Pedophilia, Science and Self-Deception
A Criticism of Sex Abuse Research
By the Danish Pedophile Association
There is a growing trend to put pedophiles into therapy, in order to prevent
them from committing sexual offences. The therapists have a hard time because
it is impossible to change somebody's pedophile orientation, or any other
sexual orientation for that matter. When interviewing a pedophile who has
committed a sexual offence, the therapist often hears a story about a child
who enjoyed the sexual affair and participated actively and with enthusiasm.
Refusing to believe that this is possible, the therapist may conclude that
the pedophile suffers from cognitive distortion. The basis for this
claim is the assumption that the therapist's cognition is right and the patient's
cognition is wrong. This is indeed a very presumptuous claim when the issue
is an event of which the patient has first hand experience, while the therapist
has only second hand knowledge thereof.
The diagnosis of cognitive distortion is seen more and more often in the
clinical literature [1]. But to the great despair of the
therapists, they found that at least a quarter of non-pedophiles endorsed
the same 'distorted' beliefs about children's sexuality
[1].Wondering how pedophiles can come up with such beliefs,
some psychologists and sociologists have started to analyze the literature
produced by pedophile organizations. [2] Typically, though,
they have ignored the scientific literature that pedophile organizations
refer to for supporting their positions. In fact, the claim that
some child/adult sexual contacts are benign or even beneficial,
is supported by such a wealth of scientific studies that it cannot be discounted
[3]
Many psychologists have wondered why some children don't complain when sexually
'abused'. Denying the obvious explanation, that some children actually
like being 'abused', the psychologists have come to the conclusion
that the perpetrators master some very tricky seductive techniques. In order
to uncover these techniques, one group of researchers have analyzed what
they believe is a unique piece of evidence: a perpetrator's seduction letter
[4]. This letter was found in the pocket of a boy who had
been in contact with a pedophile man. In an article, the researchers analyze
this letter as a skilful and cunning seduction letter. But this letter, which
is published in the article, appears to be nothing but the ramblings of a
deeply frustrated pederast. After reading the letter, we can assure the
researchers that this letter is sure to scare the hell out of any boy. The
entire logic of the research breaks down when it is revealed that the so-called
perpetrator was completely unsuccessful. The evidence indicates that this
'perpetrator' probably has never successfully seduced any child in his entire
lifetime. The researchers are so obsessed with sexual abuse that they even
speculate that the perpetrator's wife may be a victim of sexual abuse, even
though they have never met her and have absolutely no evidence to support
this claim. It is stated in the article that: "the victim unconvincingly
denied any sexual activity with the perpetrator." Given the apparent
obsession with sexual abuse in the researchers, one may wonder what the boy
could possibly have said that would have convinced them that he was
not sexually abused! Writing an article about sexual abuse where
there is none, is obviously not science, but it has nevertheless been published
in a scientific journal called Child Abuse & Neglect - a preferred
outlet for publication of sex abuse research.
The poor logic is found again and again in sex abuse research. One pioneering
research project studied children 'abused' in 'child sex rings' in order
to document the psychological harm caused by such abuse. [5]
Typical of such research is the over-dramatizing language. The term 'child
sex ring' was used whenever more than two persons were involved in illegal
sexual activity, in order to give the impression of organized crime, and
such sex rings were called 'potentially sadistic', without any evidence of
sadism. 49 boys and 17 girls abused in 'sex rings' were interviewed in connection
with counseling or therapy. Any psychological problems that these children
came up with were included in the statistics as symptoms of sexual abuse.
The list of symptoms was over-inclusive: Whether the children were
'over-religious' or 'not religious' it was blamed on the sex abuse. Even
symptoms that were present prior to the abuse, were included in the statistics.
The authors have previously warned that the dramatic events of disclosure
and police investigation can be more harmful than the abuse itself
.[6] Nevertheless they include symptoms that have appeared
only after disclosure as effects of the abuse. Despite being bombarded with
leading questions, some of the children maintained that they enjoyed the
'abuse' and that they had not been harmed. These children were given the
diagnosis 'identification with the exploiter', which was taken as a proof
that they were severely psychologically disturbed. The circular argument
is blatant here: If the children say that it was bad, then it is concluded
that it was bad - if they say that it was good, then it is concluded that
it was even worse, because it is supposed to be bad, so the children must
be severely disturbed when they say that it was good. Nothing the children
could possibly have said would have changed the preformed conclusion that
sexual abuse is harmful.
