The older Libraries 1 to 3 are somewhat intermingled: all their articles are referenced in the Central catalogue (with its Register by author and Register by subject) - even though Library 2 and Library 3 have their own index page.
This page is the separate register of 'Library 4'. Its contents are not visible on the older catalogue/register pages; only here. It is also ordered in a slightly different manner.
If you want to see only a subset of the articles in this new register, or search for a specific article, please use the 'Search/Restrict results' section just below. Alternatively, if you are looking for specific authors, publication types, subjects, ... you can browse the lists of those, using the appropriate tabs just above this text.
Added: July 2013
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Alice in Wonderland: Sexual Upbringing in America;
287 pp
We can't stop our children from finding out about types of sexuality that we don't like. But if we openly and honestly discuss sex with our children, we can help make them responsible and caring in their own sexual choices regardless of what today's world exposes them to.
As I will shortly discuss, we know that infants masturbate and children of all ages explore each other's genitalia. So sex in children is far from dormant.
Let's be honest about preadolescent sexuality.
If we want to reduce exploitation of children, we have to empower children. Young people need to know that they have real choices to make in the area of sexuality. To do that we must develop a pluralistic rather than a dogmatic approach to sex.
Forbidding or ignoring all child sexuality does not give a child control over his or her sexuality. Only when children are given the right to say yes to some forms of sexual exploration will children feel that they have the responsibility to say no to other sexual practices.
We can't stop our children from finding out about types of sexuality that we don't like. But if we openly and honestly discuss sex with our children, we can help make them responsible and caring in their own sexual choices regardless of what today's world exposes them to.
As I will shortly discuss, we know that infants masturbate and children of all ages explore each other's genitalia. So sex in children is far from dormant.
Let's be honest about preadolescent sexuality.
If we want to reduce exploitation of children, we have to empower children. Young people need to know that they have real choices to make in the area of sexuality. To do that we must develop a pluralistic rather than a dogmatic approach to sex.
Forbidding or ignoring all child sexuality does not give a child control over his or her sexuality. Only when children are given the right to say yes to some forms of sexual exploration will children feel that they have the responsibility to say no to other sexual practices.
Added: June 2013
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The Sex-Abuse Time-Line Diagrams;
IPT Journal, Vol 6, 3-5, 1994
When evaluating sexual abuse allegations it is extremely important to differentiate between symptoms that arose prior to disclosure and those that arose afterwards. Symptoms arising after the disclosure and cessation of abuse can be caused by sexual abuse therapy, multiple interrogations, and other aspects of the legal process. Therefore, in a sex-abuse examination it is necessary to inquire as to the timing of the development of any claimed symptoms. Diagrams are presented to facilitate this inquiry.
When evaluating sexual abuse allegations it is extremely important to differentiate between symptoms that arose prior to disclosure and those that arose afterwards. Symptoms arising after the disclosure and cessation of abuse can be caused by sexual abuse therapy, multiple interrogations, and other aspects of the legal process. Therefore, in a sex-abuse examination it is necessary to inquire as to the timing of the development of any claimed symptoms. Diagrams are presented to facilitate this inquiry.
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Thinking Sex
Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality; 1984
In this essay, ?rst published in 1984, Rubin argues that in the West, the 1880s, the 1950s, and the contemporary era have been periods of sex panic, periods in which the state, the institutions medicine, and the popular media have mobilized to attach and oppress all whose sexual tastes differ from those allowed by the currently dominative model of sexual correctness.
She also suggests that during the contemporary era the worst brand of the oppression has been borne by those who practice s/m or cross-generational sex.
Rubin maintains that we are to devise a theory to account for the outbreak and direction of sexual panics, we shall need to base the theory on more than just feminist thinking. Although feminist thinking explains gender injustices, it does not and cannot provide by itself a full explanation for the oppression of sexual minorities.
Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality; 1984
In this essay, ?rst published in 1984, Rubin argues that in the West, the 1880s, the 1950s, and the contemporary era have been periods of sex panic, periods in which the state, the institutions medicine, and the popular media have mobilized to attach and oppress all whose sexual tastes differ from those allowed by the currently dominative model of sexual correctness.
She also suggests that during the contemporary era the worst brand of the oppression has been borne by those who practice s/m or cross-generational sex.
