Help Stop Child Sexual Abuse

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea
— Matthew 18.6, Mark 9.42 and Luke 17.2

It is frightening to realize how widespread sexual abuse is in our society and yet how strong the denial of it is.¹ “Don’t waste your time talking about what an aberration it is and how unlikely it is — just get to the place where you understand that one of the things humans do is have sexual contact with children,” says [Gavin] de Becker, author of Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane).² Sex with children is a crime. It has long been illegal for adults to have sex with children in the U.S. But [thanks to a 1994 federal law, it is also] illegal for Americans to travel overseas to have sex with children under 18.³

Child sexual abuse first became an issue when Freud (pic) theorized that most cases of hysteria in women have been caused by “premature sexual experiences” [Sigmund Freud, “The Aetiology of Hysteria,” 1896]. Studies on child molestation began in the 1920s while the first national estimate of cases came out in 1948. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act was enforced in 1974 along with the creation of the National Center for Child Abuse and Neglect. The National Child Abuse Coalition was formed in 1979 to pressure the congress to pass and implement laws.⁴

The Sexual Assault Resource Center reports that one in three girls and one in five boys will be sexually assaulted by the time they are 16 years old [26.8%] [John N. Briere, Child Abuse Trauma (Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1992); Diana E. Russell, The Secret Trauma: Incest in the Lives of Girls and Women (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1986)].^5, i, ii Fewer than 10 percent of child sexual abuse cases are reported to authorities.⁶ [A 2001 University of Pennsylvania] study estimated that in the United States, 325,000 children a year were subjected to sexual exploitation, including prostitution, use in pornography and molestation.⁷ “According to Unicef, a million children are forced each year into pornographic productions that generate $20 billion in sales,” [Swiss Justice Minister Ruth Metzler] said.⁸

In 90% of the rapes of children less than 12 years old, the child knew the offender, according to police-recorded incident data.⁹ Family members account for 33% to 50% of abuse against girls and 10% to 20% against boys.¹⁰

The very people that parents have traditionally taught their children to trust have been abusing them in suprising numbers.¹¹ “The people who commit these crimes against children are bright people,” [FBI’s Pete Gulotta] said. “Many of them are above-average intelligence, with more money than most, professionals. We’ve arrested elementary school principals, military officers, computer programmers, attorneys, accountants, even a Broadway producer.” ¹²

Hollywood stars, movie moguls, politicians, judges and police officers [were] among those who [were] being sought by investigators working on what they [called] Operation Avalanche.¹³ In the end, there turned out to be more than 35,000 individual subscribers [to a child pornography business] in the United States.¹⁴

Acting on information from the FBI, Swiss authorities are investigating around 1,300 people accused of buying child pornography from a U.S. Internet company that offered Web sites like “Cyber Lolita,” officials disclosed [24 Sep 2002]. Describing it as the biggest ever pedophile sweep in Switzerland, officials said the suspects included teachers, school psychologists, law enforcement officers and high ranking civil servants.¹⁵

[In 1993,] within months of Janet Reno’s promise to “protect our children from abuse,” ¹⁶ [she] tried to redefine child pornography to make it more difficult for prosecutors to go after NAMBLA child molesters.¹⁷ Unbelievably, the position taken by Attorney General Janet Reno is that the producers and distributors of this wretched material cannot be prosecuted unless children are depicted lasciviously engaging in sexual conduct and the material must include a visible depiction of the genitals or pubic area of the body [Richard Carelli (The Associated Press), “Administration Softens Its Definition of Hard-Core Child Pornography,” 23 Sep 1993].¹⁸ Reno has argued for what amounts to unprecedented and unconscionable interpretations of the exiting child pornography laws in order to prevent the Supreme Court from declaring such laws unconstitutional. This is a smokescreen to conceal the real agenda — the legalization of child pornography under a warped and depraved interpretation of the First Amendment.^19, iii In spite of Reno’s peculiar vision of the attorney general’s duties and her appalling record,^iv she has enjoyed nearly universal acclaim as the Clinton Administration’s star Cabinet member.²⁰

Many experts contend that women commit sex offenses far more often than is generally believed.²¹ In fact a “1996 study [in the United States] found that women were responsible for 20 percent of child sexual abuse.” Moreover, “adolescents commit 20 percent of all sex crimes.” ²² “Now we are discovering that there are a lot of women who do sexually abuse children, but they get away with it,” [forensic psychiatrist Paul Federoff] said. “There is a growth industry of treatment programs, particularly for adolescent female sex offenders who commit a lot of the crimes while they are baby-sitting.”…

Women who commit sex offenses often fit into one of three categories.

