APA Admits Error in Publishing Highly Criticized 'Adult-Child Sex' Study;
FRC's Parshall Applauds 'Good First Step' as APA Pledges 'Unprecedented'
Independent Review
WASHINGTON, June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Backing away from a controversial
article that had said child molestation with "willing" children may not be
harmful, and may, in some cases, even be beneficial, the American
Psychological Association unveiled Wednesday a resolution condemning all
"sexual relations between children and adults."
"After much pressure, the APA has begun to undo the damage wrought by its
publication of a badly conceived article that has been hailed by such
groups as the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA)," said
FRC's Chief Spokesperson Janet Parshall. "It's a good first step, but now
the APA needs to root out the pro-pedophilic academicians who are trying
to normalize child abuse. And the APA should write to NAMBLA and
strongly
urge them not to use this article as justification for molesting young
boys."
In a June 9 letter to Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX), APA Chief Executive
Officer Raymond D. Fowler pledges to create legal briefs attacking misuse
of the article in the courts, and he includes a board-approved resolution
in which the APA "repudiates and disassociates itself from any
organization or publication that advocates sexual interaction between
children and adults."
"NAMBLA should stop celebrating and touting this trashed study as
justification for their perverse sexual desires for young boys," said FRC
Senior Director of Legal Policy Jan LaRue. "We especially appreciate that
the APA's general counsel is preparing amicus brief materials that could
be adapted for use in any court of law to challenge any efforts to use the
data in this or any other study to justify, condone, or normalize sexual
interactions of any sort between children and adults. This has tremendous
legal significance."
DeLay, along with Reps. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) and Dave Weldon (R-FL) had
denounced the article at a May 12 press conference hosted by FRC. The
article, which was published in the July 1998 edition of Psychological
Bulletin, is "A Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child
Sexual Abuse Using College Samples," by Bruce Rind, Philip Tromovitch and
Robert Bauserman.
In his letter, Dr. Fowler, who had earlier defended the article on
national television as "a good study," now acknowledges that the article
is "inflammatory" and includes opinions "inconsistent" with APA's policy
on child protection issues. He admits that APA "failed" to "evaluate the
article based on its potential for misinforming the public policy
process."
"Pressure from Dr. Laura Schlessinger, child protection organizations, and
many pro-family legislators, along with support from past and present
officials of the American Psychiatric Association, forced the APA to take
a second look and admit their mistake," said Robert Knight, FRC's Senior
Director of Cultural Studies. "We commend them for doing so and urge them
to conduct whatever internal house-cleaning is necessary to prevent such
future occurrences. The publication of a detailed critique in the
Psychological Bulletin is another important step that should be taken in
this corrective process."
"Without everyone's focused attention on this issue, children victimized
by child molesters would have been even more vulnerable," Dr. Laura
Schlessinger said Wednesday. "While this seems to be a clear win, we have
to maintain our vigilance and strengthen our collective will to defend
families and children from those who would do them harm."
SOURCE Family Research Council