Rubin maintains that we are to devise a theory to account for the outbreak and direction of sexual panics, we shall need to base the theory on more than just feminist thinking. Although feminist thinking explains gender injustices, it does not and cannot provide by itself a full explanation for the oppression of sexual minorities.
Added: May 2013
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Transforming Diagnosis,
Apr 29 2013
In a few weeks, the American Psychiatric Association will release its new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V).
The weakness is its lack of validity.
The DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure.
Patients with mental disorders deserve better.
NIMH has launched the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project to transform diagnosis.
The diagnostic system has to be based on the emerging research data, not on the current symptom-based categories.
In a few weeks, the American Psychiatric Association will release its new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V).
The weakness is its lack of validity.
The DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure.
Patients with mental disorders deserve better.
NIMH has launched the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project to transform diagnosis.
The diagnostic system has to be based on the emerging research data, not on the current symptom-based categories.
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Are we all condemned to live in ‘cycles of abuse’?
It is now heresy to question the idea that child abuse damages a person for life. But such a deeply fatalistic idea must be questioned.
The diagnosis that child sexual abuse causes long-term psychological damage is influenced by today’s ‘cycle of abuse’ theories. This model, which says there is an intergenerational transmission of violence, is one of the most uncontested themes of the modern-day literature on family violence.
The abuse model is based on a belief that human action is determined and conditioned by powerful forces beyond its control. Such a fatalistic world view is conveyed through the idea that the experience of psychological trauma in early childhood directly shapes the actions and behaviour of a person for the rest of hisor her life.
We need to have a more open-minded discussion about this difficult subject.
It is now heresy to question the idea that child abuse damages a person for life. But such a deeply fatalistic idea must be questioned.
The diagnosis that child sexual abuse causes long-term psychological damage is influenced by today’s ‘cycle of abuse’ theories. This model, which says there is an intergenerational transmission of violence, is one of the most uncontested themes of the modern-day literature on family violence.
The abuse model is based on a belief that human action is determined and conditioned by powerful forces beyond its control. Such a fatalistic world view is conveyed through the idea that the experience of psychological trauma in early childhood directly shapes the actions and behaviour of a person for the rest of hisor her life.
We need to have a more open-minded discussion about this difficult subject.
Added: April 2013
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Juvenile, Pedophile, Heterophile: Hermeneutics of Science, Medicine and Law in Two Outcome Studies;
Medicine and Law;
1983(2), 39 - 54
Two young men, aged eighteen and twenty respectively, had a history of a juvenile and early adolescent relationship with an older male pedophilic lover. The eroto-sexual component of the relationship ended when the younger partner became too sexually mature, at which time each had a pair-bonded love affair with a girl. Subjectively and behaviorally they were neither homosexual nor pedophilic in orientation. They evaluated themselves as having not been traumatized by having had a history of a relationship with a pedophile.
Two young men, aged eighteen and twenty respectively, had a history of a juvenile and early adolescent relationship with an older male pedophilic lover. The eroto-sexual component of the relationship ended when the younger partner became too sexually mature, at which time each had a pair-bonded love affair with a girl. Subjectively and behaviorally they were neither homosexual nor pedophilic in orientation. They evaluated themselves as having not been traumatized by having had a history of a relationship with a pedophile.
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Youths not always victims in man-boy sex, survey reveals;
The International Journal of Human Relations. Volume 14 (1) pp. 8-9 October, 1984 ;
14 (1, October 1984), 8 & 9
Part of a report of a forum in which Sandfort and Finkelhor discuss the former's research and its conclusions and views: Are children always traumatized by pedophiles? Sandfort takes a researcher's stand ('no'), Finkelhor a moral stand ('yes').
Part of a report of a forum in which Sandfort and Finkelhor discuss the former's research and its conclusions and views: Are children always traumatized by pedophiles? Sandfort takes a researcher's stand ('no'), Finkelhor a moral stand ('yes').
Added: March 2013
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Hebephilia as Mental Disorder?;
Archives of Sexual Behavior;
41(4), 797–829,
Jun 28 2012
A Historical, Cross-Cultural, Sociological, Cross-Species, Non-Clinical Empirical, and Evolutionary Review
Blanchard et al. (2009) demonstrated that hebephilia is a genuine sexual preference, but then proposed, without argument or evidence, that it should be designated as a mental disorder in the DSM-5. A series of Letters-to-the-Editor criticized this proposal as a non sequitur. Blanchard (2009), in rebuttal, reaffirmed his position, but without adequately addressing some central criticisms.
