Introduction
Surveys within the field of psychology, as well as criminology, indicate that the most heinous offender in our society is, unquestionably, the child molester. To understand just how deep the roots of this conditioning reach within the collective consciousness, one need only observe the hysteria triggered by the public disclosure of a sexual approach made upon a preadolescent or adolescent. In response to this overwhelming public attitude, the legislatures in 30 states have proscribed the maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment for sexual intercourse with a female child.
Public concern seems to be focused on the immediate psychological damage inflicted upon the child, as well as the fear of future maladjustment in married life. Although this cultural view is not entirely unfounded, recent behavioral studies indicate that the problem is far more complex than previously supposed, involving profound psychological involvement of the sexually awakening child.
This important factor is stressed in Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Female:
There are as yet insufficient data, either in our own or in other studies, for reaching general conclusions on the significance of sexual contacts between children and adults. The females in the sample who had had pre-adolescent contacts with adults had been variously interested, curious, pleased, embarrassed, frightened, terrified, or disturbed with feelings of guilt. The adult contacts are a source of pleasure to some children, and sometimes may arouse the child erotically (5 percent) and bring it to orgasm (1 percent). The contacts had often involved considerable affection, and some of the older females in the sample felt that their pre-adolescent experience had contributed favorably to their later socio-sexual development.
Moreover, Kinsey points out that the strong cultural taboo attached to these child-adult relationships are in themselves often responsible for psychological trauma experienced by many children. In fact, children in our society are so thoroughly conditioned to anticipate sexual advances by adults that often genuine affection or accidental contact may trigger an emotional crisis for the child-sometimes with serious consequences-even though no real sexual motive is involved.
As Kinsey and his associates explored these relationships further, they discovered that a rather high percentage of the children involved were sexually approached by members of their own family or close relatives. Kinsey found this to be valid in at least 23 percent of all cases surveyed; Landis and his colleagues revealed 35 percent of the adults involved were relatives, while Bowman reports that the adult involved was a stranger in only 7 out of 46 cases, family friend or relative in the other instances.
These detailed investigations have done much in dispelling the stereotyped beliefs which are so deeply ingrained in our culture. Although there are a certain number of cases in which rape or other physical damage is done to the child, in a vast majority of the cases no appreciable harm resulted from such contacts. These findings do not, of course, imply that such relationships are "healthy," merely that they fall, clinically, within the normal pattern of sexual behavior. Dr. Kinsey cautions us to distinguish between the innocuous sexual contacts and those of a more serious nature; for, if the child is not hurt physically or psychologically by the contact itself, the parents' lack of understanding may very well affect the same undesirable result.
Clinical research in the field of psychology indicates that a rather wide range of sexual behavior is observable from early infancy onward. Moreover, the so-called normal behavior of an individual is directly related to the nature of sexual conditioning within any given society. As long as this conditioning prevails, a gap will necessarily exist between the actual sexual expression and the ideal which the society sets for itself at a given moment in time. This, in part, explains why society expresses rage when a female child is sexually approached.
In his study, Sexual Deviation, Anthony Storr takes this fear one step further:
Fortunately, cases of rape or of actual bodily harm are extremely rare, and the attention which such cases attract is out of all proportion because of the high value which society attaches to female virginity; that it is assaults upon girls which most shock the public. The seduction of boys, although deplored, and although often thoroughly reported in the Sunday newspapers, does not usually arouse such violent emotion. If it did so, the waiting lists for entry into public schools would hardly be so long as they now are.
Although many people would still maintain in spite of the above conclusions-that any sexual contact between child and adult is "sick,"
"degenerate," or even "criminal," the serious student must take such pseudo-moralistic reactions with a grain of salt, so to speak. In fact, one might accurately consider these irrational beliefs as part of the problem itself; that is, having been forced to repress childhood sexuality, the adult passes that conditioning on to the child. This, in turn, causes the child to repress his sexuality, i.e., to curb his sexual expression to conform to the ideal.
Given the tremendous conditioning against such acts, our question now is, what motivates an adult-male or female-to approach a child sexually?
According to Storr, the adult who engages in various forms of sexual activity with a child is acting out a need for gratification he cannot attain in a mature relationship. Along with this feeling of inadequacy, the adult male may suffer from fears of impotency. In some cases, homosexuality is the motivating factor. Pedophilia, as the sexual love of children is sometimes called, includes a variety of activities which do not always involve physical contact. Often the male needs only express affection to the child by giving presents, or by winning his love or admiration. The most frequent sexual advance, however, usually takes the form of a verbal approach or genital exhibition. Adult satisfaction is thereby achieved by shocking the child, which is, again, a form of admiration. There are a significant number of cases reported by Kinsey in which oral-genital contacts are made; although actual coitus between adults and children is considered quite rare by most authorities.
It is interesting to note that the subject of adult-child relations has occasionally appeared on film and in literature. One outstanding example is thatof Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita (which, incidentally, has given rise to the term "Lolita complex"). Sundays and Cybele, a film dealing with an adult love affair with a preadolescent girl, also delves rather deeply into the psychological motivation underlying this type of behavior. These two examples show the varying range of physical contact. While Lolita dealt strongly in sexual imagery involving a child seductress, the lovers of Sundays and Cybele act-ed out a platonic, completely nonphysical relationship.
