Child Sexual Abuse: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:59, 3 October 2021

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is an empirically invalid and pseudoscientific concept popularized by mainly American victimologists throughout western culture, law and the life sciences. CSA has its roots in the feminist and psychiatric-industrial traumatalogical sexual abuse theorizing of the late 1970s and early 80s, peaking with a variety of moral panics in the 90s, 00s and 10s.

Notwithstanding the lack of scientific support for such a theory, CSA has attained the status of a monolithic belief system, or orthodoxy that may not be challenged, even by personal experiences that contradict its narrative. As well as causing pre and post-conditioned harms via social stigmatization and legal processing, the dangers of CSA as a belief system also extend to unprosecuted relationships held by both partners to be consensual and non-traumatic at the time. Consider for example, a person - male or female, who had a voluntary contact with an older person at the age of 12, and is now an adult. In most western cultures, they are left with two options:

1. Stay silent, and assimilate society's shame, as their experiences are deemed to have been invalid.
2. Speak out, and incur the full wrath of a shameful society that diverts its insecurity towards trying to cast them as a victim, liar or heretic. All at the risk of incriminating their ex-partner.

Despite a complete lack of proof for a causative chain in the harms supposedly intrinsic to CSA, and evidence of widespread neutral and positive recall of events deemed to be abusive, official bodies and lawmakers continue to irresponsibly perpetuate the associated social stigmas and harms under the proviso of protecting the vulnerable.

Theoretical hubris: "Universality"

CSA is used to describe nearly all sexual activity between adults and considerably younger minors. According to some American psychiatrists, even other activities such as being naked in the presence of a child (deemed normative in some parts of Western Europe) are counted as abusive. CSA is (sometimes) distinguished from rape by its "manipulative" and/or recurring nature. In other words, whilst rape is generally considered to be a violent act of forceful sex, child sexual abuse, when distinguished from rape, is considered to be an ongoing series of unwanted sexual interactions gained through manipulation or grooming - forms of subtle coercion ranging from flattery through emotional blackmail, to bribes. However, most academia and legal systems are prone to describing any sexual activity below a certain age as rape. This tendency is similar to the idea of statutory rape (as applied to older teens), but in this case, there is an axiomatic commitment to the idea that all sexual contact is actual rape. This blurring of language has also infected the media, professional bodies and NGOs.

As a result, any distinctions in the usage of the term (which were historically more clearly demarcated) have in the last few decades become blurred to the point where it is no longer possible to be sure from a news report for example, what kind of "abusive" acts actually took place. With the move during the eighties and following decades, spearheaded by victim's rights groups and select, victim-oriented feminist and lesbian interests, to blur the lines between violent rape, "date rape", "statutory rape", and even regretted encounters, many people now sadly use the terms "child sexual abuse", "child molestation", "pedophilia" and "rape" interchangeably.

Opponents of this blurring of boundaries argue that lumping these categories together undermines severe abuse and punishes misdemeanor/non-abusive acts, thus doing a disservice to parties with a range of experiences, from the positive, thru the forgettable, to the profoundly traumatic. Indeed, despite the actual definition and literal implications of the term "abuse", very rarely is the issue of consent or coercion relevant to the term's modern use. That is to say, given the assumption that no child is capable of consenting to sexual activity, any instance of sex with a child is considered child sexual abuse, regardless whether or not the child consented, desired or even sought the act.

Is there real CSA?

It can not be denied that some seriously harmful acts do involve both coercion and genital contact, so in essence, they are both sexual (in the conventional, erogenous sense) and abusive. However, as already explained, stigma/iatrogenesis is the source of all harms exceeding intrinsic physical and psychological traumas, meaning the "CSA category" is in essence a completely unwarranted "nativization" of cultural baggage. As repeatedly identified by Bruce Rind, erotophobia and antisexualism (morality) is assimilated into the scientific and public discourse, resulting in a series of absurd pseudo-objective ethical circulars. These circular arguments live-real, as a series of self-fulfilling prophecies such as the consenting juvenile (often a female) who goes on to earnestly believe she is a victim of rape, due to misogynistic sex stigma. It is perhaps this, which qualifies as real sexual abuse, since the resulting moral conflicts can be capitalized on by power-hungry elites and special-interest lobbies, at the expense of a person's capacity to feel erotic pleasure.

Debunking CSA as a concept

Bruce Rind is perhaps the one researcher who has thoroughly debunked the concept of CSA^[1], towards a better categorisation of sexual contacts between minors and adults.

External Links

CSA - Wikipedia Presents a victimological perspective.