The “teacher-lover” or “Mrs. Robinson” type has sex with underage boys. These women fancy themselves in love with the boy and don’t see the relationships as harmful, experts say. The women tend to be immature and get an “ego boost” from the involvement, said [Steven B. Blum, a consulting psychologist to a sex offender program in Nebraska,] who counsels such offenders. “Without exception, all of our patients have had a substance abuse problem and also were partying with their victims,” he said. “Generally the male doesn’t feel victimized,” he said. “A lot of teenage boys would see that as their lucky day.” Despite such perceptions, researchers maintain that many boys may be left confused and angry, and if they are particularly young, they may be sexualized too early and have sexual problems later in life.…

A second type of offender is called “predisposed” and includes mothers who molest their children. [Florence Wolfe, co-director of Northwest Treatment Associates, a Seattle-based program for sex offenders,] says more than 50% of the 150 female offenders she has counseled molested their own children, primarily daughters.…

The third type of female sex criminal is called the “male-coerced” or “male-accompanied” offender. These women commit sex crimes in the company of a man.…

A 1981 national study of both reported and unreported child abuse indicated that as many as 24% of boys and 14% of girls who are molested are victimized by women. Although sexual abuse by both men and women is underreported, female offenders are less likely than men to be prosecuted.²³

Sex offenders everywhere need to be exposed, regardless of their age or station in life, so that the public can know of their activities and take steps to protect itself against them.²⁴ To report one abuser is perhaps to save scores of future victims.²⁵ The typical child sex offender molests an average of 117 children, most of who do not report the offence [National Institute of Mental Health, 1988].²⁶ Thomas Fox estimates that the “average pedophile priest abuses 285 victims.” ²⁷ The percentage [of] pedophile priests remains controversial; AW Richard Sipe, one of the leading experts, estimates around 6%.²⁸ One in 11 American Catholics say they have “personal knowledge” of child sexual abuse by a priest, according to the first national survey of Roman Catholic opinion since revelations of abuse cases began sweeping the country.²⁹

Ancient Vatican records and forgotten Latin texts [show] that the church has recognized the problem of abuse by priests for at least 1,700 years and has failed to address it successfully.^v “The contention that the present scandal is isolated to this era is completely debunked by the Roman Catholic Church’s own documents,” concluded Father Thomas P. Doyle and former monks Richard Sipe and Patrick Wall in their 375-page report, “Canonical History of Clerical Sexual Abuse.” ³⁰

The sexual abuse of children by priests has caused scandal around the world, and Catholic dioceses have been forced to pay millions of pounds in compensation.³¹ Until recently, lawsuits by alleged victims usually were settled quietly out of court, and police and prosecutors often were content to give church officials leeway to handle discipline internally, lawyers said. “In the past there was a minimum level of scrutiny to anything the church did because it was presumably acting in the best interests of people,” said the Rev. Raymond C. O’Brien, a Catholic University law professor and a parish priest.… “Prosecutions prior to the mid-80s were virtually unheard of,” said Stephen Rubino, a New Jersey lawyer who has brought more than 200 lawsuits seeking damages from the church over alleged abuse. “Law enforcement kept their hands off. Nobody wanted to get involved with churchmen committing crimes,” Rubino said.… “The sexual abuse scandal now has changed everything,” O’Brien said.³²

The multi-billion-dollar worldwide sex trade in children is growing, with more than 1 million youngsters trafficked every year for the purpose of sexual exploitation, the United Nations Children’s Fund said in a [December 2001] report.^33, vi Incest, sexual abuse, rape, dowry burnings, infanticide^vii or beatings of girls and women by those closest to them are turning into a global epidemic that too few countries are taking steps to curtail, a UN report said.³⁴

Child sex abuse and prostitution are rising in Latin America and children are most threatened in Brazil,^viii, ix Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Cuba, United Nations officials said [19 March 1997].… The reason for this is “a lack of social protection” and growing numbers of tourists from developed countries who come to Latin America on sex tours, according to Agnes Fournier de Saint Maur of Interpol’s general secretariat.³⁵

Child sexual abuse is such an evil, insidious thing that reaches its tentacles into every aspect of the survivor’s life. So often the survivor isn’t even aware of how their actions or inactions are a result of past trauma.^36, x The exploitation of children and adolescents causes rage and helplessness,^xi, xii a problem that continues to grow worldwide and has begun to incorporate new technologies such as the Internet.³⁷

Barely two months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a ban on “virtual” child pornography,^xiii, xiv the House of Representatives…passed another attempt to update child-porn laws for the Internet age.… Backers said a rewritten bill ^xv was necessary to effectively prosecute the child-pornography trade, which has migrated to the Internet over the past several years. Without a virtual-porn ban, prosecutors must prove that child pornography seized from Web sites and computer hard drives portrays actual children, a difficult proposition once a picture has been scanned into a computer and passed around the Internet, said bill sponsor Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican.… Congress has so far had little success writing laws that limit pornography on the Internet that do not infringe on free-speech rights. Federal courts have struck down three previous attempts to regulate online smut on First Amendment grounds. The rewritten bill, drafted by the Justice Department in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, applies only to computer images that are “indistinguishable” from child pornography, not just material that “appears to be” child porn. It does not apply to mainstream movies, cartoons, drawings or other works that are not realistic digital images. Pornography involving prepubescent children would be outlawed entirely, “virtual” or not. The bill would flip the burden of proof so that the defendant would be required to prove that the image was a computer-generated fake, rather than requiring prosecutors to prove that it involved real, identifiable children. Bill sponsors said they were confident that their new bill would pass judicial review, and that without such an “affirmative defense” they would be incapable of prosecuting digital child pornography. But [Rep. Bobby] Scott, [a Virginia Democrat,] and Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York [Democrat], said most child pornography could be prosecuted under existing obscenity laws. The bill still could be struck down on First Amendment grounds because it would threaten documentary filmmakers, therapists and others who use computer images for legitimate purposes, they said.³⁸

