Usage Outside of Scholarly Discussions
Despite the authors' comments that the findings of the paper "do not imply that moral or legal definitions of or views on behaviors currently classified as CSA" should be changed, it caught the attention of, and was used by, advocates for pedophilia. The paper was cited, reviewed, and posted to the Internet by numerous advocacy groups. It has been used to argue that the age of consent should be lowered or abolished, and it has been used in criminal court in the U.S. by attorneys defending those accused of child sexual offenses.
Social psychologist Carol Tavris noted several other groups that reacted negatively to the study. The anti-homosexuality group NARTH, who believe that homosexuality is caused by seduction of a child by an adult, objected to the study's implications that boys who are sexually abused are not traumatized for life and become homosexuals in the process. Therapists who supported the existence of recovered memories and recovered-memory therapy, as well as those who attributed mental illnesses such as dissociative identity disorder, depression and eating disorders to repressed memories of sexual abuse also rejected the study. Tavris attributed this rejection to the fear of malpractice lawsuits. Tavris herself believed that the study could have been interpreted positively as an example of psychological resilience in the face of adversity, and noted that CSA causing little or no harm in some individuals is not an endorsement of the act, nor does it make it any less illegal.
Read more about this topic: Rind Et Al. Controversy
Famous quotes containing the words usage, scholarly and/or discussions:
“...Often the accurate answer to a usage question begins, It depends. And what it depends on most often is where you are, who you are, who your listeners or readers are, and what your purpose in speaking or writing is.”
—Kenneth G. Wilson (b. 1923)
“... ideals, standards, aspirations,those are chameleon words, and take color from their speakers,often false tints. A scholarly man of my acquaintance once told me that he traveled a thousand miles into the desert to get away from the word uplift, and it was the first word he heard after he reached his destination.”
—Carolyn Wells (18621942)
“So in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pridethe temptation blithely to declare yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)