Leading local authorities in the field of psychology have dismissed claims of a link between homosexuality and child abuse by a Christian lobby group as misleading, homophobic, and containing inferences of poor scientific methodology. The Society for the Promotion of Community Standards (SPCS) issued a press release last Friday entitled The Link Between Homosexuality And Child Abuse, which reprinted claims made by Australian fundamentalist group Festival of Light that stated homosexuals had a “well-documented” greater risk of being paedophiles, claims which psychological authorities say are completely at odds with the body of genuine scientific literature. "The press release by the fundamentalist religious group is, unsurprisingly, quite misleading and perpetuates a longstanding stereotype used for decades to vilify gays,” says John Read, senior lecturer in psychology at Auckland University. “It makes the assumption that men who sexually abuse boys are gay. In fact, many men who sexually abuse children will abuse both boys and girls. Availability, not gender, is the criteria used by men to select who they will abuse. The abuse of children is not about heterosexuality or homosexuality, it is about the sexual exploitation of children by adults in general.” The New Zealand Psychological Society, this country's premier association of psychologists, yesterday responded with a detailed rebuttal of the SPCS claims (contributed to by six expert advisers and consultants), noting that minority groups are often stereotyped in this manner, which strengthens existing prejudice and can, in extreme cases, lead to hate crimes. “The [SPCS] media release cites research and makes inferences of poor scientific methodology,” says Keriata Paterson, president of the New Zealand Psychological Society. “[The use of research] is misleading in an apparent effort to support a socio-theological (homophobic) bias. While perhaps seeming logical to a lay-person lacking in statistical and research knowledge, many of the inferences taken are not logically justifiable.” The SPCS release also claimed that lesbians may be over-represented in child abuse statistics, to which Paterson responded that there is “practically no reportage of sexual molestation of girls by lesbian adults”.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 23rd September 2004 - 12:00pm