The definition of child pornography, in some countries, is harm-based. For example, U.S. law, which is characterised by an elaborate commitment to the protection of free speech, has addressed the issue of child pornography from the perspective of preventing harm to child victims rather than censoring expression. Child pornography is criminalised in the United States because it represents “the permanent record of the sexual abuse or exploitation of an actual child.” Lanning, supra note 3, at 24.… The approaching technological capacity to produce lifelike computer generated pornography will challenge such harm-based definitions of child pornography.…^xvi

Most of the data that exists regarding the extent and nature of the problem has focussed on North America and Northern Europe — regions which have played a key role in the production, distribution and consumption of child pornography. “The U.S. market for child pornography is widely thought to be the most lucrative in the world.” Child Pornography and Paedophilia: Report Made by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, U.S. Senate, 99th Cong. 2d Sess. 34 (1986).…

As to the gender of the victims, Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") personnel estimate that over 50% of all child pornography seized in the United States depicts boys rather than girls. Canadian Customs puts that figure at 75% for Canada.… In contrast, in Japan, it is female minors that are predominantly exploited in pornographic material.³⁹

In every Japanese bookstand and convenience store, pornographic magazines feature lewd photos of girls in high school sailor uniforms. On television, one of the most popular children’s cartoon characters is “Sailor Moon,” a high school girl in uniform who fights crime and inexplicably appears naked in her bathtub during the ending credits.… Japan appears unique for condoning public displays of raw sexual imagery and for blurring the lines between adult and child pornography. Clothing stores in Tokyo think nothing of displaying provocative photographs of topless preteen girls in seductive, adult poses, and residential mailboxes get stuffed with ads for sex services that are illustrated with graphic photos of high school girls performing sex acts. It is open to theory why Japanese men find very young girls sexually attractive. Experts on sexuality and women’s rights say that as women have begun to assert themselves, the traditional lack of equality between the sexes has left men intimidated by strong women, and therefore more interested in young girls. The less analytical reason…men are fixated on young girls is that no one has stopped them.⁴⁰

“In Asia, Japan has the worst record of child sexual exploitation,” [Japanese Justice Minister Mayumi] Moriyama told an Asian-Pacific conference on human trafficking in Tokyo.… “It is said that 80 percent of the child pornography distributed in the world is made in Japan.” And Japan’s unrepentant attitude about the subject has sullied its image, she said, evidenced by a Time magazine cover story [in 1999] titled “Japan’s Shame.”…

But Japan is hoping a [1999] law on pornography and child prostitution will help it shed its image as one of the most licentious capitals in Asia.… The statute makes it illegal to pay for sex with anyone under age 18, as well as to traffic minors for sex, and to produce, distribute or sell child pornography.… The Diet, Japan’s parliament, backed away from making possession of pornography^xvii a crime — leaving untouched the titillating magazines and adult comics read openly here, many with explicit pictures of young-looking girls.⁴¹ [And] there are no laws to stop individuals who show pornographic images of children on their websites.⁴²

“It is clear a new marketplace for child pornography has emerged from the dark corners of cyberspace,” Attorney General John Ashcroft said.⁴³ “There are tens of thousands of pedophiles out there swapping child porn on the Net,” says Julie Posey [of] Pedowatch in Lafayette, Colo.⁴⁴ [U.S.] Customs and [Denmark’s] Save the Children’s [Vernon] Jones said the Internet has increased the market for child pornography, because people with antisocial interests are able to form online communities.^45, xviii Child predators are forming an online community and bond that is unparalleled in history. They are openly uniting against legal authorities and discussing ways to influence public thinking and legislation on child exploitation.⁴⁶ “The exploiters are increasingly cunning, and most worryingly, there is a huge increase in paedophile sites on the internet,” said Ms Moriyama.^{47, xix, xx}

A conspiracy may be a continuing one; actors may drop out and others may drop in; the details of operation may change from time to time; the members need not know each other or the part played by others; a member may not need to know all the details of the plan of the operation; he must, however, know the purpose of the conspiracy and agree to become a party to a plan to effectuate that purpose [Craig U.S.C.C.A.Cal., 81 F.2d 816, 822].⁴⁸

People will dismiss the problem as one of lone perverts trading dirty pictures. But that very instinct — to turn away — serves the child pornographers well. “The problem is that these kinds of things aren’t very well known, and since they’re not well known, people have a hard time believing them,” says Father Fortunato [Di Noto]. “Silence is what allows pedophiles to win.” The fact is, thousands of children around the world have been brutally abused to create these images, and demand for the pictures is burgeoning, fueled by the Internet. That in turn encourages more abuse.⁴⁹

Reported incidents of child sexual abuse are markedly on the rise. What is especially shocking is the fact that these reports represent only a small portion of actual occurrences of sexual abuse.⁵⁰ We must act to protect children from sexual abuse.^51, iii If we don't talk about it, who will?⁵²

“Children must be very clearly educated about inappropriate behaviour…so when children see the signs of this behaviour they have someone to tell,” said Professor Bob Shoop, a lecturer in sexual exploitation in schools at Kansas State University.⁵³

In 1995, the FBI created its Innocent Images National Initiative (IINI) with the goals of breaking up networks of online pedophiles, stopping sexual predators from using the Internet to lure children from their families, and rescuing victims. Today, 28 of the FBI’s 56 field offices have undercover Innocent Images operations, and more than 200 FBI agents work on these cases. Since 1995, the FBI has opened more than 10,000 total cases and helped secure nearly 3,000 convictions.⁶¹

