Margaret Mead Japan China Religie en seks Moral panics Seks en robots De seksuele ontwikkeling van jongeren Seksualisering Leeftijdverschillen Geweld en misbruik Consent Sexting Sex trafficking Prostitutie PornografieVolgt binnenkort.
Allie C. KILPATRICK"Early on the reader will discover that one aim of this book is to debunk some of the myths about the sexual abuse of children. Such an effort is filled with peril because there is always the grave risk of being misunderstood or misinterpreted. Considerable intellectual courage is required when one sets out to collect factual evidence concerning matters that are believed to have been long since settled. This is especially true if the facts tend to refute passionately held beliefs about so sensitive and important a topic as childhood sexual experiences." [mijn nadruk] (7)
"Always discursive and illustrative, rather than being accusatory, the author has performed an outstanding service by identifying the terrible consequences that can come to children when researchers, scholars, and practitioners allow themselves to be guided by theories that have never been validated. "(10)
"Yet, in considering the materials contained in this book it may be useful to keep in mind the perpetual unwillingness of our culture to deal openly and honestly with matters related to the sexuality of our children."(11)
Ze heeft het eerst over de onbetrouwbaarheid van statistieken rondom 'abuse' in de VS.
"These statistics do show that many more children and adolescents are in life-threatening situations through neglect and physical abuse than are sexually abused. In fact, many more children die from neglect than from physical abuse or from sexual abuse, which reports zero fatalities ..." [mijn nadruk] (16)
"I have been interested in the problems related to human sexuality and the long-range consequences of early sexual experiences for a long time. However, I have found much of the research in this area to be flawed and many popular beliefs to be myths. One goal of this book is to debunk some of these myths."(17)
"When I have discussed my study with individuals and groups, my experience thus far has been that many people do not want to hear what my findings are saying. They do not want to hear about positive reactions to early sexual experiences. They do not want their preconceived notions that all early sexual experiences are harmful to be challenged. They especially do not want to hear that incestuous experiences do not always cause irreparable harm. " [mijn nadruk] (19)
"Special attention is given to the issue of defining what has been harmed — the child or the moral code of society."(20)
"The history as recorded in the Bible and the Talmud leads us to believe that sex between men and very young girls was encouraged in ancient times through marriage, concubinage, and slavery. The Talmud held that a female child of “three years and one day,” with her father's permission, could be betrothed by sexual intercourse.(...) Because the female was a sexual property, all heterosexual relationships were defined as financial transactions. Marriage was the purchase of a daughter from her father, prostitution was a selling and reselling of a female by her master for sexual service, and rape was the theft of a girl's virginity that could be compensated for by payment to her father. Where the Bible was vague regarding the age of the females involved in these transactions, the Talmud was explicit."(30-32)
"Whereas in the Hebrew tradition, sex with a child under 3 was invalid, in the Christian tradition sex with a child under 7 was invalid (Fulton, 1883). Sex between men and children was debated not out of concern for a child but out of regard for the technical violation of the impediment of affinity (or incest) to all her kin. "(33)
"The delineation between childhood and adulthood was raised from age 7 to age 10 in 1576. Sex with a child below age 10 was considered invalid, but it was not illegal. Ten became the legal age at which a female child could consent to sex, and 12 remained the legal age at which she could consent to marriage. Carnal knowledge of a nonconsenting woman child below age 10 became a felony, whereas carnal knowledge of a consenting woman child between the ages of 10 and 12 was a misdemeanor (Hale, 1847). Thus, the crime of statutory rape evolved." [mijn nadruk] (35)
[Ik zou wel eens willen weten wat de redenen waren om die leeftijd te veranderen.]
"The book of Gerson in 1706 indicated that children should be responsible for protecting themselves from sexual abuse and parents should induce guilt when discovering children masturbating. (...) Schultz (1980) observed that children were now considered sexually dangerous, with innocence and asexuality to be enforced, which foretold of the coming attacks on children's sexual integrity by a “well-meaning” society.
Schultz (1980) stated that the period up to about 1800 was characterized as a dark time period in which it was normal that children and minors were indiscriminantly used as sexual objects by various adults in a child's social space. The period after 1800 marked the beginning of society's efforts to protect children from their own sexual instincts “for their own good.” During these two phases, the basic legal structure was built with the passage of criminal law designed to sexually protect children from adults and from themselves." [mijn nadruk] (37-38)
[Dat is een interessante opmerking. Is er onderzoek naar dat misbruik gedaan? Was dát de reden voor de inperking van de rechten van kinderen en het verhogen van leeftijden van meerderjarig zijn en zo? Of zat er iets anders achter? Bijvoorbeeld een toenemende negativiteit tegenover seks?]
"Under English law, the age of consent moved from age 10 to 12 in 1861, to age 13 in 1875, and to age 16 in 1885, although a girl could legally marry at age 12. In 1861, a law was passed to protect children from homosexual attack, and in 1968, another law was passed to protect children from exhibitionism (Schultz, 1980)."(38)
[Ja, maar waarom was dat zo?]
