[M]en charged with Internet child pornography offenses and those who commit hands-on child sex offenses are, in many cases, one and the same.
"There is this assumption—in the treatment context, in courtrooms, in investigative circles and in the assessment literature—that these are dichotomous groups," says [Michael] Bourke, Chief Psychologist of the U.S. Marshals Service, who conducted the research with [Andres] Hernandez between 2002 to 2005 at the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, N.C. "However, in the course of treatment, these men would disclose to us that their use of the Internet was not the limit of their sexual acting out—it was in fact an adjunctive behavior."
.
There is a major difference between 'porn use' and 'possessing child pornography'. To suggest that there is a correlation between porn in general and child molestation is taking the results of this single report far beyond what it actually applied to.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that always seems to need to be repeated is that correlation is not causation. There's nothing in these findings that in anyway suggests or legitimizes the assumption that access to adult materials in libraries will lead to child molestation.
I agree with the brave soul who calls himself "Anonymous." Corelation is no more tied to causation than snow is to cold, jalepeno peppers are to indigestion, and beer is to alcoholism. Each may exist independent of the other. On the other hand, if "Anonymnous" would spend some time reading the literature rather than bloviating (me thinks my lady doth too much protest), he'd see there is a substantive and measurable connection between porn use and child molestation. Certainly, not all porn users molest children, but 90% plus of child molesters use porn. Dr. John S.
ReplyDeleteShe, actually, thank you. And I wasn't posting anonymously for any reason other than that I was at work, and I don't log into any of my personal accounts while at work.
ReplyDeleteBut please, do continue with the assumptions, they are quite entertaining! I will also point out that on the net, a "Dr. John S." with an unavailable profile is no less anonymous than a simple 'Anonymous' byline.
I enjoy your hand picked examples of correlation and causation. I can hand pick too! 100% of serial killers have been known to frequently use dihydrogen monoxide! Someone must stop the dihydrogen monoxide menace!
I will freely agree that most child molesters have used porn. I will append to that the simple addition that most people have used porn, especially depending on what the definition of 'used' is (on the safelibraries statistics page, the stated 'have viewed internet pornography' is >70%). Is it just having read a copy of Playboy in the last year, or is it a frequent, addiction level activity? And what is the definition of 'porn'? Is it Playboy, or is it as was in the study referenced up above, actual child pornography? These things actually do matter.
Correlation could also make a good argument that the increase in access to pornography has actually decreased incidence of rape. For an interesting take on it (from a group that is by no means pro porn in general) check out this article.
http://feministlookingglass.com/2009/07/04/does-more-porn-mean-less-rape/
But I'm not going to say that this correlation means porn stops rape. I just think it's an interesting set of numbers. I have read an awful lot of literature, but I have yet to see any non-biased, peer-reviewed research that shows a clear cut causal relationship between mainstream porn and sexual violence and/or child molestation.
Notwithstanding the details and circumstances of this actual report, there is plenty of research over the decades about the conditioning of the mind towards certain attitudes, beliefs and habits. Allowing the sexualization of the child through children's literature conditions the mind into a focus on their hedonistic desires rather than a focus on higher order and self discipline. Conditioning them as children will lead to more users of porn as adults, and from their it will be a simple statistical correlation: increased porn use, increased negative consequences from porn use.
ReplyDelete