The medical literature is not hopeful about recovery for…victimizers, especially those whose focus is children.⁶² [And] parents who abuse adolescent children often have different characteristics than those who mistreat younger children. They are more likely to be educated and from a higher socioeconomic class.⁶³

On psychological tests such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), child molesters tend to have profiles indicating passive-dependent personality,^xxiii discomfort in social situations,^xxiv impulsiveness,^xxv and alcoholism [Burgess, A. W., Hartman, C. R., McCaulsand, M. P., Powers, P. (1984). Response pattern in children and adolescents exploited through sex rings and pornography. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 656-662].⁶⁴ More than 50 percent of one sample of child molesters reported using “hard cord” pornography to excite themselves in preparing to commit an offense [Marshall, W. L (1988), Behavioral indices of habituation and sensitization during exposure to phobic stimuli. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 26, 67-77].⁶⁵ They also display a significantly higher fear of negative evaluation [Overholser, J. C., & Beck, S. (1986). Multimethod assessment of rapists, child molesters, and three control groups in behavioral and psychological measures. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 54, 682-687].^66, xxvi And, contrary to the popular view of the pedophile (or child molester) as a stranger, most pedophiles were relatives, friends, or casual acquaintances of their victims [Alter-Reid, K., Gibbs, M. S., Lachenmeyer, J. R., Sigal J., & Massoth, N. A. (1986). Sexual abuse of children: a review of the empirical findings, Clinical Psychology Review, 6, 249-266].⁶⁷ Often they were victimized themselves in childhood…. [Some] take pleasure in humiliating the victim rather than in the sexual pleasure itself.⁶⁸

ⁱ Peak age of vulnerability is 7 to 13.
— Janet Kornblum, “Calls to sex abuse hotlines increase after scandal,” USA Today, 19 June 2002.

ⁱⁱ As many as 70 percent of the victims of sexual assault do not experience visible injury. This does not mean, however, that the trauma associated with the assault is insignificant. Victims who have no obvious physical injuries may experience extensive trauma related to the guilt associated with not having the physical injuries to prove that they resisted and are not “at fault” for the assault perpetrated on them. Indeed, some of the most devastating effects on victims include guilt, shame, embarrassment, powerlessness, fear, anger, and a sense of betrayal [Kilpatrick, D., Edmonds, C., & Seymour, A. (1992). Rape in America: A Report to the Nation. Charleston: National Victim Center and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Medical University of South Carolina, 4].^*
— “Section 1: Supervision Of Sex Offenders In The Community: An Overview,” Center for Sex Offender Management’s (CSOM), at http://www.csom.org/train/supervision/medium/section1/MediumSection1.pdf.

^* A typical reaction of someone who has been sexually assaulted is denial that the abuse occurred and a great desire to forget about the incident [Darke, J. L. (1990). Sexual Aggression: Achieving Power through Humiliation, in Handbook of Sexual Assault: Issues, Theories, and Treatment of the Offender, W.L. Marshall, D.R. Laws, and H.E. Barbaree (eds.). Plenum Press, New York, NY, 60].^†
— Op. cit.

^† Studies report that the average age of remembering childhood incest is between 29 and 49.^‡
— FMS Foundation Newsletter, Vol 2 No. 1, January 8, 1993, at http://www.fmsfonline.org/fmsf93.108.html.

^‡ 52 percent of [Swiss] voters approved an initiative to eliminate the statute of limitations on pornographic crimes against children before the age of puberty.
— Alexander G. Higgens (Associated Press), “Swiss approve pioneering legal heroin program,” 30 November 2008, Yahoo! News, at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081130/ap_on_re_eu/eu_switzerland_heroin_vote (retrieved: 30 November 2008).

ⁱⁱⁱ The Senate and the House of Representatives must hear from you that you will not tolerate the legalization of child pornography.
— “Our children are at risk!,” Restoring America, 29 May 2002, at http://www.restoringamerica.org/archive/education/children_at_risk.html.

^iv [Janet] Reno’s history as a prosecutor in day-care cases in Florida is not encouraging.
— Editorial, “Time state leaders stood up and acted,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 4 March 1998, p. A12.

^v [In] the Vatican City,…the age of consent is 12.
— “New software could rid the web of child porn,” Sunday Herald Online, 19 Jan 2003.

^vi Daniel Armagh, spokesperson for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a congressionally mandated nonprofit clearinghouse,…estimated that child pornographers will do $5 billion to $7 billion of business over the next five years.
— Michelle Madigan (Medill News Service), “Tougher Child Porn Laws Proposed,” Yahoo! News, 2 Oct 2002.

^vii The number of young children killed by their parents or caregivers is underreported by nearly 60 percent, researchers reported…in the Journal of the American Medical Association.^*
— The Associated Press, “Child abuse deaths underreported; Study says caregivers commit nearly all the killings,” APBnews.com, 4 Aug 1999.

^* King County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Donald Reay observes that “separating a SIDS death from a bona fide smothering death can be difficult if not impossible.”
— Elizabeth Rhodes, “Killing her own; The case of Marybeth Tinning may focus more attention of a taboo subject: infanticide,” The Seattle Times, 25 April 1989, p. B1.

