Academic Disputes about Adult‐Child Sexual Contact: A Critical Realist Appraisal

Abstract

This paper examines the difference between the orthodox assumption that adult‐child sexual contact is both wrong and harmful and another that focuses upon moral panics. The latter view emphasises that the personal or social harm arising from adult‐child sexual contact is open to question. The tension between these two positions is laid out in order to examine their different assumptions about what exists (ontology), how it is understood (epistemology) and how we appraise power discrepancies in relationships (ethics). Resources from the philosophy of critical realism are deployed to critique the applicability of moral panic theory to child sexual abuse and understand the persistent presence of that theory, despite its poor evidence base. It is concluded that child sexual abuse is not a moral panic at all and that practitioners should be wary of the influence of this line of reasoning in their professional training and literature. Key Practitioner Messages A minority academic position is that adult‐child sexual contact is usually harmless and ethically and psychologically warranted in society. Public and professional concern about the contact is depicted as a ‘moral panic’. The recent history of that minority position is examined and justifications from policy libertarians and pro‐paedophile groups summarised. Using resources from the philosophy of critical realism, this position is critiqued for its unwarranted reliance on the assumption that adult‐child sexual contact has become a moral panic.

Child Sexual Abuse: Ethics and Evidence

“…The paper from David Pilgrim () provides a powerful check on impulses towards the minimisation of CSA. In a rigorous and thoughtful piece, Pilgrim confronts the argument that the primary harms of CSA originate with responses to abuse, rather than abuse itself.…”

“…Reflecting on the personal, ideological and theoretical biases inherent in ‘moral panic’ theory, Pilgrim's analysis foregrounds the need for moral consensus rather than ambiguity in our responses to CSA. Without sacrificing nuance or complexity, he proposes that: ‘In this emotive field, we can assert in response that some forms of sexual expression are simply wrong’ (Pilgrim, , p. 178).…”

Professional Knowledge, Skills and Beliefs in Safeguarding Children and Young People

“…In a recent Child Abuse Review themed issue titled Child Sexual Abuse: Ethics and Evidence , Salter (, p. 165) highlighted the challenges that continue to be posed by child sexual abuse (CSA) today to both child protection services and society at large ‘including the prevalence and secrecy of CSA, the complexities of prosecution and the multiple impacts on victims’. The themed issue drew together papers on a number of related CSA topics (Clayton et al ., ; Pilgrim, ; Quayle et al ., ; Ressel et al ., ) including a case study by Voss et al . () of a multiagency referral centre specialising in responses to CSA.…”