Presenting the 31 to 47 sub-title sections out of the total of 81; PEDOPHILIA CRIMINAL OFFENCE BUILT ON MORALLY BANKRUPT WESTERN PSEDOSCEINCES.
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VI. 20th Century Criminalization and Decriminalization
DSM & ICD Classification and Legislations
Changing Goal-Post of Human Sexual Behaviours
31. DSM & ICD CLASSIFICATION DURING 20TH CENTURY
Throughout the human history, the classification and criminalization of sexual behaviours have undergone profound transformations, reflecting shifting societal values, power dynamics, and scientific paradigms. From the early 20th century, when adultery, prostitution, and homosexuality were universally condemned as immoral and perverse, to the modern era’s emphasis on consent as the supreme arbiter of sexual ethics, the boundaries of deviance have been fundamentally redrawn its goal-posts specially in the 20th century. This section explores these major changes, focusing on the roles of psychiatric classification systems like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). These legal frameworks of sexual crime category, catering to feminist ideology and media sensationalism. While the liberalization of sexual norms has expanded personal freedom basically for women, it has simultaneously created new categories of criminality, most notably pedophilia, revealing a paradoxical and often arbitrary approach to sexual morality.
32. SCIENTIFIC LEGITIMACY FOR CRIMINALIZATION OF SEXUAL DEVIANCES BY MEDICAL AND LEGAL ESTABLISHMENTS IN EARLY 20TH CENTURY
Until the first half of 20th century of human history, sexual behaviours such as adultery, prostitution, and homosexuality were not merely sins but were punishable offenses, branded as threats to societal well-being. The newly emerging DSM and ICD medical classifications in this period formalized this age old condemnation by medicalizing these acts as psychiatric disorders. In DSM-I (1952) and DSM-II (1968), homosexuality was explicitly listed as a "sexual deviation," while prostitution fell under "sociopathic personality disturbance," and adultery was implicitly tied to impulse control issues. (Notably, at this same period, pedophilia started appearing in these manuals list of sexual deviances.) These classifications reflected the era’s moral biases rather than empirical evidence, reinforcing legal and social stigmatization. By framing non-normative sexual behaviours as pathological, psychiatry lent scientific to punitive laws, embedding societal prejudices into diagnostic criteria.
33. THE LATE 20TH CENTURY: DECLASSIFICATION, DECRIMINALIZATION, WITH NEW BOUNDARIES
In the latter half of the 20th century, psychiatric science embraced a transformative shift toward evidence-based understanding, dismantling outdated moral biases. A defining moment arrived in 1973 when the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the DSM-III, a decision reinforced by the National Institute of Mental Health’s earlier research debunking it as a disorder. The World Health Organization followed suit in 1992, striking it from the ICD-10, affirming that sexual orientation and consensual behaviours were not inherently pathological unless they caused distress or dysfunction. This reclassification wasn’t merely scientific—it ignited a global revolution. By stripping away psychiatry’s role in stigmatizing diversity, it propelled decriminalization efforts, as seen in the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s 1994 to push for legal reforms. These changes aligned justice systems with human rights, proving evidence, not prejudice, should define deviance. True disorders harm individuals or society but at the same time, personal differences, like orientation, merit acceptance. This era, blending science and compassion, redrew boundaries, changing its goal posts and reshaped our view of humanity itself.
Paradoxically however, meanwhile during the late 20th century, Western nations became busy in turning the earlier non offending consensual sexual relations between adolescent-adult into a pedophilia offence redefining it as inherently harmful, driven by moral panic and protective ideologies. Laws in the U.S., U.K., and Europe increasingly targeted adult-minor sex. In the 21st century, focus shifted to online exploitation, expanding legal definitions to include grooming and internet-related adolescent contents as a heinous sexual offence alongside redefining it as inherently harmful, driven by moral outrage with bigoted ideologies. Laws in the U.S., U.K., and Europe increasingly targeted adult-minor sex. In the 21st century, focus shifted to online exploitation, expanding legal definitions to include grooming and internet-related offenses.
