- ISBN13: 9780465071739
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
A world-renowned expert provides a psychological profile of serial sex offenders-how they think, how they deceive their victims, and how they elude the law. What motivates sexual abusers? Why are so few caught? Drawing… More >>
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I have mixed feelings about this book.
On the one hand, she has a masterful control of the facts and research – as she says, she is an obsessive academic. She is absolutely correct about who the perpetrators are, what they are like, and where to find them. I also like the way she puts the responsibility on the parents to be aware of dangers and accurately access the risks of certain situations. This is all very good and commendable.
However, I think she uses examples and stories that are extreme and she overstates the risk that sexual abuse presents to our children. Most cases of abuse are never reported and very few of these cases involve forcible rapes or other horrific crimes. Yet many of her examples are of horrific crimes. Her strategy is to scare people and over-demonize pedophiles. Sexual abuse is one of many risks children face and we need to protect our children but also avoid the danger of being over-protective, especially as they become teenagers. Overprotection can harm children in serious ways. It can lead to anxiety, loneliness and depression, not to mention resentment toward the parent.
Finally, she seems to be missing something important. She claims that many pedophiles are basically fixed that way, and they are never going to change. I agree with that. But does that mean that pedophiles are like homosexuals were 50 years ago? Are people simply born pedophiles? If that’s the case, couldn’t her children, or anyone’s children be pedophiles? Our children certainly can be homosexuals!
I find this oversight deep, perplexing and morally troublesome. It strikes me that something dishonest is going on here, and we are not really looking at the big picture. We are driven by hatred, fear and judgment of pedophiles. When are we going to take a bigger view and realize that our own children could be struggling with their sexual desires? If some of our children are pedophiles what damage do we do to them by demonizing pedophilia in this way? And what are the real implications of this damage?
Rating: 2 / 5
Perhaps the most interesting detail concerning this book is that the author is a fiction writer of murder and crime stories. Unfortunately, her taste for sensationalism trumps logic, scientific method and academic discourse.
While no parent including myself would wish to see their children harmed in any way, this book reduces all childhood sexual encounters to being dangerous in the extreme. It avoids the crucial questions surrounding the debate on childhood sexuality and what is truly harmful to children, with the exception of the very rare instances of rape or violence.
Therefore this book gets one star, and I would refer anyone who is intelligent, educated and interested in expanding their knowledge of the subject to Judith Levine’s work in “Harmful to Minors.”
I would also hope some of the professionals who have reviewed this book would be open minded enough to consider alternate, more academic sources of information.
Rating: 1 / 5
As a psychologict, I expected this to be a bit more scholarly, but as the title suggests, it is written for the general public and the protection of their families. I rated it a one star from a professional standpoint; as a trade publication I would rate it a four.
Rating: 1 / 5
Never knowingly under-sensationalized, this polemical tract is only for those who like their ‘facts’ to be served up in the form of tabloid headlines. (The paradox contained in its title might be the first clue.)
A happily unacademic work, Salter’s ‘methodology’ consists of selecting the most melodramatic examples of stories gathered from her years of employment within prisons, and then somehow extrapolating these questionable anecdotes to society in general.
Her message is clearly enunciated: fear and ignorance should be our guides in approaching life. Which, unfortunately, is also likely to be the alluring nature of this book, and its tendency for mass-appeal; it repeats the same comforting fairy-tales that we so desperately *want* to believe in; that mythical world of monsters and demons, princesses and knights. These fables may be comforting, and we may relish their uncomplicated familiarity, but to pretend – and under the guise of authoritative academia – that they are anything other than tools for manipulation would be unconscionable.
More positively, mention must be made of the author’s genuinely impressive ability not to allow her storyline to be clouded by anything resembling intellectual insight. Salter is not alone, of course, in cherry-picking those ‘sources’ that support her adaptation of the story, although the transparent straw-man approach to the work of genuine scholars still has the power to startle.
For those readers who honestly wish to avoid an hysterical abreaction (and who appreciate that while fairy-tales may be enchanting, what we actually need are *new* approaches), then Kincaid’s Erotic Innocence and Levine’s Harmful to Minors should absolutely be their first port of call.
Rating: 1 / 5
In this text, Salter goes to new lows in her harsh criticism of critics, such as Levine, at times giving the appearance of one attempting to shame those who disagree with her beliefs. This may make Salter’s book interesting to some, and may offer voyeuristic delights to readers who enjoy emotional-based pillory. However, Salter offers this presentation style in place of the rational, scientific debate essential to promoting advances in our understanding of pedophilia and the prevention of child sexual abuse. Salter’s approach makes her arguments appear personal rather than empirically based. A field examining a sensitive issue, such as sexual abuse, will not benefit from work, such as this, which seems intended to sensationalize rather than enlighten. Salter should be encouraged to stick to the data to argue her position rather than resorting to emotional sensationalism which, arguably, benefits no one. Last, her effort to hold parents accountable for protecting their children is, to some extent, likely to induce a significant degree of guilt in some parents whose children have been abused. Pedophiles are incredibly inventive, creative individuals. No prevention education programs exists that can adequately prepare a child to defeat the most dedicated, inventive pedophiles. Clearly, children of even the most well intended parents find that their children have experiences, sometimes profoundly unfortunate, that are outside their personal control. Some of these are small accidents and some tragedies. Prevention education programs are clearly necessary and appropriate. However, we should not attempt to encourage anyone that a prevention education program and a dedicated parent will ensure child safety. If one promulgates that belief, one promulgates myth.
Rating: 1 / 5