"In the United States, the early colonies insisted on strict enforcement of Puritan ethics and scriptural law. Special laws were enacted to punish all nonmarital sexual activities. Parents in the 18th and 19th centuries were advised by physi-cians, teachers, and clergy that sexual feelings in children and sexual precocity led to self-abuse and self-pollution and were etiologically responsible for almost every pediatric ailment known at that time (Schultz, 1980).(...) What innocence there was in children must be preserved until marriage. (...) The fear was that masturbation in boys caused insanity and early death and that girls would become nymphomaniacs or prostitutes. The “unnatural” acts of children were to be suppressed. The emergence of the idea that childhood is based on weakness and the consequent need for protection demanded that parents deny that children had sexual feelings, drives, and any means of gratification." [mijn nadruk] (38-39)
Dus ook daar meer en meer 'beschermende' wetgeving. net als in de UK.
"Only in the past century has society begun to intervene in family life for the protection of the child. Only in the past two decades has society begun to focus actively on the welfare and rights of children. This movement has recently suffered a setback, however, by the failure of the United States to sign the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child."(45)
De vraag wordt dan hoe vaak incest en ander misbruik van kinderen voorkomt. Freud en Kinsey geven inzichten en cijfers maar bagatelliseren die vervolgens. Finkelhor is duidelijker.
"With the kinds of evidence supplied by Freud (in spite of his cover-up), Kinsey (in spite of his de-emphasis and down-playing), Finkelhor, and more recently many others, it is no longer possible to deny the widespread occurrence of child and adolescent sexual experiences, including abuse and incest."(52)
[Ik vind deze historische schildering wel wat kort en oppervlakkig. En de belangrijkste conclusie ontbreekt: waarom is het zo dat wat men nu 'seksueel misbruik' noemt waartegen men kinderen wil beschermen in vroeger tijden als normaal / acceptabel ervaren werd? Waartegen willen we kinderen eigenlijk beschermen?]
"Although legal definitions of child/adolescent sexual abuse vary, there is increasing agreement among social workers and other helping professionals that sexual abuse of children involves coercive or nonconsenting sexual acts (Berliner & Stevens, 1982). An age difference between partners, the presence of force or coercion, and the developmental appropriateness of the behavior itself are some concepts that have been used to define the parameters of child sexual abuse.
An age difference between sexual partners of 5 years or more when one partner is a child or adolescent has been considered by Finkelhor (1979) to be child victimization." [mijn nadruk] (53)
[Wat een onzinnige bewering, die laatste van Finkelhor.]
"The issue raised here is whether age discrepancy in itself is the most relevant criterion for defining sexual abuse."(54)
[Nee, dus.]
"However, even without the presence or the threat of force, some professionals consider any sexual experience between a child and an adult to involve coercion. This belief is based on the reasoning that much abuse begins at an age when the child does not fully understand the nature of the act taking place and when the child lacks the cognitive, emotional, and physical power to say no to the behavior (Conte, 1987). Finkelhor (1979) suggested that because these conditions make it impossible for a child to give informed consent, all sexual contact between children and adults is abusive or, in his terms, victimization."(55)
[Even onzinnig. ]
"There have been few, if any, studies conducted or guidelines formulated that assist in determining such developmental appropriateness of specific sexual behaviors, however. Nor have there been studies that determine when children have the physical, intellectual, and emotional capacities to deal with and understand the specific sexual behaviors. The concept of life-cycle developmental appropriateness could provide important guidelines for what is abuse. However, in order for the concept to be useful to professionals, it is necessary that what is developmental and what is appropriate be operationalized in more specific behavioral terms." [mijn nadruk] (56)
"Schultz added that in most instances sexual trauma, unless reinforced by court testimony or parental overreaction, produced few permanent consequences. He further concluded that it “is clear from studies of child sexual victims that it is not the sexual assault that usually creates trauma, but the parent's behavior upon its discovery, and the effect of this on the child” (p. 150)."(61)
"Many authorities agree that the emotional damage resulting from the intervention of helping agents in our society may equal or far exceed the harm caused by the abusive incident itself (De Francis, 1969; Giarretto, 1976; McKerrow, 1973; Miner, 1966; Schultz, 1973; Sgroi, 1978). From this review it seems that reactions and interventions of the helping agents (social agencies, police, courts, parents and other social systems) may, indeed, promote the possibility of harmful consequences to the child."(68)
Haar conclusie in dit hoofdstuk
"Various aspects that confront helping professionals who work with child and adolescent victims of sexual abuse have been identified. One aspect is the varying dimensions in sexual abuse such as age discrepancy between partners, the presence of force or coercion, and the life-cycle developmental appropriateness of the sexual behavior itself. A second aspect is the quality of the family environment in which sexual abuse takes place. This includes dysfunctional family patterns as well as society's patriarchal norms. A third aspect consists of society's response to sexual abuse that includes four sources of potential harm to children and adolescents: the imposed secrecy during the abuse, the effects of the disclosure, the climate of the environmental response, and the emphasis on prosecution of the offender instead of the well-being of the victim."(68)
[Wat geen conclusie is maar een samenvatting van de inhoud.]
"There is currently a high level of societal interest in incest and sexual abuse of children and adolescents. It is, therefore, important that more attention be given to researching the implications of various child and adolescent sexual experiences. Until fairly recently, however, little emphasis has been placed on the study of long-range effects of such experiences.