34. DETAILS OF DSM AND ICD CLASSIFICATION OF ADULTRY PROSTITUTION AND HOMOSEXUALITY IN FIRST HALF OF 20TH CENTURY
The pre-DSM classifications and early ICD editions reflected prevailing social and moral attitudes, influencing how certain behaviours were categorized. Before DSM-I (1952), systems like the Statistical Manual for the Use of Institutions for the Insane (1917) and Armed Forces' classifications framed adultery and prostitution as moral failings or "psychopathic personality." Homosexuality was viewed as "sexual inversion" or a disorder, influenced by Krafft-Ebing (1886) and Freud (early 1900s), and was generally considered a mental illness by the American psychiatric community by the 1930s and 1940s. Prostitution was often linked to "moral insanity" or psychopathy, especially in women, while adultery was associated with "sexual promiscuity" and sociopathic tendencies. Early ICD editions (ICD-1 to ICD-5, 1900–1949) similarly categorized moral or behavioural deviance as signs of underlying mental disorders.
Specifically, ICD-1 and ICD-2 saw homosexuality as "mental degeneracy," while ICD-3 and ICD-4 classified it under "Psychopathic Personality Disorders," and ICD-5 listed it as a "sexual deviation." "Sexual promiscuity," encompassing prostitution and adultery, was often categorized under psychopathy, hysteria, or personality disorders. Women involved in prostitution were frequently diagnosed with "moral insanity" or "nymphomania." Key observations reveal that homosexuality was consistently considered a mental disorder in both early DSM and ICD, often tied to degeneracy or psychopathy. Prostitution and adultery, though not separate diagnoses, were associated with personality disorders, hysteria, or moral insanity, particularly for women. The psychiatric field, therefore, mirrored the dominant social and moral perspectives of the time.
35. US AND EUROPEAN LAWS THAT CRIMINALIZED ADULTERY, PROSTITUTION AND HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY
In the United States, adultery was criminalized under state-level morality laws, with the Model Penal Code (drafted 1955, influencing earlier laws) reflecting harsh penalties rooted in religious and moral grounds. Prostitution was targeted by the Mann Act (1910), also known as the "White Slave Traffic Act," which criminalized the movement of women and children across state (branded as trafficking) lines for "immoral purposes," and by state-level statutes that punished both sex workers and clients. The New York Tenement House Act (1901) specifically aimed at brothels in residential buildings. Homosexuality was universally criminalized through state-level sodomy laws (19th–20th century), the Immigration Act of 1917, which prohibited "homosexuals" from entering the U.S., and Sexual Psychopath Laws (1940s-1950s), which allowed for indefinite detention of individuals deemed sexual deviants.
In Europe, adultery was a criminal offense in France (Napoleonic Code, 1810) and Italy (Rocco Code, 1930), with harsher penalties for women. Germany (1353 BGB, Civil Code, 1900s) recognized adultery as grounds for severe legal consequences. Prostitution was criminalized in the United Kingdom through the Vagrancy Act (1824) and the Criminal Law Amendment Act (1885), and regulated in Germany through Prussian Law in the 1900s. France, through the Loi Marthe Richard (1946), closed legal brothels. Homosexuality was criminalized in the United Kingdom by the Labouchere Amendment (1885), in Germany by Paragraph 175 (1871–1969), and in France by Vichy Laws (1942). Though not explicitly criminalized, homosexuality was repressed in Italy under Fascist Laws (1920s–1930s). These laws reflected a pattern of criminalizing behaviours deemed immoral, with varying degrees of enforcement and gender-based disparities.
36. DE-CLASSIFICATION OF ADULTERY PROSTITUTION AND HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE DSM AND ICD CLASSIFICATION.
In the second half of the 20th century, the DSM and ICD underwent significant revisions regarding the classification of adultery, prostitution, and homosexuality. Adultery was never formally classified as a mental disorder in either the DSM or ICD systems, remaining outside the scope of psychiatric diagnoses throughout DSM-I (1952), DSM-II (1968), and DSM-III (1980), as well as ICD-6 (1949) through ICD-9 (1977). Prostitution, initially linked to "sociopathic personality disturbance" and "sexual deviation" in DSM-I (1952), was removed as a mental disorder by DSM-II (1968) and fully absent by DSM-III (1980). Similarly, while ICD-6 (1949) and ICD-7 (1955) connected prostitution to "deviant sexual behaviours," it was declassified by ICD-8 (1965) and ICD-9 (1977). Homosexuality, classified as a "sociopathic personality disturbance" in DSM-I (1952) and a "sexual deviation" in DSM-II (1968), was officially removed as a disorder in a 1973 update to DSM-II, with the "ego-dystonic homosexuality" category introduced in DSM-III (1980) and subsequently removed in DSM-III-R (1987). ICD-9 (1977) still included homosexuality as a disorder, but it was fully removed by ICD-10 (1992).