^viii In the Amazon River basin, girls have been promised jobs as waitresses or cooks in gold mine camps and then beaten or killed if they try to escape from brothels. In such remote regions, gold mine owners operate like local kings and have been known to authorize “virginity auctions,” whereby new arrivals — some as young as nine years old — are sold to the highest bidder, according to Gilberto Dimenstein, author of “Girls of the Night,” the first book to document the child sex trade in Brazil.^*
— Jack Epstein (Special to The Christian Science Monitor), “How Brazil’s Recruiters Lure and Entrap Children: Networks of traffickers bring poor, rural girls to cities,” at Pangaea, http://www.pangaea.org/street_children/latin/trap.htm.

^* A year-long investigation into child sex abuse has named politicians, judges, priests and business leaders among 200 people who may face criminal prosecutions, Brazil’s congress heard on [8 July 2004]. The vice-governor of the state of Amazonas, Omar Aziz, is accused of being a client of a network of prostitution involving 16-year-olds. A federal deputy, two state deputies and three mayors are among the politicians accused. Five priests and a former athlete are also named.
— “Child abuse report names Brazil elite,” Guardian Unlimited, 10 July 2004.

^ix [In June 2004] Patricia Saboya, one of the national coordinators of the parliamentary group which looks into child sex abuse, accused the government of doing “practically nothing” to investigate or punish those involved. The UN estimates that there could be as many as 500,000 Brazilian child victims of sexual abuse. The commision investigating the abuses called for an overhaul of Brazi’s archaic laws. It wants cases which are categorised as “offences against public morals” to be upgraded into “sexual crimes”. Currently there is no law on rape against boys. Also, trafficking of adolscents for sex is only a crime across international borders and not within Brazil itself. The law could also be changed to initiate public charges for sexual crimes. At the moment prosecution can only go ahead when a private complaint is filed.
— Op. cit.; See also “Brazil politicians in child sex row,” Reuters UK, 9 July 2004.

^x Carl Anderson and colleagues at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., found that repeated sexual abuse causes physical changes in the blood flow and function of a brain region called the cerebellar vermis. This region of the brain has also been found to change in people addicted to drugs.… A similar study was conducted at the University of Buffalo in New York. In that study, researchers found that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can increase craving in individuals dependent on alcohol and other drugs.
— “Sexual Abuse Linked to Illegal Drug Use,” Join Together Online, 8 Jan 2002, at http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/summaries/reader/0,1854,547540,00.html.

^xi Men are much more likely to vent their anger, engage in anti-homosexual behaviour, and become sex abusers themselves. Women are more likely to turn their anger against themselves, and continue to be victimized in their adult relationships.
— “What kinds of questions do sexual abuse survivors ask their counsellors?” Health Canada, at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/familyviolence/males/english/questions.htm.

^xii Reports…found sexually exploited and abused children often suffer mental problems such as depression, suicidal tendencies and substance abuse.
— “Asia’s child sex victims ignored,” BBC News, 15 Sep 2000.

^xiii [On 16 April 2002,] in a 6-3 majority opinion, the [U.S. Supreme Court] ruled in the case of Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, that the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (CPPA)^* violates the First Amendment rights of free-speech.… Justices Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer and Thomas joined Justice Kennedy in the majority decision. Chief Justice Rehnquist, along with Justices Scalia and O’Conner wrote opinions dissenting with all or part of the majority opinion.
— “High Court Strikes Child Porn Law; Law violates freedom of speech, says the 6-3 majority,” About.com, 16 April 2002.

^* [Attorney General John] Ashcroft, then a senator from Missouri, was among the lawmakers who pressed for the passage of the Child Pornography Prevention Act in 1996. It broadened the definition of child pornography to include any “visual depiction that is, or appears to be, a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.” Moreover, visual depiction was redefined to include a “computer-generated image or picture.”
— David G. Savage (http://www.fact.on.ca/news/news0208/lt020816.htmLos Angeles Times), “High court rejects rule on ‘virtual’ child porn,” The Seattle Times, 17 April 2002.

^xiv Joining [Attorney General John] Ashcroft at a news conference, Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., said the Supreme Court is “siding with pedophiles over children.” House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said the ruling was “a huge disappointment to everyone working to protect children.”
— Eric Lichtblau (Los Angeles Times), “Child-porn ruling hit with new bill, anger,” The Seattle Times, 2 May 2002; For commentary see “Free Speech Or Child Porn? Understanding The Ruling,” All About Sex, at http://www.allaboutsex.org/CPPA_Ruling_Explained.html.

^xv [The Child Obscenity and Pornography Prevention Act of 2002] was approved by the House in June [2002].^*
— Madigan, “Tougher Child Porn Laws.”

^* Despite efforts by senior members of both the House and Senate to crack down on Internet child pornography, two proposed bills, [the Child Obscenity and Pornography Prevention Act and the Prosecutorial Remedies and Tools Against the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2002 (PROTECT),^†] failed to become law [in 2002].
— Michelle Madigan (Medill News Service), “Feds Fail to Pass Child Porn Laws; Despite vows to crack down, legislators couldn't agree on the definition of virtual child pornography,” PC World.com, 27 Nov 2002.

^† The Prosecutorial Remedies and Tools Against the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2002 — the PROTECT Act — aims to narrow “the definition of virtual child porn by requiring consideration of the artistic, literacy, or educational value of the work as a whole,” [Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), chairman of the Judiciary Committee,] said.
— Michelle Madigan (Medill News Service), “Tougher Child Porn Laws Proposed,” Yahoo! News, 2 Oct 2002.