In this article, we examine hebephilia-as-disorder in full detail. Unlike Blanchard et al., we discuss definitions of mental disorder, examine extensive evidence from a broad range of sources, and consider alternative (i.e., non-pathological) explanations for hebephilia.
We employed Wakefield's (1992b) harmful dysfunction approach to disorder, which holds that a condition only counts as a disorder when it is a failure of a naturally selected mechanism to function as designed, which is harmful to the individual in the current environment. We also considered a harmful-for-others approach to disorder (Brülde, 2007).
Examination of historical, cross-cultural, sociological, cross-species, non-clinical empirical, and evolutionary evidence and perspectives indicated that hebephilic interest is an evolved capacity and hebephilic preference an expectable distributional variant, both of which were adaptively neutral or functional, not dysfunctional, in earlier human environments. Hebephilia's conflict with modern society makes it an evolutionary mismatch, not a genuine disorder.
Though it should not be classified as a disorder, it could be entered in the DSM's V-code section, used for non-disordered conditions that create significant problems in present-day society.
A Historical, Cross-Cultural, Sociological, Cross-Species, Non-Clinical Empirical, and Evolutionary Review
Blanchard et al. (2009) demonstrated that hebephilia is a genuine sexual preference, but then proposed, without argument or evidence, that it should be designated as a mental disorder in the DSM-5. A series of Letters-to-the-Editor criticized this proposal as a non sequitur. Blanchard (2009), in rebuttal, reaffirmed his position, but without adequately addressing some central criticisms.
In this article, we examine hebephilia-as-disorder in full detail. Unlike Blanchard et al., we discuss definitions of mental disorder, examine extensive evidence from a broad range of sources, and consider alternative (i.e., non-pathological) explanations for hebephilia.
We employed Wakefield's (1992b) harmful dysfunction approach to disorder, which holds that a condition only counts as a disorder when it is a failure of a naturally selected mechanism to function as designed, which is harmful to the individual in the current environment. We also considered a harmful-for-others approach to disorder (Brülde, 2007).
Examination of historical, cross-cultural, sociological, cross-species, non-clinical empirical, and evolutionary evidence and perspectives indicated that hebephilic interest is an evolved capacity and hebephilic preference an expectable distributional variant, both of which were adaptively neutral or functional, not dysfunctional, in earlier human environments. Hebephilia's conflict with modern society makes it an evolutionary mismatch, not a genuine disorder.
Though it should not be classified as a disorder, it could be entered in the DSM's V-code section, used for non-disordered conditions that create significant problems in present-day society.
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Jailbait: The Politics of Statutory Rape Laws in the United States - Review
In the first book-length study of such laws, Cocca reflects on their historical context, and, more important, she documents and analyzes important changes that legislators have enacted in the last thirty years. Drawing from scholarship on law and society, Cocca inquires into the legal system's role in constructing and regulating "cultural narratives about gender and sexuality" through statutory rape law (p. 3).
While preventing the sexual coercion of young people is "unquestionably a laudable goal," she writes, statutory rape laws actually do much more than that. They punish consensual sexual relationships that occur outside of marriage, thereby putting the weight of the law behind one particular form of sexual intimacy: marital heterosexuality.
[...]
The adoption of age-span provisions reflects sympathy for consensual heterosexual teen relationships, but the provisions address consent structurally rather than subjectively. This leaves many youths vulnerable to sexual coercion by their peers at the same time that it denies the relevance of consent outside of the age span.
As long as age operates as a proxy for consent (or the lack thereof), statutory rape law will continue to fail at least as many youth as it protects.
In the first book-length study of such laws, Cocca reflects on their historical context, and, more important, she documents and analyzes important changes that legislators have enacted in the last thirty years. Drawing from scholarship on law and society, Cocca inquires into the legal system's role in constructing and regulating "cultural narratives about gender and sexuality" through statutory rape law (p. 3).
While preventing the sexual coercion of young people is "unquestionably a laudable goal," she writes, statutory rape laws actually do much more than that. They punish consensual sexual relationships that occur outside of marriage, thereby putting the weight of the law behind one particular form of sexual intimacy: marital heterosexuality.
[...]
