Incest between Adults and Children in the Medieval World

Archibald, Elizabeth

doi:10.1057/9780230590526_3

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…A theory of culturally acquired disgust, shame, and guilt provides a rather parsimonious account as disgust appears to have evolved in humans from oral to moral as a means of social control. Early childhood sex training in sexually permissive cultures remains quite similar in many respects to the primate‐wide pattern, and current views of sexual privacy and restraint in the parent/child relationship may be of fairly recent origin given emerging work on the history of childhood sexuality (Archibald, 2007; Fishman, 1982; Montgomery, 2007).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Archibald (2007), a historian of childhood, reported that medieval European children were likely to witness sexual intercourse given the lack of privacy in medieval homes and that it was quite normal to share beds and sleep naked, even past puberty (pp. 94–6).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beginning around 6 years old the adrenal glands in both sexes begin to secrete increasing levels of androgens that may increase the intensity of childhood sexual attractions and desires, supporting Malinowski's idea of a continuously rising curve. Archibald (2007), a historian of childhood, reported that medieval European children were likely to witness sexual intercourse given the lack of privacy in medieval homes and that it was quite normal to share beds and sleep naked, even past puberty (pp. 94-6).…”

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confidence: 99%

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The primal scene in cross‐species and cross‐cultural perspectives

Josephs

2011

The International Journal of Psychoanalysis

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A review of cross-species and cross-cultural research suggests that, throughout most of human behavioral evolution, children may have been enlightened as to the facts of life by observing parental intercourse and then imitating it in sexual rehearsal play in the context of a continuously rising curve of sexual desire and sexual knowledge throughout childhood. Concealment of the primal scene and prohibition of cross-generational, bisexual, and 'polymorphously perverse' childhood sex play may be of relatively recent origin in human cultural evolution, buttressed by the instillation of culturally acquired sexual disgust in sexually conservative cultures. Looking at the primal scene in cross-species and cross-cultural perspectives utilizing the adaptationist framework of contemporary evolutionary biology can challenge normative assumptions that may still be embedded in psychoanalytic theories of species-wide psychosexual development.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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The primal scene in cross‐species and cross‐cultural perspectives

Josephs

2011

The International Journal of Psychoanalysis

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“…Archibald (2007) reported that medieval European children were likely to witness sexual intercourse given the lack of privacy in medieval homes and that it was quite normal to share beds and sleep naked, even past puberty. Montgomery (2007) noted that concerns about parental sexual privacy and having children sleep in separate beds in separate bedrooms is a relatively modern cultural practice that is not normative for slum children who often grow up being very knowledgeable about sex from an early age.…”

Section: How Nonhuman Primates Learn About Sexmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This mistaken assumption can only be maintained by ignoring contradictory evidence from primatology (Anderson & Bielart, 1990;de Waal, 1990de Waal, , 2007, anthropology (Konner, 2010;Malinowski, 1929), and history of childhood sexuality (Archibald, 2007;Montgomery, 2007) that the species-wide norm has been until relatively recently in human behavioral evolution for children to observe their parents having sex and then imitate parental sexuality in sexual rehearsal play with peers from as early as 3 or 4 years old. Thus, the primate-wide predisposition to learn about sex through direct observation that Gray and Anderson (2010) cited as characteristic of other primate specieshasbeenconservedin humansbutsuppressedthrough modern traditions of childhood sex training that attempt to maintain the sexual innocence of children until puberty.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Children Learn About Sex: A Cross-Species and Cross-Cultural Analysis

Josephs

2015

Arch Sex Behav

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Scattered and not widely disseminated evidence from primatology, anthropology, and history of childhood sexuality support the hypothesis that throughout much of human behavioral evolution that human children have learned about sex through observing parental sexuality and then imitating it in sexual rehearsal play with peers. Contemporary theories of psychosexual development have not considered the possibility that young children are predisposed to learn about sex through observational learning and sexual rehearsal play during early childhood, a primate-wide trait that is conserved in humans but suppressed in contemporary contexts.

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Genre et violences sexuelles commises contre des enfants dans les registres judiciaires de Bologne au xv e siècle

Lett¹

2018

Annales De Démographie Historique

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Dans les registres de la justice pénale ( libri maleficiorum ) de Bologne entre 1383 et 1491, ont pu être comptabilisés plus de cent viols d’enfants ou d’adolescents, autant de garçons que de filles. Malgré ce parfait équilibre statistique entre les sexes, on observe de profondes différences entre les violences perpétrées contre les filles et les sévices imposés aux garçons. Les filles, dont on connaît presque toujours le prénom, sont, en moyenne, abusées à un âge plus précoce que les garçons. Pour souligner leur non consentement (car il ne va pas de soi à la fin du Moyen Âge), le notaire insiste sur le fait qu’elles mènent une vie honnête et n’ont pas pu crier au moment du drame. Elles sont souvent frappées avant, pendant et parfois après les violences subies. Elles sont « connues charnellement et de manière violente », comme le sont les femmes adultes. Les peines imposées à leur agresseur sont relativement légères, souvent pécuniaires. En revanche, les garçons, en moyenne un peu plus âgés que les filles et dont il semble très souvent préférable de taire l’identité, sont sodomisés. Cette pénétration anale donne lieu de la part du notaire à un récit plus détaillé du coït et surtout à de très riches et nombreux termes juridiques visant à disqualifier le coupable et l’acte et à proclamer l’abomination du crime qui outrage non seulement les statuts de la cité et la vie de la commune mais aussi les bonnes mœurs et Dieu. Pour ce type de « sodomites », pervers, les peines sont donc beaucoup plus lourdes (souvent la peine capitale par le feu). Cet article cherche aussi à poser la question de l’existence ou non, au cours du xv e siècle à Bologne, d’un crime spécifique pour désigner les violences sexuelles commises contre des enfants qui s’apparenterait à ce que nous nommons aujourd’hui « pédophilie ».

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Incest between Adults and Children in the Medieval World

Cited by 3 publications

References 9 publications

The primal scene in cross‐species and cross‐cultural perspectives

The primal scene in cross‐species and cross‐cultural perspectives

How Children Learn About Sex: A Cross-Species and Cross-Cultural Analysis

Genre et violences sexuelles commises contre des enfants dans les registres judiciaires de Bologne au xv e siècle

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