1 lit. a). It did not differentiate in any way between various age groups, i.e. it did not distinguish between children on the one hand and adolescents on the other. The proposal treated a 17-year-old young man in the same way as a 5 year old child.
This implementation of the same criteria for sexual protection and abuse to a five-year-old child and a 17-year-old adolescent leads to absurd and dangerous consequences.
;
Childhood, Sexuality and Danger;
235 pp.
It is [...] a book about the modern discourse over sexual dangerousness as it relates to the abuse of minors [...] What is important is that my contributions lead readers to critically re-examine what they have been saying and doing in this field. [...]
My intention with this work is simply to provoke critical reflection -- which at times may be disquieting -- regarding how we see this problem, and how we respond to it. [...]
The majority of the experiences included by researchers in the category of abuse are not
committed by so-called pedophiles; and yet, the latter have been converted into the bogey-men of modernity. Those who love children - and who very rarely attack them -- undoubtedly lead a complicated existence; especially those who are attracted to prepubertal children, since society is not likely to allow them to live out these experiences in relative liberty and tranquility. We have a lot to learn -- as do they -- about how to permit them to live out and express those desires through channels that are more acceptable, and that cause fewer problems for both minors and society.
It is [...] a book about the modern discourse over sexual dangerousness as it relates to the abuse of minors [...] What is important is that my contributions lead readers to critically re-examine what they have been saying and doing in this field. [...]
My intention with this work is simply to provoke critical reflection -- which at times may be disquieting -- regarding how we see this problem, and how we respond to it. [...]
The majority of the experiences included by researchers in the category of abuse are not
committed by so-called pedophiles; and yet, the latter have been converted into the bogey-men of modernity. Those who love children - and who very rarely attack them -- undoubtedly lead a complicated existence; especially those who are attracted to prepubertal children, since society is not likely to allow them to live out these experiences in relative liberty and tranquility. We have a lot to learn -- as do they -- about how to permit them to live out and express those desires through channels that are more acceptable, and that cause fewer problems for both minors and society.
;
Fear: The Emotional Outcome Of Mass Media In America;
Hohonu;
2, 49-52
The mass media in America serves many functions that have had an array of effects on those exposed. Throughout time, technological innovations have given rise to the mass communications and media, leading to an escalation of its effects on the world’s people. The most important effect has been a psychological shift to a constant state of fear due to media exposure.
Fear of black men,
fear of airplane crashes,
fears of violence amongst children, and
fears of cultural domination
The mass media in America serves many functions that have had an array of effects on those exposed. Throughout time, technological innovations have given rise to the mass communications and media, leading to an escalation of its effects on the world’s people. The most important effect has been a psychological shift to a constant state of fear due to media exposure.
Fear of black men,
fear of airplane crashes,
fears of violence amongst children, and
fears of cultural domination
;
Feminism, Child Sexual Abuse, and the Erasure of Child Sexuality;
GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies;
10(2), 141 - 177
In the 1970s the child protection lobby and feminism together spearheaded a painstaking interrogation and politicization of the social problem of child sexual abuse.
...
By the 1980s a powerful discourse of child sexual abuse was working hard to expose the widespread problem of incest in the patriarchal family and was vigorously contesting legal definitions of abuse that ignored or downplayed nonpenetrative sexual acts.
...
The myth of stranger danger was found ....
...
In a significant reversal of the common twentieth-century tendency of victim
blaming, the innocent, powerless, blameless, and unconsenting “victim” and “survivor” of sexual abuse became key cultural terms.
...
The “rediscovery” of child sexual abuse — perhaps more accurately called
a “reinterpretation” — has been profoundly important for Western culture.
...
This essay suggests that, despite admirable efforts to empower children and protect them from the harmful consequences of sexual abuse, they have in one particularly notable way been disempowered and disarmed by the child sexual abuse movement.
...
I argue that the discourse of child sexual abuse has expanded at the expense of a discourse of child sexuality. Rigorous attempts to expose the reality and dynamics of child sexual abuse have been aided, if not in part made possible, by equally rigorous attempts to conceal, repress, or ignore the reality and dynamics of child sexuality.
... ... ... ... ... ...
Queer theory offers an important corrective to the culturally prevailing linear and sequential model of age stratification and sexual development. In its psychoanalytic form, queer theory has inherited from Freud the idea that sexuality involves not a chronological unfolding of distinct stages of sexual development but an interminable interplay between these stages.
