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This chapter returns to the question of activists' engagement with the state, examining the different forms that movement organizations' relationships with state authorities took during the 1990s and 2000s, when the therapeutic state around child sexual abuse was well‐developed, and shows the kinds of access and compromise these relationships brought. It discusses entry of activists into state agencies, movement organizations' professionalization, and increasing funding to provide services to the state, arguing that some groups became part of a para‐state. It traces organizations' use of crime victims compensation funds and activists' attempts to increase criminal and civil penalties for child sexual abuse Finally, the chapter analyzes newer organizations' involvement with public health initiatives to prevent child sexual abuse. Overall, the chapter argues that activists' involvement with the state was shaped by the priorities and pressures of the state, showing the continued power of medical and criminal approaches over others. Yet activists, particularly in the public health wing, continued to bring larger political goals into their work, illustrating the paradoxical nature of social movement outcomes.

This chapter begins with a precis of the recent history of how the law handles child sexual abuse allegations in the United States. It then discusses research on the suggestibility of children's memory reports. The chapter concludes by considering a major way in which the results of such research have benefited the investigation and prosecution of sexual abuse crimes — namely, the development of best-practice protocols for conducting forensic interviews of child victims and witnesses.

The introduction gives an overview of the development of activism against child sexual abuse from the 1970s to the 2000s and traces the changes in cultural and political responses to child sexual abuse during that period. It shows the emergence of the movement in feminist activism and its growth outside feminism, arguing that it represents unexpected outcomes of the women's movement. It argues that activism against child sexual abuse shares qualities with, and sheds light on, the rise of self‐help and politics focused on emotion and the self as well as how social movements engage with the therapeutic state. The introduction develops the concept of selection processes, by which some movement goals and frames enter mainstream culture or public policy while others remain outside. It argues that the politics of child sexual abuse are better explained in terms of social movements than as a social problem or a moral panic. Finally, it discusses the methods of the study and gives background information about child sexual abuse.

This chapter revisits some of the questions raised in relation to the response of the Catholic hierarchy to child sexual abuse since the 1960s. To facilitate this discussion, it draws on a number of Irish reports and sources, such as three government-commissioned reports into the handling of sexual abuse by the Church hierarchy in Ireland; a number of official reports from the United States; two studies that involved first-person interviews with bishops in relation to their handling of abuse complaints, one in the United States and one in Ireland; the work of the Boston Globe investigative journalists into the handling of abuse complaints in the Archdiocese of Boston; and the work of Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, who was appointed in 1994 by the Australian bishops to a position of leadership in responding to revelations of abuse in the Australian Catholic Church, a position he held for nine years. The chapter suggests that the decision-making processes used in the Catholic Church in relation to handling the abuse problem are more complex than the published accounts or media representations suggest. In isolating individuals from their systemic context as the objects of blame, further injustices may be perpetrated in the name of justice.

This chapter examines the claim that childhood trauma leads to a specific type of autobiographical memory functioning, namely “overgeneral memory”. It reviews scientific theory and research on autobiographical memory development, memory for trauma-related and nontrauma-related information in traumatized individuals, and autobiographical memory in nontraumatized and traumatized adolescents and adults. Preliminary findings from an ongoing study that examines autobiographical memory development in documented child sexual abuse victims versus matched controls with no known history of child sexual abuse are presented. It is shown that contrary to the overgeneral memory hypothesis, individuals with child maltreatment histories, especially those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), may overfocus on trauma in their lives and in their pasts, and this focus may make their autobiographical memories particularly accurate, especially for trauma-related information.

Sexual abuse of children is a common problem. This chapter describes the prevalence and harmful effects of sexual abuse. It traces the long tradition of skepticism about women and children who alleged sexual assault. Despite skepticism in pre-1970 professional writing, efforts were made to protect children from sexual abuse, and these early efforts are described. In the late 1970s, sexual abuse emerged as a major social issue, spurred by groundbreaking research by David Finkelhor, Vincent DeFrancis, and Diana Russell. This chapter ends with discussion of two late 20th century phenomena that baffled experts and captivated the public: sexual abuse in preschools and allegations of widespread ritual abuse of children.

