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Sexual Molestation of Children: Historical Perspectives

NCJ Number
151981
Journal
Journal of Psychohistory Volume: 19 Issue: 2 Dated: special issue (Fall 1991) Pages: 191-214
Author(s)
B Kahr
Date Published
1991
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This essay reviews the history of child sexual abuse, beginning in antiquity and extending through the late modern period (latter half of the 20th Century).
Abstract
In the ancient period, roughly comprising the time of the Greeks and the Romans, adults used children to relieve their sexual needs; adults seduced and violated their children in an unashamed and socially acceptable manner. The medieval period, extending from the rise of Christianity through the flourishing of the Renaissance, saw curtailment of parents' abuse of their children. For the first time, guilt became a prominent feature of psychic life, and adults projected their sexual impulses onto the children. In the early modern period -- covering the 18th, 19th, and early 20th Centuries -- the sense of guilt and shame increased to such a degree that incest could no longer be regarded as an acceptable aspect of culture; it exploded on the pornographic scene and in the underworld while being hidden from "polite" society. In the late modern period, child sexual abuse has become a subject of widespread clinical and governmental concern. Both abused children and the abusive adults are regarded as victims of a pernicious cycle of cruelty and deprivation. Treatment and prevention have become more readily available. 20 notes and an 80-item bibliography

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