...
In a contemporary context of escalating anxiety and panic surrounding pedophilia and child sexual abuse, it is increasingly difficult, and perhaps for this reason all the more imperative, for queer studies to problematize the cultural and relational construction of age, child sexuality, and subjectivity.
In the 1970s the child protection lobby and feminism together spearheaded a painstaking interrogation and politicization of the social problem of child sexual abuse.
...
By the 1980s a powerful discourse of child sexual abuse was working hard to expose the widespread problem of incest in the patriarchal family and was vigorously contesting legal definitions of abuse that ignored or downplayed nonpenetrative sexual acts.
...
The myth of stranger danger was found ....
...
In a significant reversal of the common twentieth-century tendency of victim
blaming, the innocent, powerless, blameless, and unconsenting “victim” and “survivor” of sexual abuse became key cultural terms.
...
The “rediscovery” of child sexual abuse — perhaps more accurately called
a “reinterpretation” — has been profoundly important for Western culture.
...
This essay suggests that, despite admirable efforts to empower children and protect them from the harmful consequences of sexual abuse, they have in one particularly notable way been disempowered and disarmed by the child sexual abuse movement.
...
I argue that the discourse of child sexual abuse has expanded at the expense of a discourse of child sexuality. Rigorous attempts to expose the reality and dynamics of child sexual abuse have been aided, if not in part made possible, by equally rigorous attempts to conceal, repress, or ignore the reality and dynamics of child sexuality.
... ... ... ... ... ...
Queer theory offers an important corrective to the culturally prevailing linear and sequential model of age stratification and sexual development. In its psychoanalytic form, queer theory has inherited from Freud the idea that sexuality involves not a chronological unfolding of distinct stages of sexual development but an interminable interplay between these stages.
...
In a contemporary context of escalating anxiety and panic surrounding pedophilia and child sexual abuse, it is increasingly difficult, and perhaps for this reason all the more imperative, for queer studies to problematize the cultural and relational construction of age, child sexuality, and subjectivity.
;
Gay and Bisexual Men's Age-Discrepant Childhood Sexual Experiences;
The Journal of Sex Research;
41(4), 381-389
This study examined childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in gay and bisexual men. We compared
to evaluate which definition best accounted for problems in adjustment.
The sample consisted of 192 gay and bisexual men recruited from a randomly selected community sample. Men's descriptions of their CSA experiences [id est: CSE] were coded from taped interviews.
Fifty men (26%) reported sexual experiences before age 17 with someone at least 5 years older, constituting CSA according to the age-based definition.
These findings suggest that a perception-based CSA definition [CSE] more accurately represents harmful CSA experiences in gay and bisexual men than the conventional age-based definition [CSA].
In conclusion,
... the standard convention of defining age-based childhood sexual abuse as uniformly negative, harmful, and coercive may not accurately represent gay and bisexual men's sexual experiences.
Combining perception-based CSA experience [id est: CSE] with noncoercive, nonnegative, nonabusive experiences, as the age-based definition does, presents a misleading picture of childhood sexual abuse.
An age-based CSA definition inflates prevalence rates of childhood sexual abuse and inaccurately suggests that the maladjustment associated with perception-based CSA [id est CSE] experiences applies to all childhood age-discrepant sexual encounters.
In contrast, these results suggest that gay men with histories of nonnegative, noncoercive childhood sexual experiences [CSE] with older people are as well adjusted as those without histories of age-discrepant childhood sexual experiences.
However, both definitions of CSA [age-based CSA vs experience based CSE] account for only a very small proportion of the variance in adult adjustment problems.
Contrary to popular belief, negative outcomes do not inevitably follow from gay and bisexual men's childhood age-discrepant sexual encounters.
This study examined childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in gay and bisexual men. We compared
- the conventional definition of CSA based on age difference with
- a modified definition of CSA based on perception [CSE - Child Sexual Experience]
to evaluate which definition best accounted for problems in adjustment.
The sample consisted of 192 gay and bisexual men recruited from a randomly selected community sample. Men's descriptions of their CSA experiences [id est: CSE] were coded from taped interviews.
Fifty men (26%) reported sexual experiences before age 17 with someone at least 5 years older, constituting CSA according to the age-based definition.
- Of these men, 24 (49%) perceived their sexual experiences as negative, coercive, and/or abusive and thus were categorized as perception-based CSA. Participants with perception-based CSA experiences reported higher levels of maladjustment than non-CSA participants.