References

↑ http://www.ipce.info/ipceweb/Library/reg_r.htm Ipce - Rind Index

[1] ttp://www.ipce.info/ipceweb/Library/reg_r.htm Ipce - Rind Index

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-__NOTOC__'''Child Sexual Abuse''' is a term popularised in the late 1970s and early 80s by [[victimology|victimologists]] inclined towards the study of [[Sexual Abuse|sexual abuse]]. It is used to describe nearly all sexual activity with children, and according to some [[American]] [[Psychhiatry|psychiatrists]], other activities such as being naked in the presence of a child. It is (although only sometimes) distinguished from [[rape]] by its "manipulative" and/or recurring nature. In other words, whilst rape is generally considered to be a violent act of forceful sex, child sexual abuse, when distinguished from rape, is considered to be an ongoing series of unwanted sexual interactions gained through manipulation or other forms of subtle coercion ranging from emotional blackmail to bribes. However, academics, professionals, legal statutes and media are all prone to describing any sexual activity below a certain age as rape (as in [[Statutory rape]]).
+__NOTOC__'''Child Sexual Abuse''' (CSA) is an [[Research: Prevalence of Harm and Negative Outcomes|empirically invalid]] and pseudoscientific concept popularized by mainly American [[victimology|victimologists]] throughout western culture, law and the life sciences. CSA has its roots in the [[Feminism|feminist]] and psychiatric-industrial traumatalogical [[Sexual Abuse|sexual abuse]] theorizing of the late 1970s and early 80s, peaking with a variety of [[moral panic]]s in the 90s, 00s and 10s.
-==Current usage==
+Notwithstanding the lack of scientific support for such a theory, CSA has attained the status of a monolithic ''belief system'', or orthodoxy that may not be challenged, even by personal experiences that contradict its narrative. As well as causing pre and post-conditioned harms via [[Research: Secondary Harm|social stigmatization]] and [[Special Article: Adverse effects of hysteria|legal processing]], the dangers of CSA as a belief system also extend to unprosecuted relationships held by both partners to be consensual and non-traumatic at the time. Consider for example, a person - male or female, who had a voluntary contact with an older person at the age of 12, and is now an adult. In most western cultures, they are left with '''two options''':
-These distinctions in the usage of the term, which were historically more clearly demarcated, have in the last few decades become blurred to the point where it is no longer possible to be sure what kind of "abusive" acts took place. With the move during the eighties, spearheaded by victim's rights groups and select, victim-oriented feminist and lesbian interests, to blur the lines between (for example) violent rape and slightly different behaviours such as "date rape," "statutory rape," and even simple day-after regrets, many people use the terms "child sexual abuse," "child molestation" and "rape" interchangeably.
+*1. '''Stay silent''', and ''assimilate society's shame'', as their experiences are deemed to have been ''invalid''.
+*2. '''Speak out''', and incur the full wrath of a ''shameful society'' that diverts its insecurity towards trying to cast them as a victim, liar or heretic. All at the risk of incriminating their ex-partner.
-Proponents of this melding of terms indicate that it helps us to see unwanted sexual acts of all types for what they really are - that is, acts of coercive sex - and to avoid minimizing the seriousness of certain acts simply because they may not have involved overt physical violence. Opponents argue that lumping the acts together undermines severe abuse and punishes misdemeananour or non-abusive acts, leading to a "lose-lose" situation, as explained later. Indeed, despite the actual definition and literal implications of the term "abuse", very rarely is the issue of consent or coercion relevant to the term's modern use. That is to say, given the assumption that no child is capable of consenting to sexual activity, any instance of sex with a child is considered child sexual abuse, regardless whether or not the child consented, desired or even sought the act.
+Despite a [[Research: Association or Causation|complete lack of proof for a causative chain]] in the harms supposedly ''intrinsic'' to CSA, and evidence of [[Rind et al|widespread neutral and positive recall]] of events deemed to be abusive, official bodies and lawmakers continue to irresponsibly perpetuate the associated social stigmas and harms under the proviso of protecting the vulnerable.
-As such, the term can now be used to apply to any interaction with a child that has, or can be interpreted by others to have, sexual overtones, regardless of the desires and consent of the parties involved. In this vein the term is used by some as interchangeable with "pedophilia."
+==Theoretical hubris: "Universality"==
-==Is there real CSA?==
+CSA is used to describe nearly all sexual activity between adults and considerably younger minors. According to some [[American]] [[Psychhiatry|psychiatrists]], even other activities such as being naked in the presence of a child (deemed normative in some parts of Western Europe) are counted as abusive. CSA is (sometimes) distinguished from [[rape]] by its "manipulative" and/or recurring nature. In other words, whilst rape is generally considered to be a violent act of forceful sex, child sexual abuse, when distinguished from rape, is considered to be an ongoing series of unwanted sexual interactions gained through ''manipulation or [[grooming]]'' - forms of subtle coercion ranging from flattery through emotional blackmail, to bribes. However, most academia and legal systems are prone to describing any sexual activity below a certain age as rape. This tendency is similar to the idea of [[statutory rape]] (as applied to older teens), but in this case, there is an axiomatic commitment to the idea that all sexual contact is ''actual rape''. This blurring of language has also infected the media, professional bodies and NGOs.
