List of conflicting statements by victimologists

Template: Lists - This template

Since the "problematization" or "CSA" panic began in the 1970s, professional victimologists (chief among them, religious moralists and "radical" feminists) have pushed contradicting narratives and soundbites on the topic of pedophilia, "child molestation" and children's trauma response. This page will eventually grow to critique those conflicting narratives, cliches and talking points. At this point in time, we present individual statements that range from the calamitous and unfortunate, right through to de-facto admissions of secondary victimization of minors. Anne Marie Grondin can be cited below, for critique of coercive therapy used against minors who refuse to play victim.

David Sonenschein's meticulous Pedophiles on Parade is another source for absurd contradictions in the CSA narrative.

The narrative on young people's sexuality is incoherent

The present panic centers on the sexuality of young people, so naturally "sex play" between children occupies a strange place of strategic importance, with accounts varying from person to person, from culture to culture.

On the one hand, we are led to believe "sex play" is an appropriate part of development and arises spontaneously in a "healthy" child.

On the other, the presence of "premature" or "precocious" sexuality expressed in a playful manner, is a surefire symptom of adult-initiated CSA, and the child must be interrogated immediately.

The reason both of these attitudes can exist alongside each other, simultaneously, is because in both examples, the idea of "sex play" exists as a useful tool, to reinforce common prejudices about young people's sexuality. In our first instance, common to the European school of thought, it explains why "child" sexuality is itself a kind of innocence that needs to be protected. In the second, more common among Americans, it confirms our suspicions that a child has been viciously defiled by an adult - the only possible source of "this kind of knowledge".

In the case of "sex play", it is also true that two children are not deemed unconsenting, despite neither having the supposed ability to consent. We are left with a strange idea that the only "appropriate" form of sexuality in children not only comes about spontaneously, but is also pedophilic, i.e. directed toward other children. To say this is problematic for the narrative is an understatement. It immediately confounds the hypothesis of pedophilic feelings as a clinical disorder, as there is no known cure for pedophilia, and no natural process for de-evolving it in persons of any age. There exists no evidence that children can just stop being pedophiles.

Direct Quotes

Secondary Harm

APA press release: Online Sex Abuse Cases Not Characterized By Deception, Abduction And Force, Research Shows
"The authors also recommend training for law enforcement since some of the targeted youth may not initially see themselves as victims and may require sensitive interviewing in order to cooperate with investigators."

Lisa Stacey (Barnardo's "researcher") in Metro (Nov, 2009)
"The children are basically brainwashed. Some will even believe that the man who is grooming them is their boyfriend. It can take some of them a year of counselling to realise that they've been abused.."

Finkelhor, David (1990). "Early and long-term effects of child sexual abuse: An update," Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 21(5), pp. 325-330.
"However, much sexual abuse does not occur under conditions of danger, threat, and violence. Many abusers, misusing their authority or manipulating moral standards, act with the child's trust. Sometimes the fact of having been abused is recognized only in retrospect as children learn more about appropriate conduct. The trauma of sexual abuse can result from the meaning of the act (“I am being exploited”) as much as from the physical danger."

Finkelhor, David (2022). "University of New Hampshire professor appears to defend pedophilia, says kids sometimes initiate sexual activities," Law Enforcement Today

"If young people are initiating sexual activities with adults, or enthusiastically involved [...] we can’t be effective in working with them if we assume that all such relationships start with a predatory or criminally inclined adult. As we’ve seen in the discussion, young people bridle at being forced into this box of being seen as the victim of a predator."

Kenneth Lanning (2011). 'Nice Guy Molesters' Believe They're 'Child Lovers, ABC News Blog
"Child-lover molesters almost never use violence for sex, said Ken Lanning, a former FBI special agent for 30 years. Instead, they groom and seduce and manipulate and use cooperation to get what they want out of the child. "I can't tell you how many cases where there are letters from the victim written to the accused, saying, ‘You're the nicest person I ever met,' or 'You've been so good to me,'" said Lanning. Many victims don't tell anyone of the inappropriate behavior because they are considered “compliant child victims." "A child can't legally consent to having sex, but some of them aren’t necessarily fighting him off," said Lanning. "They're developmentally immature, and later they feel ashamed and embarrassed that they cooperated in their victimization."

