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A Generation Silenced: The Role of Children as Seen Through the Discourse on Age ofConsent Legislation;
Psychology Department,
Dec 03 2007
Age of consent laws have been the source of a major debate between those that
believe children need to be protected from predators, and those that believe children should have rights, and that the harm caused by a sexual relationship between a child and an adult has been dramatically sensationalized.
However, among those involved in this dispute, no children can be found arguing for either perspective.
This study was initially intended to reveal the opinions of children on the issue
of age of consent laws. Then I was informed that this was next to impossible given the various types of legal authorization I would be required to get. The issue of authorization is what ultimately led to the focus of this study – questioning what devices are put in place by society to prevent children from expressing their opinions?
Also in this study, I examine whether there is a prevalent feeling that children should be able to express their opinions, and finally, in what forms would this expression be considered acceptable?
To explore these questions, the views of university students as well as
professionals were utilized as tools by which to understand the societal constructs that have silenced children, relating specifically to the Netherlands, but relevant outside of the Netherlands as well.
Finally, there is a discussion of whether or not it is necessary that these constructs exist, and the ways in which it would possible to transcend them.
Age of consent laws have been the source of a major debate between those that
believe children need to be protected from predators, and those that believe children should have rights, and that the harm caused by a sexual relationship between a child and an adult has been dramatically sensationalized.
However, among those involved in this dispute, no children can be found arguing for either perspective.
This study was initially intended to reveal the opinions of children on the issue
of age of consent laws. Then I was informed that this was next to impossible given the various types of legal authorization I would be required to get. The issue of authorization is what ultimately led to the focus of this study – questioning what devices are put in place by society to prevent children from expressing their opinions?
Also in this study, I examine whether there is a prevalent feeling that children should be able to express their opinions, and finally, in what forms would this expression be considered acceptable?
To explore these questions, the views of university students as well as
professionals were utilized as tools by which to understand the societal constructs that have silenced children, relating specifically to the Netherlands, but relevant outside of the Netherlands as well.
Finally, there is a discussion of whether or not it is necessary that these constructs exist, and the ways in which it would possible to transcend them.
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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?
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Turning Points and Chains of Changings …
I will highlight some turning points and the changes that have followed within the Netherlands during the last ten decades.
First: liberalization. Then: some severe incidents > Moral Panic > magnifying the incident > more rules and laws > gradually fading out the panic.
More and more severe rules and laws followed.
Pro- and Contra Groups appeared.
Two contrasting trends are visible. Contra groups, but also more nuanced ideas of professional helpers, researchers and even the popular press: the difference between pedophilia (feeling) and pedosexuality (acts) is acknowledged. The ‘pedophiles’ themselves have developed a new ethical code [...]
Here appears [...] the “NOMAP”, the Non Offending Minor Attracted person. He or she might become welcome in society, no longer as a ‘distorted patient’, but as a person with a less common (sexual) orientation, which is not dangerous as long as the person has the self-discipline to control his or her impulses, just as every (sexual) orientation demands to every person.
I will highlight some turning points and the changes that have followed within the Netherlands during the last ten decades.
First: liberalization. Then: some severe incidents > Moral Panic > magnifying the incident > more rules and laws > gradually fading out the panic.
More and more severe rules and laws followed.
Pro- and Contra Groups appeared.
Two contrasting trends are visible. Contra groups, but also more nuanced ideas of professional helpers, researchers and even the popular press: the difference between pedophilia (feeling) and pedosexuality (acts) is acknowledged. The ‘pedophiles’ themselves have developed a new ethical code [...]
Here appears [...] the “NOMAP”, the Non Offending Minor Attracted person. He or she might become welcome in society, no longer as a ‘distorted patient’, but as a person with a less common (sexual) orientation, which is not dangerous as long as the person has the self-discipline to control his or her impulses, just as every (sexual) orientation demands to every person.
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Navigating the Stigma of Pedophilia: The Experiences of Nine Minor Attracted Men in Canada;
99 pp
This thesis presents findings and analysis arising from semi-structured qualitative interviews with nine minor-attracted men (i.e. men who are primarily attracted to children and/or adolescents) in Canada.
The central research question is “how do minor-attracted people understand and manage their stigmatized identities?” I situated the participants' experiences within a broader social context by reviewing relevant academic literature, laws, and dominant cultural attitudes. Utilizing a symbolic-interactionist approach, and drawing on Goffman's concept of “stigma,” t
his thesis illustrates the unique challenges facing minor-attracted people.
The study reveals that minor-attracted people become aware of their sexuality at an early age, experience stress caused by real or perceived societal rejection, and encounter both positive and negative reacti
The conclusion underscores the need for a new approach to dealing with
minor-attraction in contemporary Western society. I offer eight recommendations for instituting a strategy which incorporates empathy, education, and anti-discrimination measures.
This thesis presents findings and analysis arising from semi-structured qualitative interviews with nine minor-attracted men (i.e. men who are primarily attracted to children and/or adolescents) in Canada.
The central research question is “how do minor-attracted people understand and manage their stigmatized identities?” I situated the participants' experiences within a broader social context by reviewing relevant academic literature, laws, and dominant cultural attitudes. Utilizing a symbolic-interactionist approach, and drawing on Goffman's concept of “stigma,” t
his thesis illustrates the unique challenges facing minor-attracted people.
The study reveals that minor-attracted people become aware of their sexuality at an early age, experience stress caused by real or perceived societal rejection, and encounter both positive and negative reacti
The conclusion underscores the need for a new approach to dealing with
minor-attraction in contemporary Western society. I offer eight recommendations for instituting a strategy which incorporates empathy, education, and anti-discrimination measures.