In the 1970s and 1980s the child protection lobby and feminism spearheaded a sex panic about child sexual abuse. Patriarchal social structures, institutions, and ideas were overhauled, exploitative adult sexualities and power relations exposed, and the reexamination of child sexual abuse and its detrimental effects generated valuable advances regarding diagnosis, intervention, policy, law, and policing. Despite admirable efforts at child protection, this chapter argues that in significant ways children and child victims themselves have been unwittingly disempowered. The expansion of understandings of sexual abuse has proceeded at the expense of understandings of sexual agency and nuanced distinctions between prepubescent, pubescent, and adolescent children. The chapter contends that placing child sexuality under erasure in sexual abuse psychotherapy introduces very real problems of its own. First, with sexual agency minimized and an outdated model of power installed, even victims of child sexual abuse are vulnerable to potentially damaging psychological consequences. Second, with child sexuality installed as an oxymoron vis-à-vis adults, its erasure reinforces rather than complicates the inflexible and developmentalist binary opposition of childhood and adulthood that is the subject of so much compelling critique. Childhood becomes homogenized, and our ability to apprehend multiple childhoods and complex relations of power diminishes.

This chapter analyzes the available data on what is known about the problem of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. It also considers how the available data compare with data from other churches and religious groups, as well as with what we know about child sexual abuse by other “caring” professionals. While these issues are explored on a comparative basis, Ireland and the United States are used as the primary contexts, since most of the available quantitative data on sexual abuse by Catholic clergy emanate from these two countries. Other jurisdictions, such as Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and several in Europe, are referred to for comparative purposes.

This chapter reviews key themes emerging from the psychological and psychiatric literature. It examines what happens when the individual is the focus of analysis. It indicates that child sexual offending is a complex phenomenon, and psychological theories to explain it continue to evolve. It also points to their limitations, and even their dangers, if applied uncritically. Given the range of competing constructions or “findings” within the discipline of psychology itself, and sufficient stake in their outcomes, in terms of power and prestige, there is brisk competition over whose voice is to be honored and whose findings are to bear the hallmark of “science.”. Although psychologists have hardly spoken with one voice, it is interesting to note the growing “scientific” emphasis in the discipline.

A social or critical perspective keeps the contextual, relational, and linguistic constitution of social issues to the fore, and is also mindful of the political and social consequences of particular linguistic constructions in social life. This perspective is important for the study of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, as much public and professional commentary has a tendency to individualize the problem, ignoring the political and cultural context in which the abuse and its management takes place, and the professional and political discourses in which the subject is narrated. The topics discussed in this chapter and the questions they raise provide a corrective to the more individually focused work discussed in Chapter 4 . The chapter aims to put the “social” back into a consideration of social problems, and in this regard three main topics are central to this endeavor. The discursive constitution of social problems stresses the importance of language and power relations in how social problems take their form. The changing understanding of child abuse situates the abuse of children in the context of evolving understanding of childhood and of sexuality and the family. The section on creating offending identities places discussion of the child sexual offender in the context of wider international debates on how identity is constructed and on crime and criminal policy in general.

This chapter begins by making the case for a gendered perspective on child sexual abuse and by extension on sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. Initially, it thematically elucidates a number of broad structural and institutional conditions that emerged as significant in the lives the clerical perpetrators; all of which are implicated in their sexual offending. Many of these conditions relate also to Catholic clergy more generally and not just the clerical perpetrators. Therefore, further theoretical refinement is necessary. This is undertaken by turning to the dynamic factors that distinguish clerics who become abuse perpetrators from those who do not. For this analytical work, it draws on the insights of Erving Goff man (1975/1961), which facilitates a discussion of seminary formation and how clerical identity is construed. A gendered theory of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy is developed in which the clerical perpetrator is conceptualized as part of a more layered and complex theory of clerical masculinities. Leaving the clerical perpetrators, the chapter then turns to the institutional and societal dimensions of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, interweaving the understanding of the clerical perpetrators with the social, cultural, and organizational factors encountered, to develop a multi-layered framework for understanding sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Ireland. While this framework acts as an exemplar of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church more broadly, what is presented here is an attempt to conceptualize the issues involved in a meaningful way and to develop some useful understandings.

This chapter focuses on the scientific study of children's false memories and how susceptibility to false memories changes with age. It begins with a sketch of some historical facts about the law's treatment of child sexual abuse and about how research findings have figured in child sexual abuse prosecutions. It then analyzes the scientific literature, summarizing what has been discovered about children's false memories and the theoretical ideas that are used to explain those findings. The chapter concludes with suggestions on ways to avoid eliciting false recollections, especially in cases where abuse has occurred.

The conclusion sums up the ways that the movement against child sexual abuse sought to achieve change, and the ways that the external context shaped those changes and the movement itself, shedding light on social movements more broadly. Activists against child sexual abuse did not achieve the changes they expected, but they contributed to dramatic changes in how people think and feel about child sexual abuse, how those who experience it cope and respond, how children who report it are treated, how it is represented in the mass media, and how government and public policy address it. In doing so, they also helped shape a politics that infused other social movements, blending emotion and policy, changing both individuals' inner worlds and the larger social world.