Cantor, James (2020). "A Crash Course in Sexology | with Dr. James Cantor"
"The research is more complicated than most people would appreciate. What appears to cause the greatest harm, the research seems to indicate that it's less the actual physical contact, and more the pressure and the coercion and the techniques that the perpetrator uses in order to gain access to the kid. It's the manipulation, it's the threats, it's the threats of what the perpetrator will do if the kid tells anybody. The betrayal of not being able to talk when other family members are present (the majority of these cases happen inside families). That kind of psychological manipulation surrounding the physical abuse, that does the primary psychological damage."

Detective Lloyd Martin "Elder Statesman" of the 1980s anti-abuse movement, was responsible for more than his fair share of absurd statements. Pictured surrounded with Youth Erotica, one particular crutch of his choosing. Played an instrumental role in establishing the LAPD’s Sexually Exploited Child Unit in 1976, and he had coordinated police crackdowns on alleged “chicken hawks”—adult men with a sexual interest in underage boys—in Los Angeles since the early 1970s

Burgess, A. W.; Hartman, C. R.; McCausland, M. P.; Powers, P. (1984). "Response Patterns in Children and Adolescents Exploited Through Sex Rings and Pornography," American Journal of Psychiatry, 141(5), pp. 656-662.
"In talking about the event the child who identifies with the exploiter minimizes the exploition and pornography, resents the interference of the authorities, and feels there is "much ado about nothing." The child maintains emotional, social, and economic ties with the offender and feels sorry or angry that the adult was exposed and convicted. The problem and "hassle" are seen as caused by the authorities and interveners ("Why don't you get off my case?")."

Hall, Steve (2009). "Fiends may appear as friends," Lancashire Evening Post, 18 August.
Det Sgt Warren Atkinson: "Parents and social workers may find convincing the young person they are a victim extremely difficult."

Oprah Winfrey (2020). PolitiFact: Claims that Oprah condones pedophilia take her comments out of context.
""Even if you don’t have a name for what that is, it feels good," Winfrey said, "And when I first said this years ago people were like, ‘you're crazy,’ because everyone wants to believe that it’s like sexual assault and you’re being thrown up against a wall and you’re being raped, and I have said for years if the abuser is any good, you won’t even know it’s happening.""

Fabella, Frederick Edward. (2023). The Lived Experiences of Social Workers Handling Child Sexual Abuse Cases. 130-172. DOI: 10.47760/cognizance.2023.v03i06.009.
Social Worker: "Unmanageable behavior of the child after a couple of days staying at the [Philippines] residential center. Some of them escaping and trying to kill themselves"

Arkansas official: Children seized from evangelical compound were in danger, Associated Press, 23 September, 2008:
"A child psychologist not involved in the Alamo case said that investigators will have to be careful interviewing the minors, particularly because some of them may have been taught to believe that any abuse that may have occurred was not wrong. 'If they don't believe it was abusive, that may be truly what their reality is at this point,' said Dr. Janice Church, assistant director of the Family Treatment Program at Arkansas Children's Hospital. 'It's going to take a lot of cautious interviewing and careful relationship-building just to get them to distinguish between reality and what they may have been programmed or taught to believe.'"

Rosalind Prober (victim advocate) talking to Mike Oliveira of Canada.com - article: "Police fighting child porn brace for 2007 after a year of shocking firsts" (28 December 2006)
"Young people often argue with you that what they're doing is what they want to do and the person on the Internet is really their boyfriend, they weren't sexually exploited and they wanted to raise their shirts and show their breasts over the Internet," Prober said. "It takes a lot of debriefing and deprogramming to get those children to view themselves as victims, which they truly are, a compliant victim."

Broken narrative

Ken Lanning - Former FBI (to BND)
Sometimes, children actually like the attention and gifts they get from child molesters, but when asked about it by untrained interrogators, are ashamed to admit it and instead feel compelled to come up with a distorted view of the suspect as pure evil, he said. “Most likely the child described him this way because that’s what people wanted to hear”.