Frequently, it is the child who initiates the contact with an adult; or, more often, it occurs through a mutually expressed desire either of an overt or covert nature.
In the child's early development, he becomes conscious not only of his feelings about himself, but also what other human beings are feeling about him-especially parents or others in authority. The child becomes aware of himself sexually through the exploration of his body and the touching of genitals; almost simultaneously, he becomes aware of the concern which adults express toward him regarding sexuality. It is the female child who feels this preoccupation with sex most intensely, especially as she is taught to cover her nakedness and otherwise guard her sexuality, protecting her virginity.
In Male and Female, Margaret Mead discusses this aspect of sexual behavior:
... Older boys and men find little girls of four and five definitely female and attractive, and that attractiveness must be masked and guarded just as the male eye must be protected from the attractiveness of their older sisters and mothers. It seems that the more completely women's feminity-as a positive point, not a negation of maleness-is recognized, the more they are taught to protect it. A small girl, chic and entrancing, is sufficiently a temptation to a grown man so that societies usually have devices to protect her, circumscribe her, teach her not to exhibit her sex, which she herself lacks the wisdom to moderate....
As the child emerges from preadolescence and into the adolescent stage of development, he reaches a period in which he must learn to adjust his sexual feelings toward the parent of the opposite sex. For, although the child is capable of experiencing a significant degree of sexual attachment and pleasure from older members of the opposite sex, he is discouraged from expressing this feeling and obtaining gratification by the various forms of incest taboos. It is during this period, also, that the child must learn to come to terms with his feelings of rivalry toward the parent of the same sex. This critical moment in a child's development, the gradual process of several years of "family romance," is known as the Oedipus complex.
To most people, the term has taken on a negative meaning, due, no doubt, to the fact that it is derived from the Greek, mythological figure, Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother. Also, it is now rather widely accepted by the lay public that a child who grows into adulthood without resolving these oedipal strivings will encounter some serious psychological difficulties. Yet, as Dr. Mead observes, in a stable society and in a healthy family atmosphere, disastrous consequences need not result during the oedipal period. After all, by protecting the child, especially the female child, from advances of older men, the society is, in fact, attempting to maintain social order because society is built upon the stability of the family unit.
Although most of the examples of child-adult relations seem to indicate that the contacts were not, generally, harmful, and actually rather commonplace, there are occasions when these contacts proved deleterious to the child's sexual growth. Dr. Frank S. Caprio, in his study, Female Homosexuality, observed that a significant number of subjects reported a traumatic experience with an older man during the adolescent period. These experiences did not necessarily include forcible intercourse, but did, however, involve some form of repulsive sexual demand on the part of the man. When suddenly confronted with these demands, and, in conjunction with other conditioning factors, such as a weak or alcoholic father, dominating mother, etc., the subject did develop an early aversion to normal heterosexual relations leading to homosexuality in later life.
Thus, we see that the complex set of values involved in child-adult relationships, though structured for the benefit of the individual and society, sometimes go awry and defeat the purpose for which they were intended. A male child, for example, who does not fully resolve his oedipal strivings, may never develop a mature sexual response in adult life. Often the frustrations arising out of the Oedipus complex are partially released through aggression and domination, which may involve the acting out of incestuous relations with children.
Eric Berne, author of the bestseller Games People Play, has characterized the roles of the typical, domineering father or mother in what he calls the "uproar" game:
The classical game is played between domineering fathers and teen-age daughters, where there is a sexually inhibited mother. Father comes home from work and finds fault with daughter, who answers impudently; or daughter may make the first move by being impudent, whereupon father finds fault. Their voices rise, and the clash becomes more acute. The outcome depends on who has the initiative. There are three possibilities: (a) father retires to his bedroom and slams the door; (b) daughter retires to her bedroom and slams the door; (c) both retire to their respective bedrooms and slam the doors. "Uproar" offers a distressing but effective solution to the sexual problems that arise between fathers and teen-age daughters in certain households. Often, they can only live in the same house together if they are angry at each other, and the slamming of doors emphasize for each of them the fact that they have separate bedrooms.
If the child in question is the son or daughter or a close relative, these actions may be sublimated so as to stay within the bounds set by the incest taboo. If the child is not related to the adult, those inhibitions may be pushed somewhat in the background, and a more direct physical contact is likely to occur. It is primarily for this reason that great care is usually taken in the institutionalized selection of guardians for orphans and fatherless children.
Berne points out that, although the game of "uproar" can and often is played between mother and son (or even brother and sister) to diver the incestuous impulse, it is less frequent with the male child. Berne attributes this to the fact of greater mobility on the part of male children. In other words, if the game gets too rough, they can always walk out of the house, and, if need be, stay out. However, in more recent years, female children have greatly increased their mobility, as the high incidence of runaways attests. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to survey the important role played by the unresolved oedipal strivings in the current "youth rebellion."