^xvi John Carr, of the Children’s Charities’ Coalition for Internet Safety, said research showed that one in three people caught in possession of child porn turned out to be an active abuser.
— “Operation Ore,...Netting the Perverts!” Survivors Swindon, at http://www.survivorsswindon.com/ore.htm.

^xvii [In 1973] there appeared a report of the “Denmark experiment”; Denmark completely legalized pornography, and the result seemed to be a reduction in sex crimes, notably child molestation [Berl Kutchinsky, “The effect of easy availability of pornography on the incidence of sex crimes: the Danish experience,” Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 1973, 29, 163-181].
— Janet Shibley Hyde, Understanding Human Sexuality, 4th Ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill Publ. Co., 1990), p. 511.

^xviii Organizations dedicated to the social acceptance of sex with children are not new, yet have had a large upstart in membership since the early 1970’s (Charon, 1979).^*
— “Pedophilia: Causes and Typologies,” 123Student.com, at http://www.123student.com/law/2502.shtml.

^* Until the early 1970's child sexual abuse was thought to be rare, and centered among the poor.
— Susan K. Flynn, “Child Sexual Abuse II: A Risk Factor for HIV/STDs and Teen Pregnancy,” Advocates For Youth, Jan 1995, at http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/factsheet/fsabuse2.htm.

^xix United Mothers (SOC-UM) documented 17,000 Web sites on the Internet devoted to child pornography and pedophilia. By May 14, 1999, the number had jumped to 21,317, an increase of more than 4,300 sites — more than 25 percent in less than four months.
— State of New Jersey and the Attorney General of New Jersey, “Computer Crime: A Joint Report,” June 2000, at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/secpubs/computer.pdf.

^xx Peer-to-peer networks (P2P) are serving as virtual libraries of child pornography according to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report introduced…at a House Committee on Government Reform hearing.
— Roy Mark, “P2P: Virtual Libraries for Pedophiles?” dc.internet.com, 13 March 2003.

^xxi There are two types of memory frequently experienced by individuals who have had overwhelming trauma that has been suppressed psychologically or chemically. The first is a general memory, experienced as an adult, in which there is a natural recall of early events. The other is the memory that is often associated with post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS). The person suddenly smells, sees and feels as though he or she is actually living the event that took place months or years earlier.
— Cheryl and Lynn Hersh with Dale Griffis, Ph.D. and Ted Schwarz, Secret Weapons: Two Sisters’ Terrifying True Story of Sex, Spies and Sabotage (Far Hills, NJ: New Horizon Press, 2001), pp. 285-286.

^xxii In 1949, at the Edgewood Arsenal the CIA began project Bluebird using Nazi scientists to find a truth serum. Project Bluebird evolved into Project Artichoke and eventually into MK-Ultra. MK-UTRA [sic] was much larger in focusing on mind control and the means to achieve it was not limited to drugs and psychedelics. MK-ULTRA experiments includ[ed] using…hypnosis, lobotomy, electroshock, sensory deprivation, ESP, drugs and sexual abuse. Ironically, the CIA’s first widespread use of sex came from a program to blackmail United States politicians conducted by Edwin Wilson. The political targets were enticed to live out their sexual fantasies in the flesh. With hidden cameras ready the unsuspecting politician would be filmed, which would later be used to blackmail him into supporting the agency’s projects and views. Wilson’s skill in these matters dated back to the early 1950s, when he took over a network of homosexual and pedophile rings from [mafia lawyer,] CIA asset and McCarthy Committee counsel Roy Cohn.
— gdy, “George Bush, The CIA, Mind Control & Child Abuse,” chile.indymedia.org, 22 May 2003, at http://chile.indymedia.org/news/2003/05/3264.php.

^xxiii People who are unwilling to assume responsibility because of an inability to function and to make decisions independently show dependent personality disorder. These people lack self confidence, and they subordinate their needs to those of the people on whom they depend. Nevertheless, their dependency and inability to make decisions may go unrecognized or may be misinterpreted by casual observers. For example, a dependent personality may allow his or her spouse to be dominant or abusive for fear that the spouse will otherwise leave.
— David Sue, Derald Sue, & Stanley Sue, Understanding Abnormal Behavior, 4th ed. (Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1994), pp. 263-264.

^xxiv A social phobia is an intense, excessive fear of being scrutinized in one or more social situations. There is no fear when the person engages in any of these activities in private.
— Ibidem, p. 173.

^xxv Impulse control disorders share three characteristics. First, such people fail to resist an impulse or temptation to perform some act. People with the disorder know that the act is considered wrong by society or is harmful to them. The impulse may or may not be consciously resisted, and its performance may or may not be premeditated. Second, tension or arousal is experienced before the act. Third, after committing the act, a sense of excitement, gratification, or release is felt.
— Ibidem, p. 277.

^xxvi The essential feature of avoidant personality disorder is a hypersensitivity to potential rejection, humiliation, and shame. Persons with avoidant personality disorder tend to have low self-esteem and are reluctant to enter social relationships without a guarantee of uncritical acceptance by others.
— Ibidem, p. 263.

Endnotes

¹ Mic Hunter, Abused Boys: The Neglected Victims of Sexual Abuse (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1990), p. 25.

² Karen Thomas, “Keeping kids safe, and yet open,” USAToday, 8 July 2002.

³ End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT-USA), “What You Should Know About Sex Tourism,” at http://www.dreamwater.net/ecpatusa/sextour.html.

