User:Jillium/Pubs

2009

Mirkin, Harris (2009). "The Social, Political, and Legal Construction of the Concept of Child Pornography," Journal of Homosexuality, 56(2), 233–267. [1]
This article examines the construction of the concept of child pornography, developed in several Supreme Court decisions. New York v. Ferber (1982) separated child pornography from adult obscenity, and soon thereafter almost all pictures of nude children became illegal. These images had been common in art and usually signified innocence, although they often had an erotic component. The assumption that images of nude youths can only be viewed erotically is a significant change. The justification—that children were hurt in producing child pornography, and that distribution (even no-cost distribution) and private possession contributed to that harm—does not hold up under analysis. It is statistically flawed and inconsistent with other Court decisions. Justice Kennedy's decision in Ashcroft v. The Free Speech Coalition supports the argument that the images are forbidden because they challenge the ideology of the innocent child. Since erotic images of adults are common, understanding the different treatment of youths is important for understanding contemporary sexual politics.

Malón, Agustín (2009). "Onanism and Child Sexual Abuse: A Comparative Study of Two Hypotheses ," Archives of Sexual Behavior. [2]
"For some decades now in the West, there has been a growing social anxiety with regard to a phenomenon which has become known as child sexual abuse (CSA). This anxiety is fed by scientific theories whose cornerstone is the assessment of these experiences as necessarily harmful, due to their presumed serious consequences for the present and future lives of the minors involved in them. This principle, widely held by experts and laypersons alike, was also part and parcel of the danger presumably posed by Onanism, a phenomenon which occupied a similar position in society and medical science in the West during the eighteenth through twentieth centuries. The present work is a comparative review of these two hypotheses and the central objective was to compare the evolution and fundamental elements of the two hypotheses in light of what history tells us about Onanism theory. This comparative analysis will allow a critical look at the assumptions of the CSA hypothesis in order to make evident the similarities to the conceptual model that enabled the Onanism hypothesis in the past."

Hunter, James (2008). "The Political Use and Abuse of the 'Pedophile'," Journal of Homosexuality, 55(3), 350-387. [3]
"The cognitive/affective construct designated by the term “pedophile” is delineated on the basis of how he is presented in the popular media. His salient characteristics are listed and then examined in the light of scientific and historical data. The “pedophile” is discovered to be a “social construct that floats in the thin air of fantasy.” Since the truth-value of the construct “pedophile” approaches zero, we are confronted with the question of why he continues to be such a central and emotionally fraught aspect of American culture. The answer to this question is found in his political usefulness. Specifically, the religious right uses him to further its agenda of sexual repression, and the political right uses him to dismantle the machinery of a free society."