- Participants with age-based CSA experiences who perceived their sexual experience as non-negative, noncoercive, and nonabusive [51%?] were similar to non-CSA participants in their levels of adjustment.
These findings suggest that a perception-based CSA definition [CSE] more accurately represents harmful CSA experiences in gay and bisexual men than the conventional age-based definition [CSA].
In conclusion,
... the standard convention of defining age-based childhood sexual abuse as uniformly negative, harmful, and coercive may not accurately represent gay and bisexual men's sexual experiences.
Combining perception-based CSA experience [id est: CSE] with noncoercive, nonnegative, nonabusive experiences, as the age-based definition does, presents a misleading picture of childhood sexual abuse.
An age-based CSA definition inflates prevalence rates of childhood sexual abuse and inaccurately suggests that the maladjustment associated with perception-based CSA [id est CSE] experiences applies to all childhood age-discrepant sexual encounters.
In contrast, these results suggest that gay men with histories of nonnegative, noncoercive childhood sexual experiences [CSE] with older people are as well adjusted as those without histories of age-discrepant childhood sexual experiences.
However, both definitions of CSA [age-based CSA vs experience based CSE] account for only a very small proportion of the variance in adult adjustment problems.
Contrary to popular belief, negative outcomes do not inevitably follow from gay and bisexual men's childhood age-discrepant sexual encounters.
;
Intelligence, Memory, and Handedness in Pedophilia
A sample of 473 male patients with pedophilia (assessed by the patients’ sexual history and penile response in the laboratory to standardized, erotic stimuli) or other problematic sexual interests or behaviors received brief neuropsychological assessments. [...]
Pedophilia showed significant negative correlations with IQ and immediate
and delayed recall memory. Pedophilia was also related to non-right-handedness even after covarying age and IQ.
These results suggest that pedophilia is linked to early neurodevelopmental perturbations.
Given is the article in PDF format, and Abstract and some quotes in html format, followed by a Comment by PhD F. Gieles.
A sample of 473 male patients with pedophilia (assessed by the patients’ sexual history and penile response in the laboratory to standardized, erotic stimuli) or other problematic sexual interests or behaviors received brief neuropsychological assessments. [...]
Pedophilia showed significant negative correlations with IQ and immediate
and delayed recall memory. Pedophilia was also related to non-right-handedness even after covarying age and IQ.
These results suggest that pedophilia is linked to early neurodevelopmental perturbations.
Given is the article in PDF format, and Abstract and some quotes in html format, followed by a Comment by PhD F. Gieles.
;
Paedophilia and the Misrecognition of Desire
This article is not concerned with adjudicating the question of whether or not the cultural incidence of paedophilia has increased. It aims instead to interrogate the conceptual ground upon which recent efforts to identify the paedophile and paedophilic activity have pivoted.
The hegemonic domain for the propagation of paedophilia research has been the field of psychopathology. I argue that this field has profoundly 'misrecognised' paedophilia. In outlining this, I propose that the study of abnormal psychology must engage psychoanalytic, feminist, and deconstructive critiques of identity, and that it must resist the temptation to affix an ontological essence to the 'paedophile'. I conclude with the suggestion that only when research methodologies take seriously the question of the prevalence of intergenerational sexual desire in the general population can we even begin to understand paedophilia. [...]
I would argue that the major obstacle in the field of paedophilia research is itself a methodological reliance on an epistemology of identity and a politics of identification ('I am this' / 's/he is that').
The least productive way of approaching the problem is to identify the quintessential paedophile character profile or essentialised 'type'. [...]
Behaviour and desire do not equal identity.
This article is not concerned with adjudicating the question of whether or not the cultural incidence of paedophilia has increased. It aims instead to interrogate the conceptual ground upon which recent efforts to identify the paedophile and paedophilic activity have pivoted.
The hegemonic domain for the propagation of paedophilia research has been the field of psychopathology. I argue that this field has profoundly 'misrecognised' paedophilia. In outlining this, I propose that the study of abnormal psychology must engage psychoanalytic, feminist, and deconstructive critiques of identity, and that it must resist the temptation to affix an ontological essence to the 'paedophile'. I conclude with the suggestion that only when research methodologies take seriously the question of the prevalence of intergenerational sexual desire in the general population can we even begin to understand paedophilia. [...]