Much of the literature on Roman Catholic clergy comes from a number of sources, including scholarly books and essays, empirical research studies, newspaper reports, and some relevant websites. Although not exclusively so, much of the scholarly work on clergy is written by current priests and religious (male and female) who have a professional and/or personal interest in the subject. There are advantages and disadvantages to clergy engaging in this type of research. On the one hand they have an intimate knowledge of seminary and clerical life and the inner workings and dynamics of the Church hierarchy and the institution of the Roman Catholic Church, a knowledge that is invaluable. On the other hand, the risk of bias may be inflated. This chapter draws on this literature and other sources to outline the state of the field in relation to Catholic clergy. It first discusses the literature on “normal” clergy, followed by a review of the literature on clerical men who have sexually abused minors, and then briefly compares both. It argues for an expansive lens through which to understand sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. By understanding, there is no attempt to condone the men's abusive behavior. On the contrary, it is one of the central theses of this book that by understanding the internal “logic” of the apparently illogical action, we learn more about the phenomenon and are in a position to take more decisive and informed action to prevent its occurrence in the future.

This chapter reviews what is known about child sexual abuse media, with a particular focus on the abuse of young children (those under the age of 10). Young children are seldom the subject of research on sexual violence, yet the online-facilitated sexual abuse of these children is known to exist. In the past, child sexual abuse has been described as a hidden phenomenon that is made visible through a child's disclosure or evidence in and on their bodies. Online child sexual victimisation (OCSV) experienced by young children is still hidden in this traditional sense but at the same time highly visible through images that are both detached from the child yet traumatically attached through their creation and continued circulation throughout childhood. Indeed, most of what can be known about OCSV and younger children is through analyses of images harvested online and analyses of law enforcement and non-governmental organisation (NGO) image databases. These sources suggest that OCSV involving young children is different from that experienced by those who are older. It more often involves parents, carers, and family members; it is legally and developmentally impossible for children to consent to it; and images and videos of the abuse are more likely to be trafficked.

This chapter offers the first part of the thematic analysis of the accounts of clerical men who have sexually abused minors as they consider some of the factors that gave rise to their sexual violations. It examines, in particular, the sexual dimensions of the men's offending. All the clerical perpetrators who took part in this research battled with sexuality during their priesthood or religious brotherhood. The problems related to deeply embodied shame, emerging from a sexual ethic that rendered bodies bad and every sexual thought, feeling, and action sin. Poorly prepared for a life of celibate living and lacking the skills necessary to develop intimate relationships safely within the context of a celibate commitment, the men denied their need for intimacy and male sexual expression, or concealed their needs from others, in particular from other clergy.

This chapter explores the social, emotional, and institutional context of the men's offending, paying particular attention to rules, obedience, loneliness, power, and opportunity. The clerical men who went on to become perpetrators of child sexual abuse and who participated in the study constructed their priestly or religious vocation on fear: fear of breaking a celibate commitment and fear of displeasing others. The accompanying way of “doing” priesthood involved strategies for their attempts to live a chaste and obedient life, such as adopting a submissive way of relating to others, avoiding relationships with women, and avoiding particular friendships with men. Such strategies produced poor adult attachments, a fear of emotional and physical intimacy, and prolonged emotional loneliness.

This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to understand and analyze child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in its individual and systemic dimensions, and to offer a perspective that combines both. It is based on over a decade of research. Another important aim of this work is to try to understand the “logic” of the Church hierarchy in their responses to abuse complaints, and to set this understanding in its systemic context. The chapter then discusses the rationale behind this book, and the sources and methodology used. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.

Chapter 3 shows how ideologically diverse activists and legislators converged around a narrow, single-issue opposition to child sexual abuse and defined it as a politically neutral issue. The chapter shows how three challenges to this consensus emerged and were resolved: a 1981 Republican attempt to kill CAPTA; 1992‒1996 feminist organizing around child custody cases and False Memory Syndrome Foundation attempts to weaken CAPTA; 2000 forward, expansions of sex offender registration and notification requirements. Narrow neutrality facilitated the passage of legislation and pulled policy toward criminal justice and away from feminist challenges to the patriarchal family and conservatives’ emphasis on preserving the traditional family. Federal engagement shifted over time from a focus on violence within the family to a focus on child pornography and the control of sex offenders; although framed in terms of dangerous strangers, the new focus affected the larger number of familial offenders as well. Legislators and advocates downplayed race and gender while constructing an implicitly white victim, producing predominantly white offenders because of the prevalence of familial abuse. Experiential and expert knowledge and shared emotional rituals produced and maintained narrow neutrality in Congress, activist and professional groups, and media representations.