This kind of research has started what is now known as the sex abuse
industry: a conglomeration of psychologists, social workers, and child
protection organizations that mutually reinforce each other in the belief
that sexual abuse is pervasive and extremely harmful. Many psychologists
have made a successful career out of telling everybody how harmful sexual
abuse is, and child protection organizations have found that this cause is
more profitable collecting money for than other dangers to children. The
popular mass media have been more than willing to convey the agenda of the
sex abuse industry because it is titillating and emotionally touching, while
the messages of more moderate scientists are dull and unexciting. The press
thereby has helped recruit more members to the sex abuse industry - people
who might never have been interested in doing research or therapy, were it
not for this highly emotionally touching issue.
The sex abuse industry has produced thousands of articles and books since
the early 1980's. The very amount of research projects is in itself an indication
that something has gone completely frenzy. There may be scientific reasons
for repeating research that has already been done. These reasons are:
-
testing if results are reproducible
-
testing if there are differences between geographic regions, between social
classes, etc.
-
improving methodology
These purposes require that results are comparable, i.e. that they use
standardized definitions and standardized psychological measures of harm.
However, the many researchers have never found a commonly agreed definition
for any of the concepts: child, sexual, or abuse
- let alone child sexual abuse. In fact, 'sexual abuse'
is a moral construct rather than a scientific construct. Such a concept should
never appear in a scientific text. Few of the research projects are using
standardized measures of harm, they fail to make the comparisons with previously
published articles that the abovementioned purposes would imply, and there
is little or no focus on improving methodology. Therefore, there is every
reason to suspect that many of the research projects are inspired by emotional,
moral, political, or religious motives, rather than by a scientific need.
While some improvement in methodology can be observed, most research projects
are still seriously flawed.[7] The most common flaws are:
-
Emotional language. Words like abuse, exploitation,
perpetrator, victim, and survivor are common.
-
Failure to refer to studies that disagree. Most studies refer only to studies
that agree on the same conclusion.
-
Leading questions. Subjects are asked questions in a way that implies that
sex is bad or harmful.
-
Structural limitations. Studies may be structured so that there is no room
for reporting positive sexual experiences.
-
All symptoms blamed on sexual abuse. Even symptoms that appeared prior to
the sexual abuse or only appeared after disclosure are ascribed to the sexual
abuse. The psychological effects of disclosure, police investigation, etc.
are not discussed.
-
Sample not representative. Many studies are carried out on psychiatric patients
who, of course, will show psychiatric symptoms, whether sex-abused or not.
-
Missing control group. Many studies fail to compare with non-abused
persons.
-
Pooling together dissimilar events. Many studies use a very broad definition
of sexual abuse, including very dissimilar events. This tends to exaggerate
the harmful effects of the less severe forms of abuse, and at the same time
dilute the effects of the most severe forms of abuse.
-
Failing to isolate significant parameters. Certain parameters are known to
have a large effect on the psychological outcome of a sexual encounter. These
include the use of force, the sex of the child, and whether the child is
related to the perpetrator. Failure to isolate these parameters tend to muddle
the results.
-
Failure to control for confounding variables. Many of the sexually abused
children investigated are also victims of broken families, physical abuse,
and neglect. Ascribing all psychological symptoms to the sexual abuse, rather
than to the other problems experienced by the child, is of course very dubious.
In fact, it has been shown that most of the observed symptoms can better
be explained by the family background than by the sexual abuse, and in most
studies the effects of sexual abuse fails to be significant when family
background is controlled for Cite error: Closing
</ref> missing for <ref> tag
This story is far from unique. Similar events have popped up all over the
modern World, from Norway to New Zealand.
[8], [9], [10] In 1987 in
the little Dutch town of Oude Pekela, a little boy had got bruises on his
anus by playing in a forest. The local physicians, Mr. and Mrs. Jonker, who
were very interested in incest, suspected that the boy had been sexually
abused. They sent out letters to all parents telling them to ask their children
if they had been sexually abused. This had the same effect as in California.
After repeated questioning and a considerable pressure to disclose abuse,
75 children produced bizarre stories about being abducted by a group of men
dressed up as clowns, being drugged, kept under water, smeared with faeces,
and many other bizarre forms of abuse. However, no children had been missing
at any time, no adult had seen any clowns or anything else unusual, there
was no physical evidence and no suspects (<A href="#11">11</A>). The police
has stopped the investigation, but the Jonkers are still convinced that the
children have been abused by Satanists, and have written several articles
about it (<A href="#12">12</A>). Despite the lack of evidence, their reports
about the symptoms of ritual abuse have been accepted by the scientific journal
Child Abuse & Neglect (<A href="#13">13</A>). No comparison
was made with non-abused children. According to their articles, only 87%
of the parents were certain that their children had been abused, and in only
48% of the cases had the police felt that the children were certainly involved.