The adoption of age-span provisions reflects sympathy for consensual heterosexual teen relationships, but the provisions address consent structurally rather than subjectively. This leaves many youths vulnerable to sexual coercion by their peers at the same time that it denies the relevance of consent outside of the age span.
As long as age operates as a proxy for consent (or the lack thereof), statutory rape law will continue to fail at least as many youth as it protects.
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Crime Without Victims: A book about paedophilia
Introduced by Copenhagen's eminent sexologist, Dr. Preben Hertoft, this readable volume, translated from the Danish, begins with three essays on what is really known (rather than what "experts" in the media tell us) about sexual relations between adults and minors. Then follow sixteen fresh, spontaneous interviews with people concerned - an attorney specialising in the defense of paedophiles, a Copenhagen judge, adults who have sexual relations with minors, minors who have sexual relations with adults - even one mother of such a boy. Most of the youngsters found their sexually expressed friendships with adults a positive force in their lives and helpful in the discovery of self.
Introduced by Copenhagen's eminent sexologist, Dr. Preben Hertoft, this readable volume, translated from the Danish, begins with three essays on what is really known (rather than what "experts" in the media tell us) about sexual relations between adults and minors. Then follow sixteen fresh, spontaneous interviews with people concerned - an attorney specialising in the defense of paedophiles, a Copenhagen judge, adults who have sexual relations with minors, minors who have sexual relations with adults - even one mother of such a boy. Most of the youngsters found their sexually expressed friendships with adults a positive force in their lives and helpful in the discovery of self.
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The Secret of Bryn Estyn: The Making of a Modern Witch Hunt by R. Webster - Review;
Extent unknown
Richard Webster sets out to tell the ‘story of the story’ of Bryn Estyn, the approved school at the centre of the North Wales child abuse scandal. It’s a story that has everything: personal animus, fantasy, intrigue, alleged Masonic conspiracy, bizarre sex acts and courtroom drama.
Webster leads us from the early investigations, which found no evidence of systematic abuse in children’s homes in North Wales, through the persistent rumours that led to the reopening of criminal and civil inquiries.
Richard Webster sets out to tell the ‘story of the story’ of Bryn Estyn, the approved school at the centre of the North Wales child abuse scandal. It’s a story that has everything: personal animus, fantasy, intrigue, alleged Masonic conspiracy, bizarre sex acts and courtroom drama.
Webster leads us from the early investigations, which found no evidence of systematic abuse in children’s homes in North Wales, through the persistent rumours that led to the reopening of criminal and civil inquiries.
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Michael Jackson’s Dangerous Liaisons - Review;
Archives of Sexual Behavior
This is an unusual book, especially for review in an academic journal. Its subject is pop icon Michael Jackson, one of the most famous, talented, and financially successful entertainers of all time — and also one of the strangest. Specifically, the book focuses on Jackson’s interest in children, and whether that interest was sexual in nature. The author, Tom O’Carroll (under the pseudonym ‘‘Carl Toms’’), is himself an unapologetic pedophile, and his pedophilia has influenced both his insight into Jackson and his aspirations for the book. [... ... ...]
This book is fascinating, challenging, and discomfiting. Anyone wanting to understand Michael Jackson will need to read it. [...] It certainly illuminates the most controversial aspect of Jackson’s life, one that was surely important to Jackson. [..]
Dangerous Liaisons is also worth reading for the challenges it raises regarding pedophilic relationships and their consequences. I suspect O’Carroll believes that this is a suitable tribute to Michael Jackson’s unfinished life.
This is an unusual book, especially for review in an academic journal. Its subject is pop icon Michael Jackson, one of the most famous, talented, and financially successful entertainers of all time — and also one of the strangest. Specifically, the book focuses on Jackson’s interest in children, and whether that interest was sexual in nature. The author, Tom O’Carroll (under the pseudonym ‘‘Carl Toms’’), is himself an unapologetic pedophile, and his pedophilia has influenced both his insight into Jackson and his aspirations for the book. [... ... ...]
This book is fascinating, challenging, and discomfiting. Anyone wanting to understand Michael Jackson will need to read it. [...] It certainly illuminates the most controversial aspect of Jackson’s life, one that was surely important to Jackson. [..]
Dangerous Liaisons is also worth reading for the challenges it raises regarding pedophilic relationships and their consequences. I suspect O’Carroll believes that this is a suitable tribute to Michael Jackson’s unfinished life.
