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The Missing Mechanism of Harm in Consensual Sexually Expressed Boyhood Relationships with Older Males: Further Thoughts Associated with O’Carroll (2018)

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Abstract

There are at least two assumptions about childhood sexuality that are not supported by either empirical data or rational logic. One of these, childhood innocence, has recently been addressed by O’Carroll. Another, the assumption that psychosocial harm is the inevitable outcome of sexual experiences between younger/older persons, is revisited by examining a sampling of the relevant literature over time, principally in the area of boy/older male relationships, including earlier foundational victimology papers. The issues of this missing intrinsic harm mechanism are examined, and alternative extrinsic mechanisms of harm are proposed and considered.

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  1. Independent Researcher, Philadelphia, USA

    David L. Riegel

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  1. David L. Riegel
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Correspondence to David L. Riegel.

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Riegel, D.L. The Missing Mechanism of Harm in Consensual Sexually Expressed Boyhood Relationships with Older Males: Further Thoughts Associated with O’Carroll (2018). Sexuality & Culture 23, 1010–1018 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-019-09606-6

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