⁴ “Freud’s legacy; work on ‘premature sexual experience’ led to the study of child sexual abuse,” CQ Researcher, 15 Jan 1993, 3(2), p. 34(2).

⁵ Sarah Skidmore, “Back to school: Parents urged to discuss sex, safety,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 19 Aug 1999.

⁶ Vanessa Ho, “Child molesters often know victims,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 22 Oct 1997, 134(253), p. B4.

⁷ Raymond Hernandez, “Children’s Sexual Exploitation Underestimated, Study Finds, The New York Times, 10 Sep 2001; See also Raymond Hernandez (The New York Times), “Child sex exploitation found to be widespread,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 10 Sep 2001, 138(215), p. A1.

⁸ “Police Experts Meet on Internet Child Porn,” Reuters, 22 Oct 2002.

⁹ Dr. N. Faulkner, “Sexual Abuse Statistics,” PANdora’s Box, at http://www.prevent-abuse-now.com/stats2.htm.

¹⁰ Janet Kornblum, “Calls to sex abuse hotlines increase after scandal,” USA Today, 19 June 2002.

¹¹ Claude Lewis, “Parents teach their children not to trust priest, police, teachers any longer,” Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, 6 Oct 1993.

¹² Kenneth Pringle (APBnews.com), “Ruling defines limits of online sex stings,” Yahoo! News, 29 June 2000.

¹³ “The Web of Evil,” Sunday Mirror, 2001.

¹⁴ “An Avalanche of Child Porn; Investigators Use Subscription List to Track Down Pedophiles,” ABC News.com, 14 Nov 2001.

¹⁵ Balz Bruppacher (The Associated Press), “Swiss make Internet child pornography sweep,” Yahoo! News, 24 Sep 2002; See also “Swiss police crack down on child porn ring,” Reuters, 24 Sep 2002.

¹⁶ Col. Ronald D. Ray, “Knox v. The United States: Legal Update,” First Principles Press, at http://www.firstprinciplespress.org/pages/Knoxupdate.htm; See also Walter H. Schneider, “Child porn must remain taboo,” at http://forever.freeshell.org/chldporn1.htm.

¹⁷ Reverend Louis P. Sheldon, Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition, “Victims Of Pornography Describe Trauma Of Sexual Abuse,” at http://www.shalomjerusalem.com/culture/culture25.htm.

¹⁸ “Focus on the Family Newsletter, January 1994” at http://home.southwind.net/~jeremiah/clint_fam2.html.

¹⁹ Gregory J. Rummo, “It’s Time Clinton Lived Up to His Pro-kid Rhetoric,” 14 Feb 1994, at http://www.geocities.com/gregoryjrummo/clintonprokid.htm.

²⁰ William Norman Grigg, “Janet Reno and the Nanny State,” The New American, 9(15), 26 July 1993.

²¹ Maura Dolan, “Not Only Men Are Molesters,” Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug 2002, at Fathers Are Capable Too (F.A.C.T.), http://www.fact.on.ca/news/news0208/lt020816.htm.

²² “Sex and Priestly Integrity (III),” CBCP News Online.

²³ Dolan, “Not Only Men.”

²⁴ John Edgar Hoover, “How safe is your youngster?” in Cy Rice, Children in Danger: The Molesters (Los Angeles: Holloway House, 1967), p. 33.

²⁵ Dr. Steven J. Rossetti, Slayer of the Soul: Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church (Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publ. 1990, 1994), p. 3.

²⁶ Dr. N. Faulkner, “Sexual Abuse Statistics,” PANdora’s Box, at http://www.prevent-abuse-now.com/stats.htm.

²⁷ Thomas C. Fox, “Sex and power issues expand clergy-lay rift,” National Catholic Reporter, 13 Nov 1992, Pages 17 to 19, at http://www.religioustolerance.org/clergy_sex6.htm.

²⁸ Tom Economus, “Catholic Pedophile Priests: The Effect on U.S. Society,” at http://www.thelinkup.com/stats.html.

²⁹ Cathy Lynn Grossman, “Catholics critical of church’s response; Survey: 1 in 11 know of sex abuse by priest,” USA Today, 21 March 2002, p. 1A.

³⁰ William Lobdell, “Vatican Aware of Abuse for Centuries, Study Says; Authors use church’s own documents to make their case. Critics say money is the motive,” Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2004, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/psnews/message/1408.

³¹ Philip Willan, “Pope condemns ‘grievous evil’ of paedophile priests,” Guardian Unlimited, 22 March 2002.

³² The Associated Press, “Lawsuits, criminal prosecutions combine to take legal matters out of church’s long-trusted hands,” Boston Herald.com, 26 May 2002.

³³ Edith M. Lederer (The Associated Press), “Child sex trade grows, U.N. reports: Internet, better transportation broaden abuse worldwide,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 13 Dec 2001, 138(296), p. A4.

³⁴ Evelyn Leopold (Reuters), “Violence against women becoming global epidemic–UN,” Yahoo! News, 1 June 2000.

³⁵ Reuters, “Experts say child sex abuse spreading in Latin America,” CubaNet News, 19 March 1997.

³⁶ Tenna M. Perry, “Sexual Abuse, Depression, Eating And Hygiene,” Suite101.com, 22 Jan 2001.

³⁷ Bruce Harris (Regional Director, Casa Alianza in Latin America), “On the Situation of Sexual Exploitation of Minors in Costa Rica,” Presentation to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Washington, 10 Oct 2000, at http://www.casa-alianza.org/EN/human-rights/sexual-exploit/docs/1010presentacion.shtml.