In order to identify issues, problems, and gaps in the study of long-range effects of child and adolescent sexual experiences, I reviewed 39 major research studies that report or attempt to account for long-range effects." [mijn nadruk] (70)
[Eerst dus literatuuronderzoek. De auteur ziet verschillende problemen opduiken en kijkt hoe men daar in die 39 onderzoeken mee omging.]
"One difficulty is the moral dilemma of asking children and adolescents very sensitive questions about their sexual behavior or about the sexual behavior of family members and other acquaintances; the researcher is faced with the potential of upsetting them by asking such sensitive and personal questions. This is especially true when the offending adult has made threats to the child about what will happen if the child tells anyone about the behavior. If a child does tell, by law the researcher must report the situation to the proper authorities. If the offending adult is a parent, then often the result of the investigation is that either the child or the parent is removed from the home. It is not unusual for the child to assume the blame for this disruption of the family (Kilpatrick & Lockhart, in press)." [mijn nadruk] (72)
"The situation is complicated further by the fact that the federal government and college and university human subjects committees impose guidelines for studies of sensitive topics under their sponsorship. The typical guidelines contain provisions that call for subjects to give their informed consent. This informed consent assures that the participants have been provided with a full explanation of the research being conducted and that they have been informed that they can withdraw at any time. If legal minors (under 18 years of age) are participants, a problem with informed consent arises because it must be obtained from parents or guardians prior to meeting with the minor. This restriction virtually guarantees that children will seldom be subjects of research on sensitive topics (Gelles, 1978)."(73)
[Het probleem is dus de totale juridische inkadering van dit soort zaken. Waaronder dus ook dat ouders de baas kunnen blijven spelen over hun kinderen tot hun 18e. Waardoor je je kunt afvragen in wiens belang het verhogen van de leeftijd van meerderjarigheid nu eigenlijk is. Niet in het belang van de kinderen zoals zo vaak gezegd wordt, niet omdat ze op die manier tegen misbruik beschermd worden. Het verklaart ook dat misbruik vaak niet gemeld wordt bij 'de instanties', omdat de ellende - ook voor jezelf - dan niet te overzien is.]
"A problem also exists in studying sexual abuse retrospectively. This problem concerns questions about the reliability of this retrospective data. The accuracy of recall of details must be considered, and other threats to validity of recall data must be recognized. There is the possibility of memory loss or impression management. Minor incidents related to the experience may be forgotten or distorted. There is no way to verify the data with the reported partner or abuser. It is also impossible to trace the current condition in a direct causal line from the previous conditions associated with the sexual abuse (Kilpatrick, 1987)." [mijn nadruk] (76)
[Dat is inderdaad een ander belangrijk probleem. Haar opmerkingen over methoden - die hierna volgen - zijn ook midden in de roos:]
Veel studies beperken zich te veel tot een kleine populatie, de populatie wordt alleen gezocht onder personen die misbruikt zijn, er is geen controlegroep van mensen voor wie dat niet geldt, het is lastig om problemen door misbruik te onderscheiden van andere problemen die die personen hebben, sociaal-economische achtergronden en verschillen worden niet meegenomen. Hetzelfde geldt voor sekseverschillen en raciale verschillen.
"Another issue for researchers is the combining of different age groups in the study. Problems occur when ages of the sample groups vary but are combined, and general conclusions are drawn. The studies reviewed included samples from ages 1 to 77. Also, the interval between when the child or adolescent experiences occurred and when the effects were studied varied from a few years to 50 years. Of particular concern is the combining of data on effects in prepubertal children with postpuberal children." [mijn nadruk] (80)
"In other words, older victims may suffer more negative consequences because they are more aware of the sexual meaning of the abusive experience and more likely to feel responsible for its occurrence. The point is that the two age groups of prepubertal and postpubertal females should be studied separately and compared for similarities and differences. When generalizations are made across these groups, important data may be lost, and findings may be misleading."(81)
En dan natuurlijk nog de definitiekwesties. Hoe breed of smal wordt eem begrip opgevat? Hoe wordt 'incest' bijvoorbeeld omschreven? Wat is een kind en wat is een volwassene? En dan nog termen als 'misbruik', 'beschadigd', en zo.
[En ik zou zelf ook nog willen benadrukken: de vaagheid van termen om ervaringen / gevoelens / gedragingen te beschrijven, de psychologische en psychiatrische categorieën waar de waarden en normen als het ware zitten ingebakken.]
"Thus, terms describing sexual behaviors are used differently by different researchers, and the same terms are often used to describe different behaviors. The concern is that researchers are making generalizations about behaviors that may be too varied for such general conclusions to be valid. It is necessary to determine that outcomes are consistent across types of behaviors before such generalizations are appropriate."(83)
[Mij valt ook op dat er heel veel wordt opgehangen aan het leeftijdverschil waarbij alles boven vijf jaar verschil als negatief gezien wordt.]
