-Caveat Lector-
from:
http://www.apbonline.com/safestreets/1999/06/04/study0604_01.html?s=emil
<A
HREF="http://www.apbonline.com/safestreets/1999/06/04/study0604_01.html?s=emil
">CHILD-ADULT SEX STUDY TRIGGERS UPROAR
</A>
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CHILD-ADULT SEX STUDY TRIGGERS UPROAR
Critics Charge Researchers Attempting to Legitimize Pedophilia
June 4, 1999
By Robert Anthony Phillips
NEW YORK (APBNews.com) -- A national furor has erupted over a study
published in a medical journal that claims that adult sex with children
is not always psychologically damaging to the child and in some cases it
was a "positive" experience for willing youngsters.
The study, done by two psychologists and a graduate student, was
published in the July 1998 issue of the American Psychological
Association Bulletin and initially attracted little attention. The
authors said the study was meant to test widely held assumptions that
all instances of child-adult sex were harmful to children.
However, when a Philadelphia radio talk show host found out about the
study through a caller and interviewed one of its authors on the air in
March, a firestorm erupted.
Then, national radio talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger heard about
the study and turned up the heat, beginning a crusade against it over
the airwaves and in her syndicated newspaper column. She described the
study as an "attempt to normalize pedophilia."
Conservatives, congressmen enraged conservative lobbying groups, politicians
and
some psychologists have gone on the warpath, sharply criticizing the
study as advocating pedophilia, challenging its findings and wondering
whether it will be used by criminal defense attorneys to get child
molesters off the hook in court.
A group of congressmen want the report "condemned" by both Congress and
President Bill Clinton. The Alaska Legislature has passed a resolution
urging the president and Congress to reject the conclusions of the
study. Similar resolutions have also been introduced in California and
Illinois.
Concerned Women of America (CWA), the nation's largest women's public
policy group, called the study an "outright endorsement of pedophilia"
and says it is a "slap in the face to concerned citizens everywhere."
Related Documents:
American Psychological Association statement
Authors' response to criticism
North American Man/Boy Love Association statement
Related Forum:
Can adult sex with children EVER be right?
"According to the 'experts,' child sexual abuse is now considered O.K.,"
began a story in the CWA's monthly magazine.
And the conservative Family Research Council says that it is worried
that lawyers will now start using the report in courts to try to help
pedophiles evade criminal charges.
"It seems outrageous that we are even having to deal with this issue,"
said Kristin Hansen, spokeswoman for the group.
'Good news' for 'boy-lovers'
Adding fuel to the raging debate was a statement released by the North
American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), which wants criminal laws
changed to allow children and adults to have consensual sexual
relationships.
In the statement, NAMBLA described the findings as "good news," adding
that it was proof that the current "war on boy-lovers" has no basis in
"science" and that most male child sex experiences with an adult were
"positive."
NAMBLA did not return a telephone call for further comment.
Alaska Rep. Fred Dyson "I predicted months ago that pedophile
enthusiasts would start using this study," said Alaska state Rep. Fred
Dyson, a Republican who sponsored a bill in the state that condemned the
conclusions and methodology of the study.
Jody Gorran, the founder of the National Foundation to Prevent Child
Sexual Abuse, blasted the APA for publishing the study, which he called
flawed.
"It's like a lobbying organization for pedophiles," Gorran told
APBNews.com.
Meanwhile, the publicity surrounding the study prompted the APA to
release a statement saying that it has always believed that "sexual
abuse of children is wrong and harmful to its victims" and the
publication of the study in the bulletin does not mean the organization
endorses its findings.
Authors: Media misreporting facts
However, not everyone agrees that the controversial study is a
scientific manifesto in favor of pedophilia.
The authors, the APA and one statewide group, the Indiana Psychological
Association, charge that the media and other groups are making false and
sensationalized claims that the study condones child sex abuse.
The authors released a statement through the APA saying that their study
was an attempt to show that, for scientific research purposes only,
distinctions should be made among categories of child sex abuse in order
to predict future effects on the child.
80,000 cases a year
The study concludes that it is wrong for researchers to assume that all
cases of child sex abuse harm children and adolescents. However, the
authors, both in their APA statement and in the study, said that legal
definitions of child sex abuse should not be altered.
Authorities say that more than 80,000 cases of child sexual abuse are
reported in the United State each year.
The APA, in defending its publication of the study, said that the
majority of the psychological literature reveals that childhood sexual
abuse has serious negative effects on its victims, but it said the study
is important.
"The question raised by the study is an important one: Does sexual abuse
cause varying degrees of harm to children?" the APA said. "In other
words, can the child's age, resiliency and/or family environment ever
mitigate the ill effects of the abuse? If such mitigating factors can be
shown through this and further research, child-abuse prevention and
treatment programs could put that knowledge to work helping both
children and families."
Analysis of other studies
The study, entitled "A Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties
of Child Sexual Abuse Using College Samples," was authored by Bruce
Rind, Philip Tromovitch and Robert Bauserman.
It is actually an analysis of 59 other studies done on the child sex
abuse issue over the years. It concluded that college students who had
been sexually abused as children were slightly less well-adjusted than
other college students.