Added: February 2013
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Paedophiles in Society: Reflecting on Sexuality, Abuse and Hope;
243 pp
This book is not like any other book you may have read on paedophiles, or adult sexual attraction to children, or child protection. It is not about the medical, forensic, psychological, psychiatric, legal or criminological aspects of these phenomena.
Those issues are adequately dealt with in other texts. Instead, this book is about ordinariness, about culture and society around us and about how people in everyday life think about and make sense of men being sexually attracted to children
(the book says something too about women sexually attracted to children but the focus is predominantly on men).
This book is not like any other book you may have read on paedophiles, or adult sexual attraction to children, or child protection. It is not about the medical, forensic, psychological, psychiatric, legal or criminological aspects of these phenomena.
Those issues are adequately dealt with in other texts. Instead, this book is about ordinariness, about culture and society around us and about how people in everyday life think about and make sense of men being sexually attracted to children
(the book says something too about women sexually attracted to children but the focus is predominantly on men).
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How can we prevent child abuse if we don't understand paedophilia?;
Independent Voices (UK),
Jan 07 2013
If we want to keep children safe from sexual harm, then surely knowing what we’re dealing with would be a good first step. [...]
What gets a bit more complicated is distinguishing between paedophilia (the sexual attraction) and child sexual abuse (adult sexual contact with children below the legal age of consent). Paedophilia is, strictly speaking, in a separate conceptual category to child sexual abuse, although in everyday life the word ‘paedophile’ is typically taken to mean a person (usually a man) who has sexually offended against a child. [...]
The first step is to try and work out how many paedophiles there are.
[...] we would be therefore looking at around one in five of all the men we know having some degree of sexual attraction to children. [...]
Some people experience such sexual desires but don’t act upon them. Perhaps, for them, in a sex-saturated society, that’s quite an achievement. We need to be able to acknowledge and understand their self-control.
Independent Voices is the Independent newspaper's online blogging site. The article didn't actually appear in the paper (as fas as I know).
If we want to keep children safe from sexual harm, then surely knowing what we’re dealing with would be a good first step. [...]
What gets a bit more complicated is distinguishing between paedophilia (the sexual attraction) and child sexual abuse (adult sexual contact with children below the legal age of consent). Paedophilia is, strictly speaking, in a separate conceptual category to child sexual abuse, although in everyday life the word ‘paedophile’ is typically taken to mean a person (usually a man) who has sexually offended against a child. [...]
The first step is to try and work out how many paedophiles there are.
[...] we would be therefore looking at around one in five of all the men we know having some degree of sexual attraction to children. [...]
Some people experience such sexual desires but don’t act upon them. Perhaps, for them, in a sex-saturated society, that’s quite an achievement. We need to be able to acknowledge and understand their self-control.
Independent Voices is the Independent newspaper's online blogging site. The article didn't actually appear in the paper (as fas as I know).
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Of Goode and evil - Review of "Paedophiles in Society: Reflecting on Sexuality, Abuse and Hope" By Sarah D. Goode
Sociologist Sarah Goode’s latest book is not primarily a work of research within her discipline; rather, it takes us on an ambitious grand tour in a bid to situate paedophilia historically and cross-culturally.
“We have got ourselves into a pickle sexually”, she says, proposing a way out of it that many will regard as both bold and humane. As will be seen, I beg to differ.
The new book can be read independently. It should be noted, though, that only the first volume considers the harm that is intrinsic, or is allegedly so, to every adult-child sexual contact, no matter how loving and non-coercive it might be. This is a crucial issue, to which I shall return.
Goode begins the Preface to Paedophiles in Society with the large claim that this will be unlike “any other book you may have read on paedophiles, or adult sexual attraction to children, or child protection”; instead of focusing on medical, forensic, psychological, psychiatric, legal or criminological aspects, it promises to be “a book about ordinariness, about culture and society around us”.
It is not, in fact, unique in this regard as it follows several such works
Sociologist Sarah Goode’s latest book is not primarily a work of research within her discipline; rather, it takes us on an ambitious grand tour in a bid to situate paedophilia historically and cross-culturally.
“We have got ourselves into a pickle sexually”, she says, proposing a way out of it that many will regard as both bold and humane. As will be seen, I beg to differ.
The new book can be read independently. It should be noted, though, that only the first volume considers the harm that is intrinsic, or is allegedly so, to every adult-child sexual contact, no matter how loving and non-coercive it might be. This is a crucial issue, to which I shall return.
