Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse
Artist: Psychological Bulletin
Year: 1999
Date of Action: July 1999
Region: North America
Location: Washington D.C.
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion, Sexual/Gender Orientation
Medium: Literature
Confronting Bodies: Congress
Description of Artwork: This scientific article, published in an American Psychological Association publication analyzes a number of other studies examining how sexual encounters in childhood affected college students, finding that on average, students who had experienced childhood sexual abuse were only slightly less well-adjusted.
The Incident: After Dr. Laura and others began a crusade against the article, which they alleged "normalized pedophilia" among other things, congress voted 355-0 to condemn the article. Congress sought to suppress the study and denounced "all suggestions in the article . . . that indicate that sexual relationships between adults and 'willing' children are less harmful than believed and might be positive for 'willing' children.
Results of Incident: The APA defended the article and its research, leaders in congress continued its denunciations.
Source:
• http://reason.com/archives/1999/08/07/washingtons-other-sex-scandal
