Most research on the subject of sexual contacts between young people and older people suffers from several major methodological flaws. Common flaws are: biased samples, biased interview techniques, small samples, lack of standardized tests, culturally biased definitions of "harm," failure to use control groups, and failure to isolate significant variables. This last one is especially common in the recent "victimological" literature, and allows researchers to make sweeping statements which apply only to some contacts as if they apply to all.
Among the significant variables which "victimologist" researchers routinely ignore are: parental and cultural attitudes toward sex; reactions and behavior of parents, police, prosecutors, etc. after the contacts are "discovered"; and the most significant one of all-- whether or not the young person wanted to participate in the acts. These studies lump together rape; coerced, pressured and unwanted sex; and consensual, freely chosen sex, and proceed to show a weak correlation between "sex" (labeled "abuse") and negative consequences. This is like going into a drugstore, getting samples of all the red pills, calling them "demon pills", and trying to test them as a group to find the "consequences" of taking "red pills," without making any distinctions between them for potency or ingredients. When researchers ignore variables with such obvious relevance to the subject of inquiry, it casts doubt on their objectivity.
Fortunately, there are some studies which do allow us to separately examine consensual and non-consensual experiences. All of these studies find lack of coercion to be strongly correlated with a lack of negative consequences and/or with a subjective assessment of the experience as positive and beneficial.
Many studies have revealed a group of environmental factors related to the outcomes of child-adult sexual experiences. These factors include: whether the subject was a girl or boy, what region of the country the study was conducted in, and the cultural background of the subject. Such analyses strongly suggest that the effects of both wanted and unwanted sexual experiences are powerfully influenced by what attitudes toward sex have been passed on to the person by her/his parents and environment.
Another principal factor is the impact of societal reaction on the young person, once the experience has come to light. Many researchers and workers in the field have pointed to cases of trauma caused by parental and police reactions and court proceedings, where there was no apparent harm caused by the sexual contact itself.
These findings support the view that if people are not taught to despise their bodies and fear sex, if their sexual choices are not forced on them by others, and if they are not subjected to harsh or stigmatizing reactions to their sexual experiences, they will not be harmed by having sex, regardless of how old or young they are or with whom they have sex.
SELECTED REFERENCES
Adam, Barry, "Age, Structure, and Sexuality: Reflections on the
Anthropological Evidence on Homosexual Relations," Journal of
Homosexuality, Vol. 11, No. 3/4, pp. 19-34, Summer 1985. (Also published
as The Many Faces of Homosexuality: Anthropological Approaches to
Homosexual Behavior. New York: Harrington Park Press, 1986.) Compares
data from 19 different named cultures, and many more not named, where
man/boy homosexual relationships are institutionalized, to support the
view that the kinship struct ures of a society largely determine the
prevalent modes of sexual expression in that society, whatever they may
be.
Baurmann, M. C., Sexuality, Violence, and Psychological After-Effects:
A Longitudinal Study of Cases of Sexual Assault which were Reported to the
Police. Wiesbaden: Bundeskriminalamt, 1988. Massive longitudinal study
of all reported victims of sex offenses against minors in the German
State of Lower Saxony from 1969-1972, with six to ten year follow-up,
under the direction of the German Ministry of Justice. Total sample is
over 8,000, including over 800 boys up to age 14. Violence and/or
coercion were present in roughly half the reported offenses against girls,
and were correlated with negative outcomes. None of the boys experienced
force or coercion, and no negative outcomes were observed for any of the
boys. The study used both subjective and multiple standardized objective
measures. It is by far the most in-depth large study and the largest
in-depth study in this field.
Best, Joel, Threatened Children: Rhetoric & Concern about Child
Victims. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. A highly
recommended, pioneering survey of a constellation of social problems and
their recent magnification. Provides statistical evaluations and
analyses of the most common fears and prejudices underlying society's
concerns about child abduction, sexual abuse, and other urban myths, from
a sociological perspective. Describes media pandering to public fears.
Constantine, Larry L., "Effects of Early Sexual Experiences: A Review
and Synthesis of Research," in Constantine, L. L., Martinson, F. M.,
(eds.) Children and Sex: New Findings, New Perspectives. Boston: Little,
Brown & Co., 1981. Reviews 30 studies, most of which include child-adult
contacts. Breaks down experiences by outcome for the younger partner:
positive, neutral, or negative. Examines relationships between several
variables and observed outcomes.
Constantine, Larry L., "Child Sexuality: Recent Developments and
Implications for Treatment, Prevention, and Social Policy," International
Journal of Medicine and Law, 1983 No. 2, pp. 55-67. Reviews findings of
the above article. Discusses implicatio ns for treatment, prevention, and
social policy. Includes proposals for legal revisions. Among the
findings of this major literature review: "The most important determinant
in the outcome of childhood incest or adult-child sexual encounters is the
child 's perception of freedom of choice in participating." Among the
observed implications: "The research to date points to the child's
subjective experience as the central concern. If it is the child's person
which is to be protected from being violated against the child's will,
then it is the child's will which governs the determination."
Gagnon, John, "Female Child Victims of Sex Offenses," Social Problems,
Vol. 13, pp. 176-192, 1965. Investigates common characteristics of girls
who have experienced various kinds of sexual contact with adults, using a
large sample from original Kinsey study.