³⁸ Andy Sullivan, “House OKs Rewritten Internet Child-Porn Ban,” Yahoo! News, 25 June 2002.

³⁹ Margaret A Healy, “Child pornography: an international perspective,” World Congress Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, 27-31 Aug 1996, at http://www.usis.usemb.se/children/csec/child_pornography.html.

⁴⁰ Michael A. Lev (Chicago Tribune), Increasingly, young girls are sex objects in Japan, The Seattle Times, 16 Feb 1997, 15(8), p. A16.

⁴¹ Doug Struck, “Image-Conscious Japan Targets Child Sex Trade,” Washington Post, 27 Jan 2000.

⁴² “Japan sets sights on online child porn,” BBC News, 19 April 2002.

⁴³ “89 charged, some clergy, in Web child-porn ring,” The Seattle Times, 19 March 2002, 124(67), p. A5.

⁴⁴ Terry McCarthy, “Tracking Kiddie Porn,” Time, 19 Aug 2002, 160(8), p. 17.

⁴⁵ Reuters, “U.S. Customs Cracks Parental Pedophile Ring,” The New York Times, 9 Aug 2002.

⁴⁶ “Brief Overview of Pedophiles on the Web,” PANdora’s Box, at http://www.prevent-abuse-now.com/pedoweb.htm.

⁴⁷ “Internet blamed for child sex trade,” BBC News, 17 Dec 2001.

⁴⁸ Craig v. U.S., cited in Art Bender, “You don’t have to be paranoid to suspect right-wing conspiracy,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1 April 1998, 135(78), p. A11.

⁴⁹ Rod Nordland and Jeffrey Bartholet, “The Web’s Dark Secret,” Newsweek, 19 March 2001, at http://members.iquest.net/~dkoons/Newsweek.html.

⁵⁰ Barbara E. Bogorad, Psy.D, A.B.P.P., “Sexual Abuse: Surviving the Pain,” The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, 1998, at http://www.aaets.org/arts/art31.htm.

⁵¹ Carol Mandi, “We must act to protect children from sexual abuse,” Lifestyle Magazine, 14 Dec 2003.

⁵² Shelley Campbell (Founder, Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Support Group), “Letter- Looking Through The Eyes Of A Survivor,” Western Wheel, 2 Dec 1998.

⁵³ Richard Luscombe, “Children face sex risk at US schools,” Guardian Unlimited, 18 July 2004.

⁵⁴ “DID/Trauma/Memory Reference List: Amnesia In Childhood Sexual Abuse Victims,” Sidran Institute, at http://www.sidran.org/refs/ref3.html.

⁵⁵ Jim Hopper, Ph.D., “Recovered Memories of Sexual Abuse: Scientific Research & Scholarly Resources,” 18 Nov 2003, at http://www.jimhopper.com/memory/.

⁵⁶ Alan M. Dershowitz (Professor of Law, Harvard Law School), “Sex abuse: the child as witness” (30 Oct 1984), Taking Liberties: A Decade of Hard Cases, Bad Laws, and Bum Raps (Illinois: Contemporary Books, Inc., 1988), p. 52.

⁵⁷ David Sue, Derald Sue, & Stanley Sue, Understanding Abnormal Behavior, 4th ed. (Mass: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1994), p. 201.

⁵⁸ Leslie Bennetts, “Nightmares on Main Street; adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse and satanic cults,” Vanity Fair, June 1993, 56(6), p. 42(9).

⁵⁹ Paul McCarthy, “UFO update: are UFO researchers using hypnosis to manufacture memories in abductees?” Omni, Nov 1994, 17(2), p. 85.

⁶⁰ “Messing with Our Minds: With links to CIA mind control experts and accused child abusers, the false memory movement turns ‘blaming the victim’ into a science,” Toward Freedom, May 1998, at http://towardfreedom.com/may98/messing.htm; See also McGowen, “Uncle Sam;” “The Pedophocracy, Part III: Uncle Sam Wants Your Children,” Toward Freedom, May 1998, at http://davesweb.cnchost.com/pedo3.html.

⁶¹ “FBI Selects LTU Technologies For Image-based Investigation,” 26 April 2004, at http://www.ltutech.com/News_press_releases_FBI.htm.

⁶² Andrew M. Greenley, “How serious is the problem of sexual abuse by clergy?,” America, 20 March 1993, 168(10), p. 6(5).

⁶³ Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association, “Adolescents as victims of family violence,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 20 Oct 1993, 270(15).

⁶⁴ Sue, Sue & Sue, Understanding Abnormal Behavior, p. 329.

⁶⁵ Ibidem, p. 330.

⁶⁶ Ibidem, p. 328.

⁶⁷ Ibidem, p. 329.

⁶⁸ Greenley, “How serious is the problem.”

submitted to postsecret.blogspot.com from Washington DC

"Anastasia and The Ghostly Owl (The Choice Was Hers!)" is a story is about hope, overcoming obstacles, and making choices in the face of adversity. More concretely, it is about child abuse and how the protagonist, a young girl named Anastasia, comes to terms with it. This is the only book that is available which does not describe the horrific details of verbal, physical, or sexual abuse. If you are looking for a book that doesn't do this, then "Anastasia and The Ghostly Owl (The Choice Was Hers!) " is the book for you!

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