Goode begins the Preface to Paedophiles in Society with the large claim that this will be unlike “any other book you may have read on paedophiles, or adult sexual attraction to children, or child protection”; instead of focusing on medical, forensic, psychological, psychiatric, legal or criminological aspects, it promises to be “a book about ordinariness, about culture and society around us”.
It is not, in fact, unique in this regard as it follows several such works
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Understanding and Addressing Sexual Attraction to Children: A Study of Paedophiles in Contemporary Society;
?
This ground-breaking book demystifies the field of adult sexual attraction to children, countering the emotionality surrounding the topic of paedophilia in the popular media by careful presentation of research data and interview material. Addressing how we can work together to reduce sexual offending in this population, this text bridges the gulf in understanding between those who want to protect children and those who feel sexual attraction to children – and recognises that they are sometimes the same people.
This ground-breaking book demystifies the field of adult sexual attraction to children, countering the emotionality surrounding the topic of paedophilia in the popular media by careful presentation of research data and interview material. Addressing how we can work together to reduce sexual offending in this population, this text bridges the gulf in understanding between those who want to protect children and those who feel sexual attraction to children – and recognises that they are sometimes the same people.
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Paedophilia: bringing dark desires to light;
The Guardian,
Jan 03 2013
Not all paedophiles are child molesters, and vice versa: by no means every paedophile acts on his impulses, and many people who sexually abuse children are not exclusively or primarily sexually attracted to them. In fact, "true" paedophiles are estimated by some experts to account for only 20% of sexual abusers. Nor are paedophiles necessarily violent: no firm links have so far been established between paedophilia and aggressive or psychotic symptoms.
[...]
there is a growing conviction, notably in Canada, that paedophilia should probably be classified as a distinct sexual orientation, like heterosexuality or homosexuality.
Not all paedophiles are child molesters, and vice versa: by no means every paedophile acts on his impulses, and many people who sexually abuse children are not exclusively or primarily sexually attracted to them. In fact, "true" paedophiles are estimated by some experts to account for only 20% of sexual abusers. Nor are paedophiles necessarily violent: no firm links have so far been established between paedophilia and aggressive or psychotic symptoms.
[...]
there is a growing conviction, notably in Canada, that paedophilia should probably be classified as a distinct sexual orientation, like heterosexuality or homosexuality.
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New: Ipce Magazine # 6 - Theme: Civil Commitments;
Ipce Magazine
This article examines how civil commitment has been rolled out in the case of the sex offender, and focuses on the implementation of the program in the US and the controversy that has been spawned as a result. [...]
The term ‘mental disorder’ has been expanded therefore to include ‘mental abnormality’, to enable sex offenders to be committed civilly.
This article examines how civil commitment has been rolled out in the case of the sex offender, and focuses on the implementation of the program in the US and the controversy that has been spawned as a result. [...]
The term ‘mental disorder’ has been expanded therefore to include ‘mental abnormality’, to enable sex offenders to be committed civilly.
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Naming, Blaming, and Framing: Moral Panic over Child Molesters and Its Implications for Public Policy;
Ch 5: 16 pp
Excerpt from the book: Moral Panics over Contemporary Children and Youth -
Charles Krinsky (Editor).
This book examines for the first time an important and controversial social issue, employing a rigorous intellectual framework to explore the cultural construction of youth through the dissemination of moral panics.
Given here is Chapter 5:
The moral panic over CSA and sexual abusers is the compelling and inexorable result of publicly challenging deeply ingrained taboos about sexual attitudes and practices. The controversy has been heightened by the cacophony of competing statistics and claims regarding the presence of CSA in American society.
Since the dawn of the child welfare movement in this country, the sexual abuse of children and youth has been a pressing concern, but the proliferation of mass media has pushed this preoccupation to an obsessive level. [...]
Undoubtedly, sexual molestation can be a deeply traumatic, life-altering, and painful assault on youth. Nevertheless, the compulsive sense of panic that escalated fear of CSA in the final decades of the twentieth century and first years of the twenty-first century have ultimately overshadowed the less dramatic, but no less disturbing reality.
Excerpt from the book: Moral Panics over Contemporary Children and Youth -
Charles Krinsky (Editor).
This book examines for the first time an important and controversial social issue, employing a rigorous intellectual framework to explore the cultural construction of youth through the dissemination of moral panics.
