NCJ Number
150681
Journal
Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: (1994) Pages: 103-126
Date Published
1994
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This analysis used newspaper reports to examine two epidemics of child sexual abuse reporting, one occurring in Cleveland, England, in 1987 and the other in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands, in 1988.
Abstract
The moral panic induced by these two cases is examined in terms of the impact on social workers, pediatricians, and police officers. The analysis found a striking similarity between the two countries' media reports, which were nearly unanimous in their condemnation of intervention from the judiciary and professionals and unconditionally accepting of the parents' position. Public debate in these instances concentrated on the method of diagnosis. The authors refer to Hall's thesis on the role of the mass media in orchestrating public opinion on moral issues. Hall also uses the concept of the folk devil to explain the psychological need of the public to discover or identify a guilty party. To incorporate the dimension of the power differential in gender relations, this analysis assimilates feminist analysis of the incest situation and develops an approach that considers the unequal power balances within the family as an outgrowth of inequality between the sexes in society at large. 15 references