-It can not be denied that some seriously harmful acts do involve both coercion and genital contact. This does not necessarily justify the description of said behaviour as (predominantly) "sexual" abuse, let alone the basing of a whole branch of psychiatry on such a distinction. The specification of a sex act as fundamental to physically or psychologically coercive, harmful behaviours is therefore a result of motivations other than a sound evaluation of what actually makes the act abusive. It would be politically impossible for most psychologists and therapists to point to mere lack of consent, social stigma and the reaction of other parties as the sources of harm, so as a result, [[antisexualism]] is assimilated into scientific discourse via presumptive and restrictive terminology. The question therefore remains open to debate: is CSA ever a valid term?
+As a result, any distinctions in the usage of the term (which were historically more clearly demarcated) have in the last few decades become blurred to the point where it is no longer possible to be sure from a news report for example, what kind of "abusive" acts actually took place. With the move during the eighties and following decades, spearheaded by victim's rights groups and select, victim-oriented feminist and lesbian interests, to blur the lines between violent rape, "date rape", "statutory rape", and even regretted encounters, many people now sadly use the terms "child sexual abuse", "child molestation", "pedophilia" and "rape" interchangeably.
-Despite this debate among academics and commentators, the frequent misuse of the term has not be used to discount the seriousness of acts of "real" child sexual abuse, that is, abuse which fulfils the first definition of the term given above: non-consensual or coerced sexual activity. People today are often caught in the delicate position of having to decide between two conflicting assumptions: that the "child sexual abuse" wasn't really a harmful act, and risk ignoring the needs of a child who has truly been victimized, or that the abuse was a harmful coercive act, and risk ignoring the desires of a child who willingly consented in a mutually beneficial relationship. This lack of precision is a distressing consequence of the aforementioned blurring of terms.
+Opponents of this blurring of boundaries argue that lumping these categories together undermines severe abuse and punishes misdemeanor/non-abusive acts, thus doing a disservice to parties with a range of experiences, from the positive, thru the forgettable, to the profoundly traumatic. Indeed, despite the actual definition and literal implications of the term "abuse", very rarely is the issue of consent or coercion relevant to the term's modern use. That is to say, given the assumption that no child is capable of consenting to sexual activity, any instance of sex with a child is considered child sexual abuse, regardless whether or not the child consented, [[Accounts and Testimonies|desired or even sought the act]].
-Unfortunately, the same lack of precision in current usage sometimes means that children who consented to mutually desired sexual acts are often treated as though they were victims and in many cases, after the fact, come to believe it. Likewise, the adults involved in such interactions are treated exactly as if they were violent rapists as well, suggesting that in the long term, the treatment of consensual acts as synonymous with non-consensual ones leads to many of the same consequences as a genuine non-consensual act, except that the consequences are now iatrogenic in origin.
+==Is there real CSA?==
-Child victims of genuine non-consensual or coercive sex acts often suffer from serious psychological after-effects from their ordeals in ways similar to that of adult rape victims. Although cases differ remarkably, the harm in such cases is nearly always exacerbated by their taboo nature and the stigma that they carry.
+It can not be denied that some seriously harmful acts do involve both coercion and genital contact, so in essence, they are both ''sexual'' (in the conventional, erogenous sense) and ''abusive''. However, as already explained, stigma/[[iatrogenesis]] is the source of all harms exceeding intrinsic physical and psychological traumas, meaning the "CSA category" is in essence a completely unwarranted "''nativization''" of cultural baggage. As repeatedly identified by [[Bruce Rind]], erotophobia and antisexualism (morality) is assimilated into the scientific and public discourse, resulting in a series of absurd [[Debate Guide: Cognitive ability = consent|pseudo-objective ethical circulars]]. These circular arguments live-real, as a series of [[self-fulfilling prophecy|self-fulfilling prophecies]] such as the consenting juvenile (often a female) who goes on to earnestly believe she is a victim of rape, due to misogynistic sex stigma. It is perhaps ''this'', which qualifies as ''real sexual abuse'', since the resulting moral conflicts can be capitalized on by power-hungry elites and special-interest lobbies, ''at the expense'' of a person's capacity to feel erotic pleasure.
 ==Debunking CSA as a concept==
-*Bruce Rind is perhaps the one researcher who has thoroughly debunked the concept of CSA<ref>http://www.ipce.info/ipceweb/Library/reg_r.htm Ipce - Rind Index</ref>, towards a better categorisation of sexual contacts between minors and adults.
+*[[Bruce Rind]] is perhaps the one researcher who has thoroughly debunked the concept of CSA<ref>http://www.ipce.info/ipceweb/Library/reg_r.htm Ipce - Rind Index</ref>, towards a better categorisation of sexual contacts between minors and adults.
 ==See also==