Since the early 21st century, neither adultery nor prostitution has been classified as a mental disorder in the DSM or the ICD, as later editions never recognized them as such American Psychiatric Association, DSM-5, 2013; World Health Organization, ICD-11, 2019. However, significant legal, social, and psychiatric shifts have taken place. The declassification of homosexuality in both manuals marked a turning point, reflecting evolving societal norms and shifting power dynamics (Drescher, Out of DSM: Depathologizing Homosexuality, 2015). In the legal realm, many jurisdictions have moved toward decriminalizing consensual sexual activities, reinforcing a broader acceptance of diverse sexual orientations and behaviours (Sandfort, Ehrhardt, & Hunter, Sexual Health and Human Rights, 2020). This shift highlights the growing recognition that past classifications were often influenced by moral and ideological biases rather than scientific evidence. These transformations underscore a fundamental departure from earlier pathologizing approaches, advancing a more inclusive, rights-based understanding of human sexuality in medical and legal discourse.
37. DECRIMINALIZATION OF ADULTRY PROSTITUTION AND HOMOSEXUALITY BY THE LAWS
In the United States, the Model Penal Code (1962) recommended decriminalizing adultery, influencing state-level repeals from the 1960s to the 2000s. The Supreme Court decision in Redrup v. New York (1967) contributed to shifting legal attitudes on personal morality laws, indirectly affecting prostitution laws. Nevada legalized licensed brothels in 1971, while other states reduced penalties for sex work from the 1970s to the 1990s. Illinois repealed its sodomy laws in 1961, and the Supreme Court's Lawrence v. Texas (2003) decision decriminalized homosexuality nationwide. The American Psychiatric Association's removal of homosexuality from the DSM in 1973 also influenced legal reforms. In Europe, France (1975), Italy (1968 & 1978), and Germany (1969) decriminalized adultery. The United Kingdom's Street Offences Act (1959) shifted the focus from prostitution to soliciting. Germany (2002) and the Netherlands (2000) legalized prostitution, while France continued decriminalization of individual sex workers. Homosexuality was decriminalized in the UK (1967), Germany (1969 & 1994), France (1982), Italy (1971), and the Netherlands (1971).
38. PEDOPHILIA DEVIANCE CLASSIFICAION IN DSM & ICD BY THE SECOND HALF OF 20TH CENTURY
In the second half of the 20th century, the classification of pedophilia evolved significantly within the DSM and ICD. Early editions like DSM-I (1952) and DSM-II (1968) did not explicitly list pedophilia but included it under the broad category of "Sexual deviation," alongside other non-heteronormative behaviours such as homosexuality and fetishism. DSM-III (1980) marked a shift towards a more clinical approach, defining pedophilia as a specific paraphilia characterized by persistent sexual attraction to prepubescent children. DSM-III-R (1987) refined the diagnostic criteria, requiring that these urges cause distress or interpersonal difficulties. DSM-IV (1994) and DSM-IV-TR (2000) maintained these criteria, emphasizing recurrent, intense sexual urges or fantasies involving prepubescent children, distress or interpersonal problems, and a minimum duration of six months. In contrast, ICD-6 (1949) and ICD-7 (1955) did not distinctly classify pedophilia, while ICD-8 (1965) recognized it as a specific disorder under "Sexual deviations." ICD-9 (1977) classified pedophilia similarly to DSM under 302.2. ICD-10 (1992) categorized it under F65.4, requiring persistent sexual attraction to prepubescent children but not necessarily distress or impairment. These classifications reflect a basic scheme to transition pedophilia from moralistic judgments to clinical narratives, with the DSM emphasizing distress for diagnosis, a requirement that ICD-10 did not share.