How can such loosely founded articles be accepted by a scientific journal?
It has been suggested that the myth of satanic sex abuse is in fact a projection
of repressed pedophile feelings. Sexual attraction between children and adults
is a universal phenomenon, and the myth of the satanic sex cult is a way
of denying the pedophile feelings that exist in those who believe in the
myth (<A href="#14">14</A>).
In this raving wave of hysteria over sexual abuse, over-zealous therapists
keep finding new methods to uncover the hidden abuse, which they believe
is pervasive. Whenever a diagnostic method is found to be defective, they
invent a new one with the inevitable result that innocent people are accused.
Thousands of innocent people have gone to jail on false charges of sexual
abuse. In Cleveland in England, more than a hundred children were forcefully
removed from their parents before it was revealed that the incest charges
were based on a defective diagnostic technique. In the meantime, several
families had been divorced, and two of the falsely accused fathers had committed
suicide (<A href="#15">15</A>).
While the writings of the sex abuse industry is very voluminous and conspicuous,
there is a growing body of literature with a different opinion
(<A href="#7">7</A>,<A href="#16">16</A>). Three psychologists have researched
the sex abuse research and made a synthesis of the results
(<A href="#17">17</A>). Rejecting those investigations that used highly
un-representative samples (e.g. psychiatric patients) they found that the
results were far less alarming than what is commonly believed. Their conclusions
were:
-
Only a fraction of the so-called child sexual abuse cases are associated
with harm.
-
Harm, when it occurs, is typically not intense.
-
Boys and girls have very different experiences. Boys rarely experience harmful
events.
-
Conclusions about a causal link between child sexual abuse and later
psychological maladjustment are not reliable because the psychological symptoms
are most often caused by other factors, such as family environment.
The most harmful events are the ones associated with violence or where the
child has no escape (i.e. incest). Voluntary sexual contacts do not cause
harm. It is worth noting, that these conclusions are based on investigations
that were made with the intention of finding harm. If these investigations
are biased, it would be in the direction of exaggerating the harm.
While the articles that exaggerate the dangers of sexual abuse are often
published in journals that seem to be quite uncritical, the abovementioned
research articles that finds harm to be smaller than previously believed
have been published in the most prestigious journals with very strict reviewing
standards.[11] While the sex abuse industry produces an
excessive number of books and articles, they can hardly be said to represent
a majority opinion among scientists. Mainstream sexological handbooks and
encyclopedias present a far more relaxed view on child/adult sex
(<A href="#18">18</A>), as does many books in other disciplines such as history,
anthropology, and human biology (<A href="#19">19</A>).
Conclusion
-
Therapists often claim that pedophiles suffer from cognitive distortion when
they tell about children that enjoy sex. The accusation of cognitive distortion
turns out to be a boomerang: There is far more delusion and self-deception
in the sex abuse industry than among pedophiles.
-
Much of the sex abuse research is of very poor quality, and often directly
misleading. This research is connected with the general hysteria and panic
over child sexual abuse.
-
Voluntary sexual relations between children and adults do not cause any
psychological harm other than the problems associated with discovery and
intervention.
-
The draconian laws and drastic measures that have been implemented to fight
sexual abuse are misdirected and should be relieved. In stead, the effort
should be directed against the far more damaging physical abuse and neglect
of children, and in particular its social causes.
-
This should not be taken as a carte blanche to commit sexual offences. There
are still very good reasons to obey the law and to protect children from
the stigma of engaging in acts that are illegal and despised.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hayashino, D S; Wurtele, S K; Klebe, K J: Child Molesters: An Examination of Cognitive Factors. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 10 (1) 106, 1995
- ↑ deYoung, M: The World According to NAMBLA: Accounting for Deviance. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare 16 (1) 111, 1989
- ↑ Sandfort, T: The Sexual Aspect of Pedophile Relations. Amsterdam: Spartacus 1981.
Constantine, L L; Martinson, F M (eds.): Children and Sex: New Findings, New Perspectives. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. 1981.
Rossman, G P: Sexual Experience Between Men and Boys. New York: Association Press 1976; Middlesex: Temple Smith 1985.
Baurmann, M C: Sexualität, Gewalt und psychische Folgen. Wiesbaden: Bundeskriminalamt 1983.
Li, C K; West, D J; Woodhouse, T P: Children's Sexual Encounters with Adults. London: Duckworth 1990.