"Abuse has been the catch-all term for almost any type of child-adult contact.(...) In their view, all sexually exploited children are categorized as harmed although no specific measure of harm was used."(86)
"Of primary importance is whether the researcher defines abuse as some type of harm (a consequence of sexual activity that can be quantitatively measured) or whether abuse is defined in relation to violation of social norms or mores. When the two issues of scientific objectivity and maintenance of moral standards are not separated, problems arise in tying to determine what it is that has been harmed, abused or violated: Is it a child or an adolescent, or is it society's expectations? This tension between science and the real world is important. On the one hand, science is a pursuit to understand the world as it is. On the other hand, social norms are rules by which people choose to live. Failure to make a distinction between the two has caused many researchers to buttress existing social norms or morals rather than to conduct scientific investigations. " [mijn nadruk] (87)
"In researching the effects of child and adolescent sexual experiences, this confusion between violations of the moral code and actual harm done is problematic. To assume that violations of social norms lead to harm for the child or adolescent without data with which to confirm the assumption is not scientifically sound."(88)
"The use of terms like consequences and effects is also problematic. These terms imply causal relationships between childhood sexual experiences and adult functioning. Such causal inferences are usually inappropriate given the retrospective and/or correlational nature of many of the studies." [mijn nadruk] (92)
[Het is een bijzonder kritisch relaas. Erg goed. Ze gaat nu over naar wat de beste van die onderzoeken aan conclusies trekken op drie hypotheses:]
"Hypothesis 1: Child/Adolescent Sexual Experiences Inevitably Lead to Long-Term Harmful Effects"(93)
"Hypothesis 2: Child/Adolescent Sexual Experiences Inevitably Lead to Long-Term Neutral Effects"(96)
"Hypothesis 3: Child/Adolescent Sexual Experiences Inevitably Lead to Long-Term Beneficial Effects"(97)
"It is recognized that much controversy exists concerning any positive or beneficial effects that may be experienced by children and adolescents with an older partner. These are circumstances that have been defined in the literature as victimization, abuse, and exploitation due to the absence of true informed consent. However, in the interest of scientific endeavor, these results must be reported. Researchers and professionals may then analyze the methods, process the findings, come to their own conclusions, and then, more importantly, effect methods of treatment and understanding." [mijn nadruk] (98)
[Ik hoop dat ze die insteek ergens kritisch gaat bespreken. Ik vind hem erg willekeurig. Als de 'afwezigheid van geïnformeerde toestemming' zo belangrijk is geldt die voor ontzettend veel mensen in relaties, ook bij gelijke leeftijd of bij volwassenen.]
"A generally acceptable summary of the findings to date is that the sexual abuse of a child is potentially damaging, but not necessarily so. However, many studies are marred by a lack of adherence to scientific procedures. Therefore, many findings are questionable."(99)
[Uiteraard wil dit onderzoek beter zijn dan alle die ze eerder besprak. ]
"The purpose of the research reported in the following section is to obtain information that describes the strength of the relationship between child and adolescent sexual experiences and long-range consequences. The findings regarding the strength of this relationship may suggest to the helping professions avenues of prevention, social program development, and treatment."(103)
"This research is a retrospective study of the sexual experiences that women had as children and adolescents."(103)
"For purposes of this study, a sexual experience is defined as any experience of a sexual nature that occurred during childhood or adolescence to the age of 18. This definition includes kissing and hugging in a sexual way, exhibition, fondling, masturbation, oral sex, anal sex, attempted intercourse, and intercourse. The decision as to whether or not the kissing and hugging experiences were sexual was left to the judgment of the respondent." [mijn nadruk] (104)
[Dat is wel erg breed genomen.]
"Surprisingly, few respondents had difficulty defining what was sexual. The primary difficulty was in trying to remember just how many times the experiences happened with a particular partner. The observation in this study regarding the recognition of a sexual experience by children parallels that of Finkelhor (1979) who reported, “We were impressed at how accurately children perceived sexual experiences as sexual” (p. 47)." [mijn nadruk] (105)
[Waarom? Dan heb je weinig vertrouwen in wat kinderen allemaal aanvoelen en weten.]
"I conducted this research in order to provide some enlightening and definitive information concerning the long-range consequences of child and adolescent sexual experiences for adult functioning. Although this research may not end the on-going debate regarding long-range effects, it may help to destroy some myths regarding the consequences of child and adolescent sexual experiences, separate scientific inquiry from social mores and political ideology, and identify the menaces in our society that actually do cause harm." [mijn nadruk] (106)
[Een lofwaardig streven.]
Populatie: 501 vrouwen. Methode: vragenlijst.
"The sample used for this study was from diverse populations in the southern portion of the United States. These populations contained enough diversity in regard to ethnicity, community size, age, and socioeconomic status that it was possible to represent a wide range of subgroups."(111)
[Ze legt wat ze doet goed uit, maar ik vind een aantal zaken toch problematisch. Bijvoorbeeld dit. Mensen in het Zuiden (Georgia en Florida) van de VS, zijn die niet conservatiever, kleurt dat niet de zelfoordelen van de deelnemers? Is er gekeken naar een verdeling over grote stad en platteland? Ze is absoluut bewust aan het zoeken naar een goede verdeling, en dat blijkt later zo te zijn.]
"Additionally, it differs from the clinical and offender studies mentioned because no clinical or offender populations are included."(115)
"A complex and lengthy questionnaire package was used to gather data. Three types of information were requested.