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Perpetual Panic;
Federal Sentencing Reporter;
21(2), pp. 69–77
The account of recent developments that unfolds in these pages may be viewed as yet another chapter in the story of a child sex abuse panic that is now well into its third decade - [Especially in the USA]
The account of recent developments that unfolds in these pages may be viewed as yet another chapter in the story of a child sex abuse panic that is now well into its third decade - [Especially in the USA]
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Predator Panic: A Closer Look,
Sep 01 2006
“Protect the children.” [...]
Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent protecting children from one threat or other, often with little concern for how expensive or effective the remedies are — or how serious the threat actually is in the first place. So it is with America’s latest panic: sexual predators.
According to lawmakers and near-daily news reports, sexual predators lurk everywhere: in parks, at schools, in the malls—even in children’s bedrooms, through the Internet. A few rare (but high-profile) incidents have spawned an unprecedented deluge of new laws enacted in response to the public’s fear.
[...]
Eventually this predator panic will subside and some new threat will take its place. Expensive, ineffective, and unworkable laws will be left in its wake when the panic passes. And no one is protecting America from that.
“Protect the children.” [...]
Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent protecting children from one threat or other, often with little concern for how expensive or effective the remedies are — or how serious the threat actually is in the first place. So it is with America’s latest panic: sexual predators.
According to lawmakers and near-daily news reports, sexual predators lurk everywhere: in parks, at schools, in the malls—even in children’s bedrooms, through the Internet. A few rare (but high-profile) incidents have spawned an unprecedented deluge of new laws enacted in response to the public’s fear.
[...]
Eventually this predator panic will subside and some new threat will take its place. Expensive, ineffective, and unworkable laws will be left in its wake when the panic passes. And no one is protecting America from that.
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What are 'moral panics'?
This document will examine not only the essence and origin of the term 'moral panic' but the very important nature of the media's involvement in the whole process of creating a 'moral panic'.
"More moral panics will be generated and other, as yet nameless, folk devils will be created. This is not because such developments have an inexorable inner logic, but because our society as present structured will continue to generate problems for some of its members ... and then condemn whatever solution these groups find."
This document will examine not only the essence and origin of the term 'moral panic' but the very important nature of the media's involvement in the whole process of creating a 'moral panic'.
"More moral panics will be generated and other, as yet nameless, folk devils will be created. This is not because such developments have an inexorable inner logic, but because our society as present structured will continue to generate problems for some of its members ... and then condemn whatever solution these groups find."
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Social Response to Age-Gap Sex Involving Minors: Empirical, Historical, Cross-Cultural, and Cross-Species Considerations;
Thymos;
4(2), 113,
Oct 01 2010
Social response to age-gap sex involving minors has become increasingly severe. In the US, non-coercive acts that might have been punished with probation 30 years ago often lead to decades in prison today. Punishment also increasingly includes civil commitment up to life, as well as scarlet-letter-like public registries and onerous residence restrictions for released offenders. Advocates and the general public approve, believing that age-gap sex with minors is uniquely injurious, pathological, and criminal. Critics argue that public opinion and policy have been shaped by moral panic, consisting of unfounded assumptions and invalid science being uncritically promoted by ideology, media sensationalism, and political pandering. This talk critically examines the basic assumptions and does so using a multi-perspective approach (empirical, historical, cross-cultural, cross-species) to overcome the biases inherent in traditional clinical-forensic reports. Non-clinical empirical reviews of age-gap sex involving minors show claims of intense, pervasive injuriousness to be highly exaggerated. Historical and cross-cultural reviews show that adult-adolescent sexual relations have been common and frequently socially integrated in other times and places, indicating that present-day Western conceptualizations are socially constructed to reflect current social and economic arrangements rather than expressions of a priori truths. Analogous relations in primates are commonplace, non-pathological, and not infrequently functional, contradicting implicit assumptions of a biologically-based "trauma response" in humans. It is concluded that, though age-gap sex involving minors is a significant mismatch for contemporary culture—and this talk therefore does not endorse it— attitudes and social policy concerning it have been driven by an upward-spiraling moral panic, which itself is immoral in its excessive adverse consequences for individuals and society.
Social response to age-gap sex involving minors has become increasingly severe. In the US, non-coercive acts that might have been punished with probation 30 years ago often lead to decades in prison today. Punishment also increasingly includes civil commitment up to life, as well as scarlet-letter-like public registries and onerous residence restrictions for released offenders. Advocates and the general public approve, believing that age-gap sex with minors is uniquely injurious, pathological, and criminal. Critics argue that public opinion and policy have been shaped by moral panic, consisting of unfounded assumptions and invalid science being uncritically promoted by ideology, media sensationalism, and political pandering. This talk critically examines the basic assumptions and does so using a multi-perspective approach (empirical, historical, cross-cultural, cross-species) to overcome the biases inherent in traditional clinical-forensic reports. Non-clinical empirical reviews of age-gap sex involving minors show claims of intense, pervasive injuriousness to be highly exaggerated. Historical and cross-cultural reviews show that adult-adolescent sexual relations have been common and frequently socially integrated in other times and places, indicating that present-day Western conceptualizations are socially constructed to reflect current social and economic arrangements rather than expressions of a priori truths. Analogous relations in primates are commonplace, non-pathological, and not infrequently functional, contradicting implicit assumptions of a biologically-based "trauma response" in humans. It is concluded that, though age-gap sex involving minors is a significant mismatch for contemporary culture—and this talk therefore does not endorse it— attitudes and social policy concerning it have been driven by an upward-spiraling moral panic, which itself is immoral in its excessive adverse consequences for individuals and society.