Gay, Judith, "`Mummies and Babies' and Friends and Lovers in Lesotho,"
Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 11, No. 3/4, pp. 97-116, Summer 1985.
(Also published as The Many Faces of Homosexuality: Anthropological
Approaches to Homosexual Behavior. New York: Harrington Park Press,
1986.) Examines institutionalized woman/girl love in southern Africa,
noting the key role of these relation-ships in providing the girls with
emotional support prior to marriage and providing a network of support for
women in new towns or schools.
Jones, G. P., "The Study of Intergenerational Intimacy in North
America: Beyond Politics and Pedophilia," Journal of Homosexuality, Vol.
20, pp. 275-295, 1990.
Money, John, "Juvenile, Pedophile, Heterophile: Hermeneutics of
Science, Medicine and Law in Two Outcome Studies," International Journal
of Medicine and Law, 1983 No. 2 pp. 39-54. Unusually detailed
investigation of two consensual long-term "pedophiliac" relationships.
This long-term, prospective case study finds the relationships to be
non-harmful and possibly beneficial for both partners. Money is among the
most widely cited American authors on pediatric sexology and sexual and
gender development.
Nelson, Joan, "Incest: Self-Report Findings From a Nonclinical Sample,"
Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 463-477, Nov. 1986. Looks at
the experiences of 100 subjects who have had sex with relatives. Results
indicate that outcomes vary from negative to positive.
Okami, Paul, "Self-reports of "Positive" Childhood and Adolescent
Sexual Contacts with Older Persons: An Exploratory Study," Archives of
Sexual Behavior, Vol. 20, pp. 437-457, 1991. Examines how contacts are
perceived by the younger partner in later life. Investigates
relationships between "positive" self-assessment and several variables.
Okami, Paul, "Sociopolitical Biases in the Contemporary Scientific
Literature on Adult Human Sexual Behavior with Children and Adolescents,"
in Feierman, J. (ed.) Pedophilia: Biosocial Dimensions. New York:
Springer-Verlag, 1990. (may be found at UC Berkeley Ed./Psych. library)
Okami, Paul, "`Child Perpetrators of Sexual Abuse': The Emergence of a
Problematic Deviant Category," Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 29, No. 1,
pp. 109-130, Feb. 1992. Discusses the nature and origins of recent
attacks against sexual expression by young people. Finds much of the
literature on the subject of sexual contacts between minors to be
scientifically unsound. Highly recommended reading.
Okami, Paul and Goldberg, Amy, "Personality Correlates of Pedophilia:
Are They Reliable Indicators?" Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 29, No. 3,
pp. 297-328, Aug. 1992. Critical and extensive review of the
literature. [Their finding is *No*.]
Sandfort, Theo, "Sex in Pedophiliac Relationships: An Empirical
Investigation Among a Nonrepresentative Group of Boys," Journal of Sex
Research Vol.20, No.2, pp. 123-142 May, 1984 Investigates 25 ongoing
consensual long-term "pedophiliac" relationships [boys 10-16yo involved
with men mostly 30-40yo]. "The sexual contacts were found to have had no
negative influence upon the boys' sense of general well-being, nor did the
boys perceive in these contacts a misuse of authority by the adult"
(Quoted from the Abstract).
Sandfort, Theo, The Sexual Aspect of Paedophile Relations. Amsterdam:
Pan/Spartacus, 1982. Detailed presentation, explanation, and discussion
of data from the above study. Recommends that future legislation should
observe young peoples' right of sexua l self-determination.
Sandfort, Theo, Boys On Their Contacts With Men. Elmhurst, New York:
Global Academic Publishers, 1987. Contains extensive quotes in context
from the boys interviewed in Sandfort's study.
Tindall, R. H., "The Male Adolescent Involved With a Pederast Becomes
an Adult," Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 373-382, 1978.
Longitudinal study of nine cases covering a span of over thirty years.
Finds the relationships to be non-harmful, with positive benefits in some
cases.
See also: everything by Kilpatrick, Allie C.
Note: David Finkelhor's seminal work of "victimization," called _Sexually
Victimized Children_ (1979) should also be read. Finkelhor tries to show
"trauma" by misusing his subjective rating scale. He also draws
conclusions contradicted by his own data (John Money would call this a
"self refuting study"). In fact, if you take the time to find the few
bits of useful data that he includes, you find that most girls felt
"negative" about early "sexual" experiences with adults, while *most* boys
felt "positive" (or perhaps neutral since he obfuscates this distinction).
The whole work is a study in how to twist data around a convoluted idea
(Finkelhor's idea is that sex itself is harmful, when the reality is that
being treated like shit is what is harmful, as most girls could probably
tell you, and as a recent article in J. Sex Research has found
empirically). The book is the foundation of Finkelhor's career, and,
virtually, of the entire "victimological" literature. Students with
ambitions in this area will be dealing with this man's reputation for
decades. The profound weaknesses and tragic misapplication of Finkelhor's
work should be a principle focus of further empirical research.
This tract is based on a broad, informal survey of empirical studies of sexual contacts between legal minors and legal adults, with a focus on male-male contacts. I have read or skimmed an enormous number of journal articles and books on this topic and related topics. I hope someday to publish a more formal literature survey.