Given here is Chapter 5:
The moral panic over CSA and sexual abusers is the compelling and inexorable result of publicly challenging deeply ingrained taboos about sexual attitudes and practices. The controversy has been heightened by the cacophony of competing statistics and claims regarding the presence of CSA in American society.
Since the dawn of the child welfare movement in this country, the sexual abuse of children and youth has been a pressing concern, but the proliferation of mass media has pushed this preoccupation to an obsessive level. [...]
Undoubtedly, sexual molestation can be a deeply traumatic, life-altering, and painful assault on youth. Nevertheless, the compulsive sense of panic that escalated fear of CSA in the final decades of the twentieth century and first years of the twenty-first century have ultimately overshadowed the less dramatic, but no less disturbing reality.
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New: Ipce Magazine # 5 - Theme: Sexually active youth
Youth actually is sexually active. In our society, over-filled with sexual images and scenes - if not at least an obsession - this not seen as a sign of natural development, a right or a joy, but as a problem. Just this vision raises problems. There are better visions.
Youth actually is sexually active. In our society, over-filled with sexual images and scenes - if not at least an obsession - this not seen as a sign of natural development, a right or a joy, but as a problem. Just this vision raises problems. There are better visions.
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Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) - chapter 5 - Early Sexual Growth and Activity;
35 pp, 157 - 192
Chapter five, here presented as a .PDF file, is devoted to early sexual growth and activity and first sets out to define erotic arousal and orgasm, noting the variation in pattern of orgastic response in individuals.
One significant finding was that more than 99% of these boys adopted a regular routine of sexual activity after the initial experience of ejaculation.
Chapter five, here presented as a .PDF file, is devoted to early sexual growth and activity and first sets out to define erotic arousal and orgasm, noting the variation in pattern of orgastic response in individuals.
One significant finding was that more than 99% of these boys adopted a regular routine of sexual activity after the initial experience of ejaculation.
Added: January 2013
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The Trauma Myth - Susan Clancy - The Book;
257 pp
Consensual, non-violent/not overtly coercive sexual activity involving adults and minors, contrary to popular belief, does NOT normally cause trauma to young people - even when engaged it at a very early age. Susan Clancy demonstrates this through her research, but fails to reach this (obvious) conclusion in her text.
This file gives some comments and reviews present in Ipce's library, as well as a link to the .PDF version of the book.
Consensual, non-violent/not overtly coercive sexual activity involving adults and minors, contrary to popular belief, does NOT normally cause trauma to young people - even when engaged it at a very early age. Susan Clancy demonstrates this through her research, but fails to reach this (obvious) conclusion in her text.
This file gives some comments and reviews present in Ipce's library, as well as a link to the .PDF version of the book.
Added: December 2012
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The Vilification of Sex Offenders: Do Laws Targeting Sex Offenders Increase Recidivism and Sexual Violence?;
Journal of Sexual Offender Civil Commitment: Science and the Law;
1, 141-149
Sex offenders are universally hated and despised and seen as dangerous sexual predators unless locked up and kept under surveillance. Following a number of highly publicized violent crimes, all states passed registration and notification laws and many passed civil commitment laws. Although these laws were passed as a means to decrease recidivism and promote public safety, the resulting stigmatization of sex offenders is likely to result in disruption of their relationships, loss of or difficulties finding jobs, difficulties finding housing, and decreased psychological well-being, all factors that could increase their risk of recidivism.
The civil commitment programs amount to expensive preventive detention and incapacitation rather than treatment; very few have been released. The high costs of the civil commitment programs divert resources from other programs with a better chance of being effective in reducing sexual violence.
Sex offenders are universally hated and despised and seen as dangerous sexual predators unless locked up and kept under surveillance. Following a number of highly publicized violent crimes, all states passed registration and notification laws and many passed civil commitment laws. Although these laws were passed as a means to decrease recidivism and promote public safety, the resulting stigmatization of sex offenders is likely to result in disruption of their relationships, loss of or difficulties finding jobs, difficulties finding housing, and decreased psychological well-being, all factors that could increase their risk of recidivism.
The civil commitment programs amount to expensive preventive detention and incapacitation rather than treatment; very few have been released. The high costs of the civil commitment programs divert resources from other programs with a better chance of being effective in reducing sexual violence.
Added: November 2012
;
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.