Demographic Information. This section requested information regarding age, education, income, marital status, ethnicity, number of children, present occupation, size of community in which respondents lived before age 14, and whether both parents worked when respondents were children.
Measures of Adult Functioning (the Hudson Scales). The second type of information requested concerned present adult functioning. Five standardized scales were used as dependent variables to measure the correlates of child and adolescent sexual experiences for present adult functioning (Hudson, 1982). The five scales were: (a) Index of Self-Esteem (ISE), measuring self-esteem problems; (b) Generalized Contentment Scale (GCS), measuring depression; (c) Index of Marital Satisfaction (IMS), measuring marital discord; (d) Index of Sexual Satisfaction (ISS), measuring sexual discord; and (e) Index of Family Relations (IFR), measuring intrafamilial stress. These scales are part of a larger Clinical Measurement Package (Hudson, 1982), and each has been found to be reliable and valid. Hudson reported that each scale has a coefficient alpha reliability of .90 or better.(...)
Sexual Experiences. The third type of requested information concerned the respondents’ sexual experiences from birth through age 17. This section of the questionnaire package was specifically designed for this study and was the most complex. Information was requested for 13 different sexual behaviors ranging from kissing and hugging in a sexual way to intercourse. Some of the wording of questions in this section was adapted from Finkelhor's (1979) questionnaire. There were 14 questions asked about each of the 13 behaviors. These 14 questions concerned who initiated the behavior, the age discrepancy between the partner and the person, the frequency of each behavior with each type of partner, the short-term reaction to the experience (three questions), whether the experience was voluntary/forced (two questions), with whom and how often the experience had been discussed, who had been helpful in dealing with the experience, the long-range impact on the person's view of sex and their life in general, how the individual wished the incident had been handled, if the experience was perceived as abusive or harmful, whether others knew of the behavior, and, if so, if they should have done something about it. Each question was asked for each experience, reaction, or behavior during six different age spans: 0–6, 7–10, 11–14, 15, 16, and 17. The chart format gave the question, and on the same line had spaces to put the number of experiences under each age span. No reliability studies have been done on this part of the questionnaire package (see the questionnaire package in Appendix B). " [mijn nadruk] (115-118)
[Het gaat dus alleen om actueel getrouwde mensen? Ik zie geen andere insteek. Wat een misser, zeg. Hoe zouden de ervaringen zijn van alleenstaande mensen, samenwonenden, bewoners van communes, gescheiden mensen, weduwen? Heel anders lijkt me. Maar verederop:]
"Data regarding marital status and information concerning size and structure of families were obtained from each participant. Of the 501 women in the sample, 48% were single, 39% were married, and 9% were divorced. Of the remaining 4%, 4 were widowed, 9 were separated, 5 had other marital status, which presumably meant they were living with someone without being married, and 2 gave no answer. In regard to the number of times married, 49% had never been married, 45% had been married once, 6% had been married twice, and the remaining 2 women had been married three times. The mean number of years with present spouse was 7.7 years, and the longest number of years with the current spouse or partner was 40. The majority of the women (60%) had no children, 16% had two children, and 14% had one child. The remaining 10% had from three to seven children. The mean number of children was 2.1."(122)
[Maar wat dan met die IMS-scale van Hudson? Hoe is dat dan gehanteerd?]
"The diverse sample of 501 women from the southern part of the United States was used in an effort to achieve heterogeneity in regard to ethnicity, age, socioeconomic background, and community size. However, the majority of the sample was middle class." [mijn nadruk] (125)
[De conclusies hier zijn weer een samenvatting. Ik heb er altijd een hekel aan gehad als auteurs een samenvatting 'conclusie' noemen. Maar goed. Ik lees nergens iets over de sociale wenselijkheid van antwoorden.]
"The sexual behavior most often reported by women when they were children and adolescents was kissing and hugging in a sexual way. As children, 37% engaged in sexual kissing and fondling, 35% had been shown the genitals of their partner, 23% displayed their own genitals, and 15% had their breasts fondled by their partner. Quite small percentages of the women participated in masturbation (5%) or intercourse (2%) at age 14 or younger." [mijn nadruk] (129)
[Maar dat is een erg vage categorie, vind ik.]
