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Selected References

Published: 2003Updated:

Adam, Barry  "Age, Structure, and Sexuality: Reflections on the Anthropological Evidence on Homosexual Relations," Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 11, No. 3/4, pp. 19-34, Summer 1985. (Also published as The Many Faces of Homosexuality: Anthropological Approaches to Homosexual Behavior. New York: Harrington Park Press, 1986.)
    Compares data from 19 different named cultures, and many more not named, where man/boy homosexual relationships are institutionalized, to support the view that the kinship structures of a society largely determine the prevalent modes of sexual expression in that society, whatever they may be.

Baurmann, M. C.  Sexuality, Violence, and Psychological After-Effects: A Longitudinal Study of Cases of Sexual Assault which were Reported to the Police. Wiesbaden: Bundeskriminalamt, 1988.
    A massive longitudinal study of all reported victims of sex offenses against minors in the German State of Lower Saxony during a four-year period from 1969-1972, with six to ten year follow-ups, under the direction of the German Ministry of Justice. The total sample is over 8,000, including over 800 boys up to age 14. Violence and/or coercion were present in roughly half the reported offenses against girls, and were correlated with negative outcomes. None of the boys experienced force or coercion, and no negative outcomes were observed for any of the boys. The study used both subjective and multiple standardized objective measures. It is by far the most in-depth large study and the largest in-depth study in this field.

Bauserman, R., & Rind, B. (1997).  Psychological correlates of male child and adolescent sexual experience with adults: A review of the nonclinical literature.  Archives of Sexual Behavior,26, pp. 105-141.

Best, Joel  Threatened Children: Rhetoric & Concern about Child Victims. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.
    A highly recommended, pioneering survey of a constellation of social problems and their recent magnification. Provides thorough statistical evaluations and analyses of the most common fears and prejudices underlying society's concerns about child abduction, sexual abuse, and other urban myths, from a sociological perspective. Describes media pandering to public fears.

Constantine, Larry L.  "Effects of Early Sexual Experiences: A Review and Synthesis of Research," in Constantine, L. L., Martinson, F. M., (eds.) Children and Sex: New Findings, New Perspectives. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1981.
    Reviews 30 studies, most of which include child-adult contacts. Breaks down experiences by outcome for the younger partner as: positive, neutral, or negative. Examines relationships between several variables and observed outcomes.

Constantine, Larry L. "Child Sexuality: Recent Developments and Implications for Treatment, Prevention, and Social Policy," International Journal of Medicine and Law, 1983 No. 2, pp. 55-67.
    Reviews findings of the above article. Discusses implications for treatment, prevention, and social policy. Includes proposals for legal revisions.
Among the findings of this major literature review:
    "The most important determinant in the outcome of childhood incest or adult-child sexual encounters is the child's perception of freedom of choice in participating." Among the observed implications:
    "The research to date points to the child's subjective experience as the central concern. If it is the child's person which is to be protected from being violated against the child's will, then it is the child's will which governs the determination."

Coxell, A., King, M., Mezey, G., & Gordon, D. (1999).  "Lifetime prevalence, characteristics, and associated problems of non-consensual sex in men: Cross sectional survey" British Medical Journal, 318, pp. 846-850.
    An important study. The data presented in this research report indicate that non-consensual sexual experiences before and after age 16 are associated with increased psychological problems, but consensual sexual experiences are not.  This is the first large empirical study to present data, in English, that directly addresses the question of the significance of consent.

Freedman, Estelle "Uncontrolled Desires": The Response to the Sexual Psychopath, 1920-1960." Journal of American History vol. 74 no. 1 (June 1987). Pp. 83-106.

Gagnon,  John  "Female Child Victims of Sex Offenses," Social Problems, Vol. 13, pp. 176-192, 1965.
    Investigates common characteristics of girls who have experienced various kinds of sexual contact with adults, based upon a large sample from the original Kinsey study.

Gay, Judith  "`Mummies and Babies' and Friends and Lovers in Lesotho," Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 11, No. 3/4, pp. 97-116, Summer 1985. (Also published as The Many Faces of Homosexuality: Anthropological Approaches to Homosexual Behavior. New York: Harrington Park Press, 1986.)
    Examines institutionalized woman/girl love in southern Africa, noting the key role of these relationships in providing the girls with emotional support prior to marriage and providing a network of support for women in new towns or schools.

