Rind Et Al. Controversy - Controversy

Controversy

The paper was first published by the American Psychological Association (APA) in July, 1998, in the Psychological Bulletin to little reaction, though strong reactions were ultimately demonstrated by social conservatives / religious fundamentalists, and psychotherapists and psychiatrists who treat victims of sexual abuse who were concerned about the implications. The first substantial and public reaction was a December criticism by the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, an organization dedicated to the discredited view that homosexuality is a mental illness that can be cured by psychotherapy. In March 1999, talk show host Laura Schlessinger criticized the study as "junk science" and stated that since its conclusions were contrary to conventional wisdom, its findings should never have been released. She criticized the study's use of meta-analysis, saying. "I frankly have never seen this in general science. ... This is so outrageous!" "This was not a study! They didn’t do a study! They arbitrarily found 59 studies that other people had done combined them all." Shortly thereafter, the North American Man/Boy Love Association posted an approving review of the study on their website, furthering the impression that the piece was an endorsement of pedophilia. The paper eventually provoked a reaction from several conservative American members of Congress, notably the Republican representatives Matt Salmon of Arizona and Tom DeLay of Texas who both condemned the study as advocating for the normalization of pedophilia (in the process Delay confused the American Psychological Association with the American Psychiatric Association, an error also made by Schlessinger).

In response, the APA declared in a press statement that child sexual abuse is harmful and wrong, and that the study was in no way an endorsement of pedophilia. The APA mandated a policy change by which APA journal editors would alert the organization of potentially controversial topics in order to be more proactive with politicians, the media and other groups. In an internal APA email, President of the APA Raymond D. Fowler stated that due to the controversy the article's methodology, analysis and process by which it had been approved for publication was reviewed and found to be sound. In June 1999, Fowler announced in an open letter to DeLay that there would be an independent review of the paper and stated that from a public policy perspective, some language used in the article is inflammatory and inconsistent with the position of the APA's stance on CSA. The APA also implemented a series of actions designed to prevent the study from ever being used in legal circumstances to defend CSA and stated an independent review would be undertaken of the scientific accuracy and validity of the report. The request for an outside review of a controversial report by an independent scientific association is unprecedented in APA's 107-year history.

In April, 1999 a resolution was introduced in the Alaska Legislature condemning the article, with similar resolutions introduced in California, Illinois, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania over the subsequent two months. Some of these states' psychological associations reacted by asking the APA to take action. On July 12, 1999, the United States House of Representatives passed HRC resolution 107 by a vote of 355 - 0, (with 13 Members voting "Present", the latter all members of the Democratic Party) declaring sexual relations between children and adults are abusive and harmful, and condemned the study on the basis that it was being used by pro-pedophilia activists and organizations to promote and justify child sexual abuse. The condemnation of a scientific study by Congress was, at that time, an unprecedented event. The resolution passed the Senate by a voice vote (100-0) on July 30, 1999 and was greeted among psychologists with concern due to the perceived chilling effect it may have among researchers. Representative Brian Baird, who has a PhD in clinical psychology, was one of the 13 Congressmen to abstain from the condemnation of the study, stated that of the 535 members of the House and Senate less than 10 had actually read the study, and even fewer were qualified to evaluate it based on its merit. In September 1999 the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), upon a request by the APA to independently review the article, stated that it saw no reason to second-guess the peer review process that approved it initially and that it saw no evidence of improper methodology or questionable practices by the authors. The AAAS also expressed concern that the materials reviewed demonstrated a grave lack of understanding of the study on the part of the media and politicians and were also concerned about the misrepresentation of its findings. The AAAS stated that the responsibility for discovering problems with the article lay with the initial peer reviewers, and declined to evaluate the article and concluded with a statement that the decision not to review the article was neither an endorsement, nor a criticism of it.

In August 2000, the APA drafted and adopted a position statement in response to the Rind et al. controversy which opposed any efforts to censor controversial or surprising research findings and asserting researchers must be free to investigate and report findings so long as the research has been conducted within appropriate ethical and research standards.