"The partner most women had as children (37%) and as adolescents (73%) was an unrelated male. Next for children was an unrelated female (13%), and for adolescents it was a male relative (6%). Overall, 42% of women had sexual experiences with nonrelatives as children and 75% as adolescents, whereas 24% had sexual experiences with relatives as children and 12% as adolescents."(134)
"For both children and adolescents, the majority of the women stated that the experience was initiated by the partner (42% and 71% respectively) one or more times, and then mutually (30% and 62%), followed by their own initiation (23% and 39%). Thus, although the majority of women were the recipients of sexual advances, others were active participants in their childhood sexual experiences, and this participation increased as they grew older. Indeed, if the number of women who initiated the experiences is combined with those who mutually initiated them with their partners, then the majority were active participants. Some women answered in more than one of these categories as they had various partners, and the experiences occurred more than once." [mijn nadruk] (136)
"The findings of this study indicate that the previous findings of increased prevalence of sexual experiences and at earlier ages for adolescents are not a consistent pattern over time. Nor are the previous findings representative of the sexual behaviors of children 14 years of age and under. In fact, the opposite is true for children: Analysis by different age groups in the sample revealed a trend toward decreasing child sexual activity for the sample as a whole over the past 60 years. By comparison, the proportion of adolescents has remained more constant over the past 60 years.(...) These findings raise questions about the assertion that sexual experiences are beginning earlier and occurring more often." [mijn nadruk] (138-139)
"This study finds that for this sample the popular notion mentioned previously is more myth than reality."(146)
"The finding that a larger proportion of White women participated in masturbation and oral sexual behaviors is supported by unpublished data from the Kinsey Institute. Their data show that Whites are far more likely than Blacks to engage in masturbation and oral—genital sex (Bell, 1968). The data from this study show that this pattern has continued since the Kinsey study."(151)
"Regarding experiences as children as shown in Table 6.3, significantly more White women than Black women have sexual experiences."(152)
"Ethnic groups were also studied in relation to experiences with older partners. Table 6.5 shows that 17 % of the White sample reported having partners as children who were at least 5 years older than they were, whereas only 5% of the Black sample reported having older partners. For experiences as adolescents, 23% of the White sample reported having older partners, whereas 15% of the Black sample reported such partners."(154)
"These findings challenge many existing myths concerning the differences in sexual experiences of these two major ethnic groups. Empirical evidence from this and other studies is needed to confront notions built upon stereotypes and biases." [mijn nadruk] (159)
[Goed onderbouwd, dit.]
"Information was gathered on various conditions that may have existed at the time of the sexual experience. These conditions were whether the experience was voluntary of forced, whether pressure was applied, whether the partner was 5 or more years older, the size of community in which they lived, and the type group in which they were sampled."(159)
"When all partners (related and unrelated, old and young) and types of experiences (from kissing to intercourse) are considered as a group, a much larger proportion of the women were voluntary participants (67%) in their childhood sexual experiences than were forced participants (33%)."(159)
"When asked about the use of pressure by partners to engage in sexual behaviors, by far the greatest proportion of women reported the use of subtle pressure both as children (63%) and as adolescents (74%). Physical force was next, again for both children (22%) and adolescents (17%). Verbal threats were reported by 14% as children and 7% as adolescents. The use of a weapon was reported by only 3 women as children (1%) and by 11 women as adolescents (2%)."(163)
[Je kunt dus vrijwillig deelnemen, ook al is er - in het begin - sprake van enige druk? ]
"This study finds that 63 (23%) of the 278 women reporting sexual experiences as children had partners who were at least 5 years older than they were, and 99 (24%) of the 415 women reporting sexual experiences as adolescents had older partners."(164)
"As seen in Table 7.5, 38% of the women found the experiences to be pleasant as children (total from combining the pleasant and very pleasant categories), 37% found them to be neither pleasant nor unpleasant, and 25% found the experiences to be unpleasant (total from combining the categories of unpleasant and very unpleasant).(...) The trend for the sexual experiences of women as children to be considered pleasurable is more pronounced for women as adolescents."(172-173)
"There were 78 women or 16% of the sample who reported that the sexual experiences they had as children were harmful, and they comprised 28% of the women who had any sexual experiences as children. The proportions of harmful experiences reported for the various behaviors were show you genitals, (31%), kissing and hugging (24%), you show genitals (15%), and fondling breasts (12%). The proportions for the remaining behaviors were 6% or less and were reported by few women. To summarize, 72% of the women who had sexual experiences as children felt that their child sexuality of predominantly kissing and hugging and exhibition behaviors was not harmful."(176)
"There were 105 women or 21% of the sample who reported that the sexual experiences they had as adolescents were harmful, which accounts for 25% of the women who had any sexual experiences as adolescents. The proportions of harmful experiences reported for the various behaviors were highest for kissing and hugging (7.4%), show you genitals (6%), intercourse (5.4%), and fondling your breasts (5%). The proportions for the remaining behaviors were less than 3%. These proportions were much lower for women having harmful sexual experiences as adolescents than they were as children. Also, 75% of the women who had sexual experiences as adolescents reported that their sexuality at that period of time was not harmful."(176)
"There were 48 women or 10% of the sample who reported that they were sexually abused as children, which comprised 17% of the women who had any sexual experiences as children."(177)
"As adolescents, there were 63 women or 13% of the sample who reported that they were sexually abused. They comprised 15% of the women who had any sexual experiences as adolescents."(177)
"Experiences with a partner at least 5 years older were reported by approximately 25% of the women both as children and as adolescents."(188)
"The highest proportion of unpleasant reactions was for intercourse in which only 15 women participated as children and who reported this reaction. For women as adolescents all the specific behaviors were described as being more pleasant. The primary response of women to the experiences, both as children and as adolescents, was positive with interest being the most typical specific response."(190)
"There were 72% of the women who reported their sexual experiences as children as not harmful and 75% as adolescents as not harmful. Also, 83% of women who had sexual experiences as children reported them as not abusive and 85% as not abusive as adolescents."(190)
"Findings reported in this chapter may seem unusual, especially to clinicians who work with survivors of abusive sexual experiences. However, there are crucial points that must be kept in mind when interpreting these findings. First, remember that no clinical or offender populations were sampled. Second, although all socioeconomic levels were sampled, the majority of the women were middle class. Third, the largest proportion of the sexual behaviors experienced were hugging and kissing and exhibition. Fourth, most of the women participated voluntarily, found the experiences to be pleasurable, and felt little guilt about them. For the minority who had different types of experiences with different partners, conditions, and reactions, the results were sometimes very different."(193)
"Each of the respondents was asked to complete each scale applicable to her present situation. For example, if a woman was presently unmarried, then she did not complete the Index of Marital Satisfaction, and if she was not presently relating to anyone sexually, she did not complete the Index of Sexual Satisfaction. However, the remaining three scales were applicable to all the women." [mijn nadruk] (194)
[Een laat antwoord op mijn eerdere vraag. Een een nieuwe vraag: dus masturberen als soloseks heeft niets te maken met seksuele tevredenheid resp. zegt niets over de invloeden van eerdere seksuele ervaringen? Dat lijt me kort door de bocht.]