Okami, P: Self-Reports of "Positive" Childhood and Adolescent Sexual Contacts With Older Persons: An Exploratory Study. Archives of Sexual Behavior 20 (5) 437, 1991.
Leahy, T: Positively Experienced Man/Boy Sex: The Discourse of Seduction and the Social Construction of Masculinity. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Sociology 28 (1) 71, 1992.
Hoffmann, R: Die Lebenswelt der Pädophilen: Rahmen, Rituale und Dramaturgie der pädophilen Begegnung. Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag 1996.
- ↑ Singer, M; Hussey, D; Strom, K J: Grooming the Victim: An Analysis of a Perpetrator's Seduction Letter. Child Abuse & Neglect 16 (6) 877, 1992.
- ↑ Burgess, A W; Hartman, C R; McCausland, M P; Powers, P: Response Patterns in Children and Adolescents Exploited Through Sex Rings and Pornography. American Journal of Psychiatry 141 (5) 656, 1984.
- ↑ Burgess, A W; Groth, A N; Holmstrom, L L; Sgroi, S M: Sexual Assault on Children and Adolescents. Toronto: Lexington Books 1978.
- ↑ Pope, H G Jr; Hudson, J I: Does Childhood Sexual Abuse Cause Adult Psychiatric Disorders? Essentials of Methodology. Journal of Psychiatry & Law 23 (3) 363, 1995.
Haugaard, J J; Emery, R E: Methodological Issues in Child Sexual Abuse Research. Child Abuse & Neglect 13 (1) 89, 1989.
Okami, P: Sociopolitical Biases in the Contemporary Scientific Literature on Adult Human Sexual Behavior with Children and Adolescents. In: Feierman, J R (ed.): Pedophilia: Biosocial Dimensions. New York: Springer 1990, p. 91.
Okami, P: "Slippage" in Research on Child Sexual Abuse: Science as Social Advocacy. in: Krivacska, J J; Money, J (eds.): The Handbook of Forensic Sexology. New York: Prometheus 1994, p. 559.
Rind, B; Bauserman, R: Biased Terminology Effects and Biased Information Processing in Research on Adult-Nonadult Sexual Interactions: An Empirical Investigation. Journal of Sex Research 30 (3) 260, 1993.
Clegg, Sue: Studying Child Sexual Abuse: Morality or Science? Radical Philosophy 66 31, 1994.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Eberle
- ↑ Gardner, R A: Sex Abuse Hysteria: Salem Witch Trials Revisited. Creskill, New Jersey: Creative Therapeutics, 1991.
Best, J: Threatened Children: Rhetoric and concern about Child-Victims. University of Chicago Press 1990.
Lotto, D J: On Witches and Witch Hunts: Ritual and Satanic Cult Abuse. Journal of Psychohistory 21 (4) 373, 1994.
Jenkins, P: Intimate Enemies: Moral Panics in Contemporary Great Britain. New York: Aldine de Gruiter, 1992.
Loftus, E; Ketcham, K: The Myth of Repressed Memory. New York: St. Martin's Press 1994.
Lanning, K V: Investigator's Guide to Allegations of "Ritual" Child Abuse. Virginia: National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime, FBI Academy, 1992.
Hicks, R D: In Pursuit of Satan: The Police and the Occult. New York: Prometheus, 1991.
Bromley, D G: The Satanic Cult Scare. Society 28 (4) 55, 1991.
Goodyear-Smith, F: First do no Harm: The Sexual Abuse Industry. Auckland, NZ: Benton 1993.
Münther, M; Kluck, M-L: Missbrauch von Kindern: der Missbrauch des Missbrauchs. Sozialmagazin 1992 (5) 13.
Öhrström, L: Sex Lögner och Terapi: Verkligheten bakom vår tids Häxprocesser. Stockholm: Norstedts 1996.
Tange, M: Roum-Sagen: En Omvendt Hekseproces? Tanges Forlag, 1995
- ↑ Rossen, B: Zedenagnst: Het Verhaal van Oude Pekela. Lisse: Swets en Zeitlinger, 1989.
- ↑ Rind, B; Tromovich, P: A Meta-Analytic Review of Findings from National Samples on Psychological Correlates of Child Sexual Abuse. Journal of Sex Research 34 (3) 237, 1997.
Bauserman, R; Rind, B: Psychological Correlates of Male Child and Adolescent Sexual Experiences with Adults: A Review of the Nonclinical Literature. Archives of Sexual Behavior 26 (2) 105, 1997.
Rind, B; Tromovich, P; Bauserman, R: A Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using College Samples. Psychological Bulletin 124 (1) 22, 1998.
|