The author traces the historical context in which a backlash occurred against pioneers in the fight against child sexual abuse. During the 1970’s, Summit and other professionals and researchers began to re-examine the issue of child sexual abuse. These professionals challenged the beliefs of their day concerning child sexual abuse and declared it a major public health problem. A backlash to these professionals occurred as they challenged the dominant paradigms in the mental health fields and in society as a whole, especially in terms of popular beliefs concerning family values and patriarchy. The social and political forces that converged to suppress the examination of child sexual abuse as a public health problem are discussed, as are the historical attitudes about women and about victims. The author also explores how the competing paradigms of sexual modernism and the rediscovery of child sexual abuse collided in the 1970’s, with tension occurring between new found beliefs about sexual liberation versus the re-emergence of the belief that sexual activity with young people is harmful. References