In the first quarter of the 21st century, both DSM and ICD continued to refine their classifications of pedophilia. DSM-5 (2013) introduced the term "Pedophilic Disorder," distinguishing between pedophilic interests and the disorder, which is diagnosed only if it causes distress or risk of harm. DSM-5-TR (2022) maintained this definition with minor wording refinements. ICD-11 (2019) also adopted the term "Pedophilic Disorder" (6D32) under "Paraphilic Disorders," aligning with DSM-5 by requiring distress or risk of harm for diagnosis, a departure from ICD-10's criteria. Notably, early DSM and ICD editions grouped pedophilia with other sexual deviations, including homosexuality, which was later removed from these classifications. The shift from moral judgments to clinical definitions marked a significant change in psychiatric perspectives during the second half of the 20th century, with the 21st-century classifications continuing to refine the diagnostic criteria to better distinguish between sexual interests and clinically significant disorders.
39. PEDOPHILIA CRIMINALIZATION LAWS IN WESTERN COUNTRIES IN SECOND HALF OF 20TH CENTURY AND THE FIRST QUARTER OF 21ST CENTURY
The classification of pedophilia as an inherently harmful deviant sexual behaviour corroborated at the same time with criminalization of it under the sexual offence and exploitation laws in the Western countries during the second half of the 20th century. Earlier the United States, federal law criminalized sexual abuse of minors under various statutes, including the Mann Act (1910). It was the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA, 1974) which provided federal funding for prevention programs, leading to stronger laws. In the United Kingdom, the Sexual Offences Act (1956) defined sexual offenses involving children in the Young Persons Act (1963) enhanced protections. France (Code Pénal, 1970; Law on Child Protection, 1989), Germany (Penal Code, 1975), the Netherlands (Penal Code, 1950; 1991 Child Pornography Law), Italy (Criminal Code, 1930; 1975 reform), and Sweden (Penal Code, 1965) also enacted laws criminalizing pedophilia and enhancing child protection. These legal frameworks focused on defining and punishing any kind of sexual of adults with minors, reflecting an increasing moral panic under the patriarchal mission to safeguard and protect women and children in society particularly in the matters of their sexuality.
The first quarter of the 21st century saw a shift towards addressing online exploitation and grooming, with internet-related offenses receiving increased attention. In the United States, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act (2006) enhanced sex offender registration, and the Protect Act (2003) strengthened penalties for child exploitation and trafficking. The United Kingdom (Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act, 2000; Sexual Offences Act, 2003), France (Law on the Protection of Children, 2007; Penal Code, 2011), Germany (Penal Code, 1997 and later reforms; 2002 Law on the Protection of Minors), the Netherlands (Penal Code, 2000 and subsequent reforms; 2009 Law on Child Protection), Italy (Child Protection Law, 2006), and Sweden (Penal Code, 2005) all introduced stricter legislation to combat online exploitation and sexual abuse of minors. Many countries expanded definitions of pedophilic behaviors to include sexual grooming and online abuse, highlighting the growing impact of technology on child protection laws.
VII. Emergence of Feminist Inspired Sexual Politics
40. FEMINIST PARADOXICAL FRAMEWORK TO DEFINE CHILD RIGHT
In the mid-20th century, the feminist women’s rights movement gained significant social influence and political power, enabling it to shape public discourse and exert considerable impact on legislation and began redefining norms. Yet, a striking paradox emerged: while promoting sexual liberation and gender equality, it simultaneously intensified control over certain sexual expressions, often through moral panic rather than science-based policy (Rubin, 1984; Foucault, 1978), revealing contradictions in modern sexual politics and regulatory frameworks. Adolescent adult consensual relations once widely endorsed in the past historical societies as adult-adolescent marriages, all of a sudden, reframed as pedophilia, a severe criminal pathology.
This shift aligned with the rise of consent as the ultimate moral and legal benchmark, a principle cemented by the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. While this standard which decriminalized adultery, prostitution, and homosexuality all of which once deemed immoral and criminal, now started shifting their discourse towards vilifying adult-minor consensual relationships as child rape. The contrast is quite shocking: practices condemned for centuries gained acceptance, yet a historically normalized dynamic faced unprecedented condemnations. This inconsistency, highlighted by the American Psychiatric Association’s evolving DSM definitions, exposes a tension in modern sexual ethics. What drives this inversion? Does consent alone offer a coherent moral foundation, or does it mask cultural biases posing as universal truth? This paradox demands scrutiny of the frameworks shaping deviance, revealing how shifting societal tides often dictate what we deem rational or just.
