Dr. Laura Blasts APA for Publishing
Pro-Pedophilia Propaganda
Dr. Laura Schlessinger took a full hour of her radio show on Monday to blast a
study published by the American Psychological Association that says sex between
adults and children is not only less harmful than believed but might even be
positive for "willing" children.
Calling the study "garbage science," Dr. Schlessinger, who has a
background in medical physiology, compared the APA's action to the 1973 American
Psychiatric Association decision to take homosexuality off the list of mental
disorders.
The APA article proposes ceasing to use terms such as "child abuse,"
"molestation," and "victims" and instead deploying
nonjudgmental terms such as "adult-child sex."
"A Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse
Using College Samples" was written by Temple University psychology
professor Bruce Rind, University of Pennsylvania education professor Philip
Tromovitch and Robert Bauserman, a psychology professor at the University of
Michigan. Bauserman also wrote an article for the Journal of Homosexuality in
1990, "Male Generational Intimacy," which questions the
"taboo" against man-boy sex. The newer study was published last July
in the APA's bimonthly Psychological Bulletin, and has been severely criticized
in a paper, "The Problem of Pedophilia," published by the Encino,
Calif.-based National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH).
The NARTH critique was digested in a recent issue of the Catholic weekly
newspaper, the Wanderer, and picked up on the Internet.
The North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), which advocates sex
between men and boys, hails the study on its website in "The Good News
About Man/Boy Love." NAMBLA notes that, "Sex does not pose the danger
to minors claimed by police, prosecutors and prudes crusading against man/boy
love."
This view mirrors that of Alfred C. Kinsey, whose Sexual Behavior in the Human
Male (1948) included data from the molestation of 317 boys, some as young as two
months. Kinsey concluded that children were sexually viable from birth and that
molestation was harmless unless parents exhibited "hysteria" over the
incidents. The Kinsey view of child sexuality has influenced three generations
of sexologists and educators.
According to NARTH's paper, Bauserman and his colleagues concluded that "[W]hen
sexual contact is not coerced, especially when it is experienced by a boy and is
enjoyed, it may not be harmful at all" (emphasis NARTH's). In the paper,
Dutch psychologist Gerard van den Aardweg points out that "'non-coerced'
sex is a misnomer because there is always an element of coercion - involving a
misuse of adult authority, and a misuse of the child's need for affection. If a
researcher sees no harm, 'it may be because he is using the wrong glasses ...
not because there is nothing to see.' Even adult-child sex which is mutually
enjoyed, he says, is always an intrinsic injustice to the integrity of the
person" (emphasis NARTH's).
Dr. Laura, whose daily program has an estimated listening audience of 18
million, said she had discussed the issue at length with Dr. van den Aardweg,
who explained how the pro- pedophilic movement has grown within the APA.
In 1996, the American Psychiatric Association moved to reclassify all
paraphilias (sexual deviancies) in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
(DSM-IV) by loosening the criteria that define those paraphilias. The new
criteria allow for the "ego-syntonic" paraphiliac - one whose deviancy
causes him no guilt or anxiety. In other words, according to the APA, people are
only pedophiles - or sadists, masochists, exhibitionists, or voyeurs - if they
feel bad or anxious about what they're doing, or if their paraphilia impairs
them in an important area of function. So the well-adjusted child molester would
not be considered to be psychologically disordered.
According to the Washington Times, APA spokeswoman Rhea Farberman acknowledged
that Dr. Schlessinger had "some valid criticisms," but was quick to
add that, "The bridge [Dr. Schlessinger] builds between this study and the
so- called attempt to normalize pedophilia is ridiculous. ... It is clear to us
that child sexual abuse is harmful."
To hear Dr. Laura's March 22 broadcast, visit her website, www.drlaura.com.
To obtain a copy of "The Problem of Pedophilia," visit NARTH's
website, www.narth.com, and reference the
section on Clinical and Ethical Issues. For a copy of the above-mentioned
Psychological Bulletin article, write to:
American Psychological Association
750 First St. NE
Washington, DC, 20002
Phone: (202) 336-5500
- RHK and KLE
The NAMBLA Line
"Our movement today stresses the liberation and empowerment of young
people. Instead of pedagogy, democracy. Rather than a Greek love
mentor-relationship, the companionship of independent and autonomous
individuals. In place of male supremacy, a vision of sexual, economic, and
political liberation for all. Freedom is indivisible. The liberation of
children, women, boy-lovers, and homosexuals in general, can occur only as
complementary facets of the same dream."
- David Thorstad, founder of the North American Man-Boy Love Association,
speaking to the Semana Cultural Lesbica-Gay, Mexico City, June 26, 1998.
Compliments of the NAMBLA
website.