"Each of the scales has a clinical cutting score of 30. If a person scores above 30 on any of them, it nearly always indicates that the person has a clinically significant problem in the area being measured, whereas a person who scores below 30 is generally found to be free of such problems (Hudson, 1982). As seen in Table 8.1, the mean for each of the scale scores is well below 30, and a majority of the scores are under 30. It must be emphasized again that no clinical populations were sampled. Therefore, it is expected that the majority of women in the sample are adequately functioning individuals."(195)
[Ik weet toch niet of het zo'n goed idee was om die klinische groep niet in de populatie van het onderzoek op te nemen. Nu kun je niet vergelijken.]
"The results of these analyses (see Table 8.4) suggest that the relative age of her partner in her child sexual experiences is not significantly related to any of the measures of a woman's adult functioning. Although women who had older partners as children tended to score higher on all scales except the Index of Marital Satisfaction (higher scores mean more problems in the area being measured), none of the means for any scale reached the clinical cutting point of 30. Moreover, the variation of these experiences does not account for as much as 1% of the variance in any of the five major dependent variables." [mijn nadruk] (201)
[Dat viel te verwachten. Finkelhor heeft ongelijk.]
"Analyses of the impacts of child and adolescent sexual experiences reveal some startling findings. It is found through analyses of variance that sexual experiences according to the type of partner women had as children, including relatives or nonrelatives and also older, younger, or no partners, are not significantly related to adult functioning. However, the relationship of adult functioning to sexual activity with various partners interacting with the conditions of and reactions to the sexual experiences explains more variance for all the measures of adult functioning than sexual partners, conditions, and reactions combined explain for each age group. This finding is considered to be one of the most important findings of the study and is discussed in the following chapter." [mijn nadruk] (212)
"Some of the findings that I have presented demand further discussion. The data challenge commonly held beliefs and have far-reaching implications for the helping professions and others who study human sexuality."(215)
"A finding of no small import in this study is that incest in middle-class families does not reach the alarming proportions that are currently reported in the media. In fact, the incidence rate varies from .6% to 24% in any one study depending on how the researcher defines incest. It seems that rather than the over-all incidence rate of incest increasing, it is the definition of incest that is expanding." [mijn nadruk] (216)
"Conditions and reactions. It may come as a surprise to some that most women were voluntary participants in the sexual experience rather than forced. However, if one remembers that most of the behaviors were kissing and hugging and exhibition, this finding seems more plausible. The finding that most children and adolescents found the experiences pleasant rather than unpleasant fits well with the fact that they were voluntary and that the majority of the responses by both age groups were positive. Having an older partner involved voluntary participation primarily, but it also involved abuse, force, and harm." [mijn nadruk] (219)
[Die laatste conclusie is suggestief met 'it also involved', omdat het percentage ervan heel laag was.]
"For the 501 women in the study the primary reactions to the experiences were positive. Few studies have requested positive reactions, and most only report the negative ones, thus giving a distorted view of reality. Although negative reactions and conditions were reported in this study, they were in the minority."(219)
[Precies. ]
"The findings of this study are consistent with De Francis' (1969) findings that adult functioning is related to both child sexual experiences and background or demographic characteristics. Generally, the background variables explain more of the variance in adult functioning than do the sexual experience variables."(220)
"The traditional social norm that “the mother's place is in the home” has long been a guilt producer for mothers who are either working out of economic necessity or personal preference. Contrary to these traditional views, whether or not both parents worked was found to be inconsequential for adult functioning. Therefore, despite persistent concerns over the effects of dual employment (more particularly, maternal employment) on the child, this study finds little evidence of appreciable effects, either positive or negative. These findings should be reassuring to families who have chosen, or who have had thrust upon them, the dual-employment type of family structure."(221)
"A striking finding, as reported earlier (Kilpatrick, 1986), is that adult functioning scores of women with child sexual experiences are not significantly different from those of women with no childhood sexual experiences. This is true even when analyzed across samples who had forced versus nonforced, pressured, guilt-producing experiences." [mijn nadruk] (222)
"Sexual experiences that are abusive, forced, guilt-producing, harmful, or pressured, interacting with the partner type, are significant for all measures of adult functioning except for sexual satisfaction. That is, the joint effect of abusive, harmful experiences of children that involved sexual behaviors that were forced, pressured, or guilt-producing, plus the identity of the partner, is highly correlated with adult functioning. These correlations are higher than the identity of the partner alone and are significantly related to intrafamilial stress, depression, marital discord, and self-esteem in the women as adults. For women as adolescents, a finding that stands out in contrast to the findings for women as children is that the identity of the partner, the conditions present at the time of the sexual experiences, the reactions to the experiences, and the interactions of all these are all significant at the .01 level for the measure of self-esteem, whereas only the interactions of all these are significant for women as children. This finding could be possibly a function of age and developmental differences, but it does provide strong evidence that adolescents may be more vulnerable to these factors that affect self-esteem than are children. Further research is certainly needed on this aspect."(222-223)
[Het is vooral de agressie die onzeker maakt, niet de seksuele ervaring, niet het leeftijdsverschil. Dat is in lijn met wat ik al jaren zeg. ]
"The findings of this study pinpoint an issue of concern to researchers. This issue concerns the distinction between the actual harm done and the violation of social norms, mores, or political ideology. Within the definition of victimology currently employed by many researchers is the assumption that children, who have sexual experiences with or propositions from persons who are 5 or more years older than they, are automatically victimized, and harm is done.