The authors argued that researchers should not automatically assume that
sex between non-related adults and minors is abusive and will cause
lasting harm to the victim.
The authors say that there is a widespread belief among "lay persons and
the media" that child sex abuse caused intense harm to all victims.
Rind, Tromovitch and Bauserman wrote that they were simply examining the
belief that "child sex abuse causes intense harm regardless of gender,
pervasively in the general population."
"Classifying a behavior as abuse simply because it is generally viewed
as immoral or defined as illegal is problematic, because such a
classification may obscure the true nature of the behavior and its
actual causes and effects," the trio wrote.
Consensual sex not abuse, they argue
For scientific research purposes, the authors argue, for example, that
consensual sex between a 15-year-old boy and an adult should not be
labeled abuse.
The study argues that for scientific purposes, researchers should use
"value-neutral terms" such as "adult-child sex" when the child has a
"positive" reaction to the experience. Only if the child was coerced
into sex should the act be labeled sexual abuse, the authors say.
"By drawing these distinctions, researchers are likely to achieve a more
scientifically valid understanding of the nature, causes and
consequences ... heretofore labeled CSA [child sex abuse]," the authors
write.
The University of Michigan said Bauserman was at one time a postdoctoral
fellow but is no longer at the university. The psychology department at
the university said Bauserman was now "somewhere in Maryland." Rind is a
psychologist at Temple University and did not return a telephone call
for further comment. At the time of the study, Tromovitch was identified
as a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. He also could
not be reached for comment.
Aired on radio
WWDB
Dom Giordano Word of the study first came out in March when Philadelphia
radio talk show host Dom Giordano of NewsTalk 95.5 FM WWDB first
detailed its findings. Then, Schlessinger, known as "Dr. Laura," became
aware of it and launched her own crusade criticizing its findings and
the APA for publishing it.
In her syndicated newspaper column, Schlessinger said that a letter from
a "concerned dad" alerted her to "what many worry is a horrific agenda
by some members of the psychological and psychiatric community to
normalize pedophilia."
Schlessinger also reported in her column that she had three "renowned,
licensed clinical psychologists and a scientist" review the study.
"They were unanimous in their description of this work as junk science,"
Schlessinger wrote.
At a news conference arranged by the Family Research Council,
Schlessinger slammed the report, saying that of the 59 studies included
in the analysis, more than 60 percent of the data was "drawn form one
single study done over 40 years ago."
She also said the authors loaded their analysis with data involving mild
adult-child interactions involving no physical contact in coming to the
conclusion that victims weren't harmed by the sexual encounters when
they were children.
"What really terrifies me is the idea that the Rind study will now be
used to normalize pedophilia, to change the legal system and further
destroy the family," Schlessinger wrote.
Keven Bellows, an aide to Schlessinger, said she was unavailable for
further comment.
'Garbage in, garbage out'
Nancy Faulkner, an Indiana psychologist and advocate for children who
has written extensively on pedophiles and child abuse on the Internet,
calls the Rind, Tromovitch and Bauserman study "garbage in, garbage
out."
"No original work was done," Faulkner told APBNews.com "These people did
not write questions for specific purposes of study. All they did was go
back an analyze data in place. And a lot of that data that was used as a
basis of the study had not been previously scientifically reviewed."
"The problem with this whole study is that [the researchers] are trying
to define consensual and non-consensual child-adult sex. There is no
such thing. Morally it is wrong. Legally it is wrong. Philosophically it
is wrong. Minors can't give consent to have sex."
Faulkner said that she had not read the entire study but only portions
that have been reported in news articles.
She said that child sexual abuse has been linked to a variety of
psychological problems in adults, including difficulty with intimacy and
relationships, bulimia, alcoholism, loss of self-esteem or withdrawl
from sexual activity altogether or promiscuity. Faulkner said that many
victims of child sex abuse hide the fact that they were abused.
Children cannot decide
Alaska's Dyson said he pushed for the condemnation of the conclusions
and methodology of the study because of the high rate of child abuse in
his state.
"For me ... child safety issues and child welfare have been almost an
obsession," Dyson told APBNews.com. "Alaska has one of the highest rates
of child abuse in the nation.
"We felt that this study flies in the face of the policy decision we
have made. I was disappointed that the APA didn't do a better job of
putting the study into context, pointing out that lots of others studies
have shown the damage that child sex abuse can cause.
"All this study was was a word search of other studies and
self-reporting college kids. They never talked to anyone."
Dyson and Faulkner said that, indeed, there could be some specific cases
in which a child-adult sexual experience would not adversely affect the
child. However, they said that doesn't make it right.
"We have universally said that children, particularly faced with the
overwhelming power of a persuasive adult, can't make a decision in
certain situations: decisions about firearms, dope and sex. We have made
that fundamental decision," Dyson said.
Robert Anthony Phillips is an APBNews.com staff writer (
[EMAIL PROTECTED]).
Protecting Home and Family
Summer Camps Tightening Security
Child Safety Seat Crackdown Under Way
Archive And
Related Reading
©Copyright 1999 APB Multimedia Inc. All rights reserved.
-----
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