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CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE ITS SCOPE AND OUR FAILURE
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This book is the result of an intensive review of the professional literature on child sexual abuse that has occurred over an almost 10-year period. When I originally began this manuscript several years ago, I was struck by the dearth of scholarly books that reviewed the knowledge base as it related specifically to the scope of child sexual abuse. Existing books then and now were more likely either to be clinical in orientation or to focus upon a specific aspect of child sexual abuse. Often the books echoed the salient themes of their period. Thus, a number of books currently in print are concerned with recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse, whereas several books written in the mid to late 1980s were about purported false allegations made by children or their guardians. On the other hand, only a few books in the last 20 years have had as their stated purpose a scholarly review of the empirical literature. Yet, these books are essential for providing easy reference to the extant knowledge base. Because the knowledge base is now voluminous, only the most ardent professionals in this field have the time to remain current across the breadth of the literature base. Thus, reviews of the child sexual abuse empirical literature serve important purposes. They allow these professionals to remain current in areas of child sexual abuse outside their primary knowledge area. Further, they provide concise reviews for other interested professionals. While I never deviated from the purpose of providing an intensive review of this knowledge base, I also began to realize that this book would be strikingly incomplete if it were simply a review of the literature. Indeed, the more I delved into this literature base, the more I became struck by the inconsistencies between our empirical literature and our professional response to the problem of child sexual abuse. For example, I was (and remain) puzzled by the differences between the empirical literature and the response of some professionals regarding the issue of allegations of sexual abuse during divorce or custody disputes. If only a tiny percentage of these cases are falsely and maliciously filed, why do we retain such a skeptical view of them? I was also perplexed (and remain so) by the profession’s narrow focus on nonoffending mothers when abuse by a father accounts for only a small percentage of all sexual abuse. Where is our literature base on nonoffending fathers? The answer is that it is nonexistent. I finally began to realize that this book had to be more than a simple review of the literature. It also had to point out the discrepancies between our empirical knowledge base and our professional response to child sexual abuse while trying to offer some explanation for the often profound differences. This explanation appears to lie in our historical conceptualization of child sexual abuse, for our professional response to child sexual abuse only makes sense when framed within the assumptions deriving from this historical conceptualization. It surely does not make sense if we look only at the empirical knowledge base.
The book that emerged has three important sections. The first section sets the stage for this book by reviewing the historical context within which early theories of child sexual abuse were developed. The second section of the book then turns to the task of reviewing the empirical knowledge base that defines the scope of the problem of child sexual abuse. This section considers the prevalence and incidence of child sexual abuse, extrafamilial and intrafamilial abuse, factors associated with risk of abuse and of offending, and nonoffending guardians. It is argued throughout this section that child sexual abuse is an epidemic fueled by sociocultural structures and values. The final section considers the aftermath of child sexual abuse—the professional response to child sexual abuse. In the important final chapter of this book, the scope of the problem of child sexual abuse—as illustrated in the empirical knowledge base—is compared to that of the professional response to child sexual abuse. This comparison provides striking evidence that society’s response to child sexual abuse is failing profoundly. By reviewing the assumptions underlying society’s response to child sexual abuse, I argue that the reason for such a complete system failure is that the systemic response is grounded in the historical and often myth-bound conceptualization of child sexual abuse rather than in the empirical literature. It is my hope that this book will add momentum for restructuring the existing child welfare system. As the evidence put forth in this book clearly shows, a restructuring of society’s response to child sexual abuse is an ethical and moral imperative. It is also my hope that this book can serve as an accessible reference for professionals in understanding the scope of the problem of child sexual abuse as explicated in the empirical knowledge base. Finally, it is my hope that this book will compel readers to advocate for those changes in society that will be necessary to reduce the epidemic of child sexual abuse. Until we are willing to look at the role of society (and thus its citizens) in maintaining child sexual abuse, this epidemic will continue.
Rebecca M. Bolen - Personal Name
0-306-46576-0
NONE
CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE ITS SCOPE AND OUR FAILURE
Psychology
English
KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS
2002
New York
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