History of child abuse

[TonyGosling]

Child sex abuse is not just a western phenomenon. You will find it in many countries and cultures all over the world perpetrated by those who profess to adhere to all sorts of belief systems and throughout the centuries. Social studies of this phenomenon tends to point to those who have been abused themselves to be more likely to become the perpetrators, though not all children who have been abused will go on to do so. Factors in society that tend to induce child sex abuse and for that matter, rape of women (and men) are those societies where there is a tendency to view the 'other' as an object, usually where sexual objectification, discrimination and disempowerment of women (and certain men) and children is combined with the idea that it is ok to dominate or have power over another human being.
In Polynesians societies before the arrival of europeans, rape and child abuse never occurred. Also rape was a foreign concept amongst the Forest people re M.Turnbull. In cultures such as these, people were taught to be helpful and respectful of others, and to be willing to help ones neighbour. These cultures also had very little conflict with outsiders and rarely knew or experienced war.
Also Ashley Montague studied what made some societies peaceful and others war-like. The staus of women was one of the important factors.

anon