41. SEXUAL CONSENT BECAME THE SUPREME ARBITER EXCEPT FOR ADOLESCENTS
The risen of “consent” principle in sexual behaviours as the ultimate legal standard, fundamentally transformed societal norms, sidelining traditional values like women’s moral dignity, honour, virtues, modesty and purity all replaced by the modern women’s consent laws that originated in the mid-20th century, mostly focused in favour of women’s right which granted them the power to set their own sexual decision making boundaries, paving the way for the decriminalization adultery, and prostitutions the acts once deemed taboo (Foucault, 1978). Yet, this new framework established a changing of goal-post when the consent laws come to interplay with the adolescents below 18 years, claiming those sexual relationship lack explicit, autonomous agreement, redefined “incapable of consent” as inherently exploitative, claiming minors could never meaningfully consent (Foucault, 1976). The pubescent adult sexual love relationship that has been historically viewed as morally good and socially beneficial, became pedophilia as the starkest example of moral breach a heinous sexual crime child rape, fuelled by an unwavering legal and cultural commitment to safeguard the vulnerable (Jenkins, 1998). While empowering individual agency, this consent-centric paradigm introduced a paradoxical moral and legal line, under the doctrine of, ‘protecting the wellbeing of the defenceless is paramount’.
42. RAPE ON WOMEN OVERBLOWN AND EXAGGERATED ALIGNING WITH PEDOPHILIA CRIME
Decriminalizing adultery and homosexuality gutted media’s voyeuristic sex crime business, leaving rape as their lifeline. Television, and the other technological visual media that came latter amplified visuals, drawing viewers to exaggerated tales. Moral vigilantes and reporters, facing obsolescence, seized on pedophilia adolescent sex under 18, as a new taboo, hyping it as child rape similar to Feminist legislators added rape law to men having sex with women if she latter claims she couldn’t consent to it, based on her statement alone, broadening the rape’s scope, with men bearing proof of women’s consent. Media trials narrated inflated rape reports, crafting moral panic and mob outrage for profit. This overblown narrative, prioritizing sensationalism over fact, built pedophilia into a child rape monster. Far from reflecting harm, it served media and institutional greed, turning a historical norm into a modern enigma. There is a strong inner connection between exaggerated claims of rape on women which treat women “incapable of consent” wherever it suits the feminist, to the denial of sexual agency for the adolescents in the name of “children incapable of consent”. This distortion underscores how vested interests, not science, drive today’s sexual laws, demanding scrutiny of their motives.
43. FEMINIST INFLUENCE IN REDEFINING PEDOPHILIA AS RAPE
Feminist ideology aligned legal theorist played a crucial role in redefining pedophilia, asserting it as a stark manifestation of patriarchal oppression rooted in male dominance over women of all ages. By drawing parallels to historical practices like child marriage, they argued that pedophilia perpetuated the systemic exploitation of women and girls from a very young age. This perspective positioned pedophilia as the ultimate manifestation of wicked male power dominance, symbolizing the subjugation of women from birth to death, aligning its criminalization with the broader feminist struggle for gender equality. Through sustained advocacy and legal activism, feminists influenced both legal and medical frameworks, ensuring that pedophilia was not only classified as a criminal act but also recognized as neurological and psychological disorder. This redefinition strengthened the institutional rejection of adult-minor sexual relationships, opposing the autonomy and consensual relations between adolescents and adults explicitly as unlawful. (MacKinnon, 2005).
44. FEMINIST POLITICAL INTEREST IN DECRIMINALIZING ADULTERY WHILE CRIMINALIZING PEDOPHILIA.
The decriminalization of adultery, and prostitution, has enormously benefited feminist political interests, particularly among the adult women voters. It enabled their liberated women to freely sell sexual favours and services without marital constraints, broadening demands and the gains for their sexual Favors and gratifications beyond the marriage market into entertainment and pleasure industry, clubs, bars, escorts and into pornography. All of it also made them economically more independent and stronger. Feminists meanwhile oppose pedophilia, viewing it as perpetuated by heterosexual “straight” males, symbolizing patriarchy and reinforcing practices like child marriage and child sexual coercion and exploitation. Additionally, criminalizing pedophilia served to protect the adult women's sexual service market by eliminating competition from the entry of adolescent sexuality into the adult sphere including in the porn industry. Feminist separated gay men from their hatred of heterosexual men because they claimed homosexuals don’t indulge in raping women like the heterosexuals. Moreover, it also strategically garnered the LGBTQ+ community support for the feminist ideals by cleverly supporting all their cause as the victims of patriarchy.