From the UK Government's IICSA Report into Rotherham

Illinois Investigating Commission (1980)
“The relationships established with the offenders seemed, at least at the time, to be the only valid relationships many of the victims ever had had. Transcripts . . . include that final phrase ‘his best friend’ too often to be mere coincidence.”^[1]

Chief Constable Simon Bailey - Child Protection lead to the UK Government, in The children selling explicit videos on OnlyFans (2021)
"The company is not doing enough to put in place the safeguards that prevent children exploiting the opportunity to generate money"

‘Would run up to him’: Mum of alleged childcare victim reveals chilling detail in anonymous post (2023)
"“My youngest daughter, the one I eventually realised he was [allegedly] abusing, would run up to him every time she was at kindy,” the anonymous post read. “She would exclaim his name and express excitement at all they would do that day. I felt so reassured knowing my baby was cared for … it made me feel secure knowing she was in good hands and was happy at that centre. But with such beauty was lurking a darkness. While he greeted us and told us our daughters ‘had a great day’, he had [allegedly] been raping them. I struggle with this on a deep level.”"

Ian James - Pedo Cop (2021)
"Which is the sad thing about it all. You're expecting someone to come in who's going to be horrified, screaming and shouting, but there's no screaming or shouting because the boy... This was comfortable for him. This was his environment."

Child sexual abuse victims inadequately protected by court system - Now Grenada (2023)
"Another area of concern for the CPA is while the law states that a person under the age of 16 cannot give consent to sexual interactions/intercourse, there are times when consent is given before the age of 16. This is usually the case when a child is in a consensual relationship with the accused. In a case like this, the child will refuse to speak up against the defendant, which can become counterproductive. When confronted with these types of cases the CPA may try counselling and other measures to build trust and allow the complainant to open up, but this is not always successful."

Absurdisms

In 2024, a Canadian NGO ran an awareness campaign on "Self-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material". While the presentation of this poster (complete with *Dawson casting* girl) is particularly absurd, INHOPE, Nominet, IWF and others have now put their full weight behind the meme of self-abuse.^[2]

DA Roger Cognata (1982). Quoted in "Testimony vs. Privacy: court decision in 30 days". Imperial Valley Press (California). Cited in Sonenschein (1998): Pedophiles on Parade.
"We have a duty to protect a minor whether she likes it or not"

Det. Lloyd Martin (1984). At the Symposium Protecting Our Children: The Fight Against Molestation (pp 199-204, printed by US DoJ and available online)
"Once a pedophile gets his grip on your son or daughter, you and I as parents cannot compete"

Det. Lloyd Martin (1977). In The encyclopedia of conspiracies and conspiracy theories (2005), pp. 328-329.
“They bring them in eight at a time under the floorboards [...] Then they take them to a motel and clean them up. It’s getting more violent. It’s as if the kids aren’t enough. Now there’s a need for blood.”

Bravehearts Representative (2025) (describing a case where 70 charges were made in relation to 8 children)
“We're talking about 70 children across goodness knows how many childcare centers. [...] there are 1200 children who are carrying sexual assault against them"^[3]

Critique

Grondin, A-M (2011), Thinking outside specious boxes: constructionist and post-structuralist readings of "child sexual abuse".

"For instance, some children undergoing sexual abuse victimization therapy interpret their experience as neither abusive nor harmful (Angelides 2004, 160). For children declared child sexual abuse (CSA) ‘victims’, however, therapy can be mandatory, even if they deny having been molested (Gallo-Lopez 2000, 273). In these instances, the first task for therapists is to lead children to recast their denials of injury as accounts of abuse and of victimization (Davis 2005, 167). In other words, therapists encourage children to rewrite their experiences to fit the parameters of the dominant CSA framework, wherein victims and offenders are conceptualized in absolutes: against the knowing adult perpetrator, the child victim is cast as innocent and blameless (Kitzinger 2005, 165). Accordingly, children in therapy are automatically ascribed the status of victim, heedless of their accounts of what transpired. Once they acknowledge both abuse and victimhood, children are prompted to recognize their innocence (Celano et al. 2002), as per the now famous dictum ‘sexual abuse is never the child’s fault’. Children who feel that the dominant framework does not reflect their interpretations are nevertheless expected to adopt it. Indeed, children’s espousal of the dominant framework and concomitant denial of alternative narratives are seen as markers of therapeutic success."

References

↑ De Orio, Punishing Queer Sexuality in the Age of LGBT Rights (2017), p168
↑ See for example End Violence, Nominet and INHOPE's treatment in which they place more emphasis on extortion.
↑ See, 7.25 [1], and 5.50 [2].

[1] De Orio, Punishing Queer Sexuality in the Age of LGBT Rights (2017), p168

[2] See for example End Violence, Nominet and INHOPE's treatment in which they place more emphasis on extortion.

[3] See, 7.25 [1], and 5.50 [2].

[1]

[2]

[3]