The Politics of Child Sexual Abuse: Emotion, Social Movements, and the State

273 Pages·2009·0.99 MB·English

by  Nancy Whittier

The Politics of Child Sexual Abuse
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THE POLITICS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
Emotion, Social Movements, and the State
Nancy Whittier
1
2009
3
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Whittier,Nancy,1966
Thepoliticsofchildsexualabuse:emotions,socialmovements,and
thestate/NancyWhittier.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-19-532510-2
1. Childsexualabuse. 2. Childsexualabuse Governmentpolicy.
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HV6570.W552009
362.76 dc222008053887
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ForSallyA.Kennedy
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Acknowledgments
I am grateful for the communities of scholars, students, and activists who
have provided feedback and a sounding board as I have worked on this
research. My students at Smith College have been a source of inspiration;
their questions and comments have enriched my thinking about gender,
sexuality, social movements, and politics. My friends and colleagues
atSmithandelsewherehaveshapedmyanalysisthroughcountlessconver-
sations about this project and the conceptual and political issues it raises.
The activists whom I interviewed for this book gave generously of their
time and insight and shared their recollections and impressions freely.
Their courage and persistence are inspiring, and I am grateful that writing
thisbookallowedmetogettoknowthem.
Ihavebeenfortunatetohavemanyexcellentstudentresearchassistants
at Smith. Allyson Mount did the initial literature sources, searched the
archivesforearlyfeministdocuments,transcribedinterviews,andprovided
many useful comments and suggestions. Carolyn Gillis transcribed many
interviews;MegChiltoncollecteddataonfederallegislation;LauraBraun-
steinassistedwithcodingorganizationaldocuments;andMegNicolllocated
informationonfederalgrants.MorganLynncollectedandsortedadaunting
amountofdataonstateandfederallegislation,andwasafantasticsounding
board;she alsoreadandcommentedonpartsofthe manuscript.Adrienne
Mathews intrepidly sought answers to my diverse queries on everything
frompublicpolicytomediacoveragetomovementhistory.Smith’sCommit-
tee on Faculty Compensation and Development provided the funding for
viii Acknowledgments
theseassistants.AlsoatSmith,referencelibrarianSikaBergerwasahelpful
resource for my research assistants and for me, as were the reference staff
in the Sophia Smith Collection. The student activists in Smith’s SAFE
(SurvivorsandFriendsforEducation)andAWARE(ActivistWomenAdvo-
catingRapeEducation)wereaninspiration.
Martha Ackelsberg, Francesca Cancian, Rick Fantasia, Sally Kennedy,
MorganLynn,RobinMaltz,GregManey,JoReger,KimVoss,KateWeigand,
andparticipantsintheSmithCollegeKahnInstituteforLiberalArtsproject
on “From Local to Global: Community Activism in the New Millennium”
commented on parts of the manuscript or related papers. Donna Jenson
helped me talk through several thorny issues. Elaine Westerlund, Kathy
Morrissey,andMaggieJochildgenerouslyprovidedaccesstotheirpersonal
archives. Tricia Bruce provided useful information about clergy abuse.
ThecoverimageisfromaquiltmadebyMichelleHarris,FrancesGrossman,
K.L., Kathy Morrissey, and Elaine Westerlund. I am grateful to them for
allowing me to reproduce it. Several hardy souls read and commented on
the whole thing in its much-longer original form: Leila Rupp, Ross Cheit,
Janice Irvine, Debra Minkoff, and several anonymous reviewers for OUP.
JamesCook,myeditoratOUP,hadmanyusefulcommentsandsuggestions.
Iamgratefulforthesecomments,andthebookisbetterasaresult.Writing
aboutchildsexualabusecanbedifficultanddepressing,andIamespecially
gratefultoJoRegerforhersupportthroughouttheresearchandwriting.
This projecthas beenwithmethroughthe birthandearly childhoodof
threechildren,myownhealthproblemsandthoseoffamilymembers,one
majormove,twotermsasChairofmydepartment,threecomputers,numer-
oussmallerwritingprojects,andmanyotherdisruptionsmajorandminor.It
might have been done more quickly without all of these, but it would
probably not have been done as well, and I certainly would have enjoyed
thedoingless.Iparticularlyappreciatemypartner,KateWeigand,myoldest
son,Jonah,whowastwowhenIbegantheresearch,andmytwins,Evaand
Isaac,whowereborninthemidstofit.Thankyouforthedistractionandthe
support.
This book is dedicated to my late mother, Sally A. Kennedy. While she
didnotlivetoseeitpublished,herinfluenceisoneverypage,inmyattempt
towritepreciselyandtounderstandthecomplexitiesofhumaninteraction.
Contents
Acronyms xi
Introduction 3
1 FromRarePerversiontoPatriarchalCrime:Feminist
ChallengestoKnowledgeaboutIncestinthe1970s 21
2 ThePoliticsofthe“TherapeuticTurn”:Self-Helpand
InternalizedOppression 40
3 SocialServices,SocialControl,andSocialChange:
TheStateandPublicPolicyinthe1970sand1980s 70
4 GoingMainstream:Self-HelpActivismDuringthe1980s 95
5 DiffusionandDilution:MassCultureDiscoversChild
SexualAbuse 111
6 TurningTides:CountermovementOrganizing,
“FalseMemorySyndrome,”andtheStruggleover
ScientificKnowledge 133