45. ALFRED KINSEY A CLASH BETWEEN SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY AND FEMINIST IDEOLOGY
In the mid-20th century, during the rise of second-wave feminism, feminists advocated for women's rights, challenging patriarchal laws on adultery and prostitution while supporting the decriminalization of homosexuality and criminalizing adolescent adult consensual relations as pedophilia. Amid this climate, Alfred Kinsey pioneered research on adolescent sexuality, offering nuanced views on adult-adolescent relations. His work faced fierce backlash from feminists and moral advocates, predecessors like Freud and Jung avoided the topic probably due to fear of condemnation. Alfred Kinsey(1894-1956), along with researchers like Havelock Ellis and John Money, clashed with critics such as Mary Pipher and James Dobson, whose feminist-backed views emphasized harm and pushed for stricter laws. Despite the controversy, Kinsey’s work spurred ongoing debates about human sexuality, scientific inquiry, and legal boundaries.
46. FEMINIST RESISTANCE TO LIBERALIZING AGE OF CONSENT LAWS
There was a consistent effort by the to liberalize age-of-consent laws in the 20th century, particularly during the sexual liberation movement of the 1960s and 70s, Reformers argued for reducing the age of consent to reflect the realities of adolescent development and to decriminalize consensual relationships between older teens and adults. These efforts were not about endorsing sexual exploitation but about recognizing the agency of young people to consent—a principle that had been acknowledged centuries earlier when the age of consent was as low as 12 in 13th-century England (Waites, 2005). However, feminist zealots, channelling the moral panic of their 19th-century predecessors, quashed these reforms. They framed any liberalization as a gateway to abuse, ignoring the distinction between consensual acts and exploitation. This overreach not only criminalized teenage sexuality but also stifled nuanced discussions about personal liberty and education-based approaches to sexual health.
47. FEMINIST HYPOCRISY GENDER DOUBLE STANDARDS IN CRIMINALIZATION OF PEDOPHILIA
Legislation such as age-of-consent laws appears gender-neutral on paper but is applied with a significant bias towards male offenders. Statistics reveal at least 6-14% of child sexual abuse cases involve female perpetrators (Finkelhor et al., 2005), yet women are prosecuted less frequently. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, men convicted of child sexual offenses receive sentences that are on average 63% longer than those given to women for similar crimes (Starr, 2012). This discrepancy is mirrored in societal attitudes where acts by female abusers are often romanticized or minimized as "affairs" rather than abusive acts. Such framing not only distorts public understanding of the criminality of pedophilia but also diminishes the trauma experienced by victims. The root of this bias lies in patriarchal views that either deny women's capability and culpability for predation or view such behavior as less harmful due to ingrained notions of female passivity.
Research shows that the pedophilic attraction transcends gender boundaries: Studies indicate that 10-15% of the known pedophilia cases involve females who often exploit positions of trust or caregiving roles, such as mothers or teachers (Denov, 2004). The CDC's 2023 report suggests that 40% of male survivors of childhood sexual contacts were abused by females. This gender bias is particularly evident in legal proceedings, where fathers are disproportionately prosecuted for similar behaviours that are overlooked when committed by mothers. Studies suggest that maternal touch, even in contexts that would be deemed inappropriate if performed by a father, is seldom questioned or investigated (Bourke et al., 2014).
Moreover, LGBTQ+ predators are not exempt from this pattern. Research by Langton et al. (2017) found that while the majority of sexual offenses against children are committed by heterosexual men, there remains a notable minority of cases involving individuals identifying as LGBTQ+. Ignoring this reality undermines efforts to create comprehensive child protection policies. Female abusers often use manipulation and grooming rather than overt physical force, which can obscure the recognition of their actions as abuse.
The narrative around child sexual abuse in media and advocacy often focuses solely on male predators, which is evident in movements like #MeToo. While this has been vital for highlighting many cases, it has inadvertently sidelined those where the abuser is female or identifies as LGBTQ+. For instance, the case of Lisa Connolly, who was convicted of child trafficking in 2021, received minimal coverage, contrasting sharply with high-profile male predator cases. This selective advocacy dilutes the feminist goal of equality by ignoring victims based on the gender or identity of their abusers.