I would argue that the major obstacle in the field of paedophilia research is itself a methodological reliance on an epistemology of identity and a politics of identification ('I am this' / 's/he is that').
The least productive way of approaching the problem is to identify the quintessential paedophile character profile or essentialised 'type'. [...]
Behaviour and desire do not equal identity.
;
Gidean feminist scholarship and victim feminists,
Jan 01 2004
The unknown author criticizes in an unknown source the book of Naomi Segal about André Gide. He or she especially criticizes her view on Greek pedastery, as well on Gide's love and life.
The unknown author criticizes in an unknown source the book of Naomi Segal about André Gide. He or she especially criticizes her view on Greek pedastery, as well on Gide's love and life.
;
The Nature and Scope of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States,
Feb 01 2004
The study of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests and deacons resulting in this report was authorized and paid for by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) pursuant to the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (Charter) unanimously adopted by the USCCB at its June 2002 meeting. The Charter called for many responses to this victimization of minors within the Catholic Church.
Article 9 of the Charter provided for the creation of a lay body, the National Review Board, which was mandated (among other things) to commission a descriptive study of the nature and scope of the problem of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Accordingly, the Board approached John Jay College of Criminal Justice to conduct such a study. The College assembled an experienced team of researchers with expertise in the areas of forensic psychology, criminology, and human behavior, and, working with the Board, formulated a methodology to address the study mandate.
Data collection commenced in March 2003, and ended in February 2004. The information contained in this report is based upon surveys provided by 195 dioceses, representing 98% all diocesan priests in the United States, and 140 religious communities, representing approximately 60% of religious communities and 80% of all religious priests.
The mandate for the study was to:
1. Examine the number and nature of allegations of sexual abuse of minors under the age of 18 by Catholic priests between 1950 and 2002.
2. Collect information about the alleged abusers, including official status in the church, age, number of victims, responses by the church and legal authorities to the allegations of abuse, and other characteristics of the alleged abusers.
3. Collect information about the characteristics of the alleged victims, the nature of their relationship to the alleged abusers, the nature of the abuse, and the time frame within which the allegations are reported.
4. Accumulate information about the financial impact of the abuse on the Church.
Three surveys provide the data for this study.
The full report contains more detailed and additional analyses related to the information provided above.
This report is descriptive in nature. Future reports will examine the relationships among the variables described here in more detail and will be multivariate and analytic in nature.
The study of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests and deacons resulting in this report was authorized and paid for by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) pursuant to the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (Charter) unanimously adopted by the USCCB at its June 2002 meeting. The Charter called for many responses to this victimization of minors within the Catholic Church.
Article 9 of the Charter provided for the creation of a lay body, the National Review Board, which was mandated (among other things) to commission a descriptive study of the nature and scope of the problem of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Accordingly, the Board approached John Jay College of Criminal Justice to conduct such a study. The College assembled an experienced team of researchers with expertise in the areas of forensic psychology, criminology, and human behavior, and, working with the Board, formulated a methodology to address the study mandate.
Data collection commenced in March 2003, and ended in February 2004. The information contained in this report is based upon surveys provided by 195 dioceses, representing 98% all diocesan priests in the United States, and 140 religious communities, representing approximately 60% of religious communities and 80% of all religious priests.
The mandate for the study was to:
1. Examine the number and nature of allegations of sexual abuse of minors under the age of 18 by Catholic priests between 1950 and 2002.
2. Collect information about the alleged abusers, including official status in the church, age, number of victims, responses by the church and legal authorities to the allegations of abuse, and other characteristics of the alleged abusers.
3. Collect information about the characteristics of the alleged victims, the nature of their relationship to the alleged abusers, the nature of the abuse, and the time frame within which the allegations are reported.
4. Accumulate information about the financial impact of the abuse on the Church.
Three surveys provide the data for this study.
The full report contains more detailed and additional analyses related to the information provided above.
This report is descriptive in nature. Future reports will examine the relationships among the variables described here in more detail and will be multivariate and analytic in nature.
;
Socrates & I : Reflections On Childhood And Philosophy,
Mar 26 2004
The article explores the childhood of Socrates, born and raised in the ancient Greek culture. It may explain some specific characteristics of Socrates.
The author, born in 1941, reflects her own childhood, and ends with some questions.
The article explores the childhood of Socrates, born and raised in the ancient Greek culture. It may explain some specific characteristics of Socrates.
The author, born in 1941, reflects her own childhood, and ends with some questions.