The findings of this study repudiate such an assumption. Older partners are not found to be a significant factor in correlations with later adult functioning. Such simplistic linear assumptions must be seriously questioned. It is imperative that researchers not base their interpretations of data upon erroneous assumptions or moralistic beliefs. Furthermore, more attention must be given to the interactions of variables and multilevel causation in determining when harm has been done." [mijn nadruk] (225)
[Te voorzichtig. Die kritiek zou wel wat verder uitgewerkt mogen worden. Mensen als Finkelhor en andere bevooroordeelde onderzoekers zouden met name genoemd moeten worden.]
"It is a matter of grave concern that the findings from this study may be misinterpreted to support the notion that aberrant childhood sexual experiences are not important or that offenders of societal norms should not be prosecuted. A major emphasis is, however, that reactions to undifferentiated events and experiences should be tempered and that one should not assume that harm has been done or make inappropriate assertions. Adherence to accepted scientific rules of evidence in interpreting observations, as presented in chapter 3, limits the drawing of inappropriate conclusions. An attempt should be made to separate the myths and the mores and to confirm the menaces in a humane and comprehensive approach.
Also, under no circumstances should the findings of this study be used as a sanction of child—adult sexual relationships. These relationships are violations of principles of informed consent. Unequal power relationships are also involved; sexual relationships with children and adolescents under these circumstances constitute psychological, if not physical, coercion and should be treated as such." [mijn nadruk] (226)
[Dat zijn dus normatieve conclusies en daarmee zeg je gewoon wat alle conservatieven zeggen. Haar eigen onderzoek laat echter zien: in de praktijk maken leeftijdsverschillen niet zo veel uit. Geweld maakt het verschil, daar zou het over moeten gaan, niet over zogenaamde machtsverschillen.]
"A study conducted by Saunders, Villeponteaux, Kilpatrick, and Veronen (1987) indicates that, as a group, child sexual abuse victims, upon discovery of the abuse by a social agency, do not show elevated signs of psychological distress. For the most part, the group of victims is functioning well psychologically. Attempts to describe a set of symptoms that all victims, or even most victims, exhibit appear to be futile. Therefore, the concept of a child sexual abuse syndrome that has commonly appeared in clinical literature is not supported scientifically, and the dangers of using the concept are substantial. For example, victims not exhibiting these symptoms may not be believed by their caretakers, social agencies, or the legal system. The challenge for the helping professionals is to assess accurately when actual harm has been done and then treat those cases appropriately."(230)
[Precies.]
"From the findings of Jones et al. (1983), one must recognize the possibility that professional and lay adults in society may have projected their own learned distress over explicit discussion of sexual material on the younger generation. Researchers must find other effective ways to minimize the actual distress experienced by young subjects of such research and expand the literature to include samples of children in general rather than samples of young victims exclusively."(234)
"It is of great concern that some readers may come to the erroneous conclusion from the findings of this study that children and adolescents are not harmed by their sexual experiences. Although the findings do show that the majority of the sample did not demonstrate long-term harm from what could be interpreted as primarily exploratory experiences of kissing and hugging and exhibition, the findings do suggest that adult functioning for some was impaired by long-term harm from these child and/or adolescent sexual experiences. The findings do not deny the pain and turmoil of the many women who were harmed by unwanted, pressured, forced, abusive, and guilt-producing experiences in their early years. It is to these women who have been harmed that I address this final chapter."(239)
[Lief, hoor, weer zo solidair met andere vrouwen ... Dit gaat allemaal over therapie, maar juist die therapie is een van de factoren die vroegere ervaringen met seks tot een probleem maakt. Ze raakt ergens op het eind wel aan feministische theorieën over paternalisme maar werkt dat niet uit richting het idee 'geweld', zoals er ook verder geen enkele maatschappijkritiek volgt op een samenleving die agressie en geweld en kapitalistische uitbuiting en competitie normaal vindt.]