Jones, G. P.  "The Study of Intergenerational Intimacy in North America: Beyond Politics and Pedophilia," Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 20, pp. 275-295, 1990.

McClintock, Martha K. and Gilbert Herdt  "Rethinking Puberty: The Development of Sexual Attraction," Current Developments in Psychological Science, Volume 5, No. 1 (December, 1996).

Money, John  "Juvenile, Pedophile, Heterophile: Hermeneutics of Science, Medicine and Law in Two Outcome Studies," International Journal of Medicine and Law, 1983 No. 2 pp. 39-54.
    An unusually detailed investigation of two consensual long-term "pedophiliac" relationships. This long-term, prospective case study finds the relationships to be non-harmful and possibly beneficial for both partners. Money is among the most widely cited American authors on pediatric sexology and sexual and gender development.

Nelson, Joan  "Incest: Self-Report Findings From a Nonclinical Sample," Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 463-477, Nov. 1986.
    Nelson looks at the experiences of 100 subjects who have had sex with relatives. Results indicate that outcomes vary from negative to positive.

Okami, Paul  "Self-reports of "Positive" Childhood and Adolescent Sexual Contacts with Older Persons: An Exploratory Study," Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 20, pp. 437- 457, 1991.
    Examines how contacts are perceived by the younger partner in later life. Investigates relationships between "positive" self-assessment and several variables.

Okami, Paul  "Sociopolitical Biases in the Contemporary Scientific Literature on Adult Human Sexual Behavior with Children and Adolescents," in Feierman, J. (ed.) Pedophilia: Biosocial Dimensions. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1990.

Okami, Paul  "`Child Perpetrators of Sexual Abuse': The Emergence of a Problematic Deviant Category," Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 109-130, Feb. 1992.
    Okami discusses the nature and origins of recent attacks against sexual expression by young people, and finds much of the literature on the subject of sexual contacts between minors to be scientifically unsound. Highly recommended reading.

Okami, Paul and Goldberg, Amy  "Personality Correlates of Pedophilia: Are They Reliable Indicators?" Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 297-328, August, 1992.
    A critical and extensive review of the literature. Okami finds that " ... professionals in the field continue to express belief in a 'typical' psychological profile for pedophiles ... Empirical support is equivocal and in certain cases absent(p. 306). ... With the exception of the tautological diagnosis of "sexual deviate," little clinically significant pathology was found among either "pedophiles" or "sex offenders against minors."  (Abstract)

Rind, B. and Bausermann, R.  "Biased Terminology Effects and Biased Information Processing in Research on Adult-Nonadult Sexual Interactions -- An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Sex Research,Volume 30 No. 3 (August 1993), pp. 260-269. Includes tables, references.

Rind, B., & Tromovitch, P. (1997). A meta-analytic review of findings from national samples on psychological correlates of child sexual abuse. The Journal of Sex Research, 34, pp. 237-255.

Rind, B., Tromovitch, P., and Bauserman, R. (1998) A Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using College Samples, Psychological Bulletin,124, pp. 22-53.

Rubin, Gayle  "Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality" in Abelove, Barale, Halperin, et al, (Eds.), The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. (1992).

Rule, Jane  "Teaching Sexuality" in Flaunting It, Vancouver, New Star Press, 1982.

Sandfort, Theo  "Sex in Pedophiliac Relationships: An Empirical Investigation Among a Nonrepresentative Group of Boys," Journal of Sex Research Vol.20, No.2, pp. 123-142 May, 1984.
    "The sexual contacts were found to have had no negative influence upon the boys' sense of general well-being, nor did the boys perceive in these contacts a misuse of authority by the adult." (Quoted from the Abstract)

Sandfort, Theo  The Sexual Aspect of Paedophile Relations. Amsterdam: Pan/Spartacus, 1982.
    A detailed presentation, explanation, and discussion of data from a study of 25 ongoing consensual long-term relations between men and boys. Recommends that future legislation should observe young peoples' right of sexual self-determination.

Sandfort, Theo  Boys On Their Contacts With Men. Elmhurst, New York: Global Academic Publishers, 1987.
    Summarizing Sandfort's earlier studies, this book also contains extensive quotes in context from the boys interviewed.

Tindall, R. H.  "The Male Adolescent Involved With a Pederast Becomes an Adult," Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 373-382, 1978.
    A longitudinal study of nine cases covering a span of over thirty years which finds the relationships to be non-harmful, with positive benefits in some cases.