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I never said it was 'equivalent', I just stated that it DID in fact happen and it WAS considered 'moral' for the time period. To say that child abuse is a recent phenomenon is absolutely ridiculous.
Since it was acceptable to beat and/or molest your children (because hey, they're your property!) things simply weren't talked about. Plus, there are far more people alive today than they were in the past, so of course there are going to be more reported cases... percentage wise? Well, they didn't quite keep track of those things in the past so I can't be completely sure.
My grandmother had a child in her teens in the late 40s.... she was sent to a 'relatives' house because she was 'sick' and the baby was whisked away and she went back to school as if nothing happened. Still to this day she has no idea where that child is. Teenage pregnancies HAPPENED, maybe not in the prevalence that they are today, but they happened often enough to create an entire industry for hiding unwed mothers until they gave birth.
Right, and it is equally ridiculous to suggest that I stated that general child abuse only recently began to occur...My original statement specified two things: Prevalence of child sexual abuse and the prevalence of children contracting std's through sexual abuse, such as this story. Prosecutors: Houston man knowingly exposed teen to HIV | khou.com | Khou.com - News, Houston news, Texas News, Headlines
What my statement did not claim is that general child abuse, or general human rights violations never occurred at all, prior to now.
Until historical documents can be produced which documents accounts of sexually transmitted diseases being passed to children from adults, I suspect both of our claims are largely speculative to that point. But it has never been considered morally acceptable to harm a child in western society, and this includes inflicting disease upon them. Sub cultures and miscreants may have done such, but it has never been socially sanctioned, and despite the fact that it still isnt today, it occurs in greater prevalence than yesteryear.
Although you're right that there are currently more people living in the U.S., there is also a far greater percentage (meaning percentage wise) of our population living in urban areas, than there were in decades prior...This is significant because it introduces the prospect of a greater spread of disease, which would then introduce a higher percentage of individuals with STD's than before. This correlates with the fact that statistically (meaning percentage wise) std rates have increased, even as our population continues to grow.
So in this way, we effectively see a trend towards a greater percentage of our population with stds which would of course increase the likelihood of those diseases being passed to children when molestation does occur.
Even if you were to take the base level truth of child sexual abuse and apply it to today: The general rule is that children are most often sexually abused by family members or people they know. With the increased occurrence of single mothers, and the laxed attitude toward and even the encouragement of multiple sex partners, this means that step fathers -and uncommitted men- play an increasingly active role in their step children's lives. That fact alone implies that the opportunity for children to be sexually violated increases two fold, merely because of the fact that rather than one person (biological father) having access to children, a second close acquaintance (step father) now, more than before, has access to those same children as well.
Last edited by solytaire; 06-03-2010 at 01:38 PM..
Significantly less number of people were killed in auto accidents in 1910 and we have many more agriculture-related deaths nowadays. I can offer as many anecdotal pieces of evidence as you so please forgive me if I decline your offer to argue a subject, which by its nature, elicits more rhetoric than facts.
I wasn't talking about anecdotal evidence.
I'm just curious, why is it that we're so much worse off today?
Once again another thread about "morals". And, as can be expected of Americans, morals always deal only with sexual behavior. At least in America that is the case. People continue to lie, cheat, steal, deceive, smear, kill, and love greed...but these actions don't fit under the umbrella of "morals". At least not in America.
Thats right...our society is getting along just fine.
Man Charged After Girl, 7, Contracted STD - Baltimore News Story - WBAL Baltimore (http://www.wbaltv.com/news/23771280/detail.html - broken link)
I'm with you on this, but I can see some of the opposing arguments and why they think teens are the same as always, but the truth is society has become a place where we want it here and we want it now our way because of the way technology has molded us to living in our lifestyle. I mean back in the 50's people had more patience from what my mother told me and peoples' priorities were more on the responsible issues in life. Today people care about the next gadget they can buy or just entertaining themselves more than they do on responsibility. This doesn't apply to everybody, but it is a way of life in society now, but a lot of people don't recognize a difference because as time went by as we grew up we just got used to things that happened in this world. I'm not saying there weren't worse era's in history, but in the modern era I personally think something is missing in our youth. More and more youths are turning to gangs or gadgets instead of goals for the future.
You see more and more stories like this in the last 20 years than ever before in the modern era...
I'm with you on this, but I can see some of the opposing arguments and why they think teens are the same as always, but the truth is society has become a place where we want it here and we want it now our way because of the way technology has molded us to living in our lifestyle. I mean back in the 50's people had more patience from what my mother told me and peoples' priorities were more on the responsible issues in life. Today people care about the next gadget they can buy or just entertaining themselves more than they do on responsibility. This doesn't apply to everybody, but it is a way of life in society now, but a lot of people don't recognize a difference because as time went by as we grew up we just got used to things that happened in this world. I'm not saying there weren't worse era's in history, but in the modern era I personally think something is missing in our youth. More and more youths are turning to gangs or gadgets instead of goals for the future.
You see more and more stories like this in the last 20 years than ever before in the modern era...
I agree, we are a society of instant gratification and inverted morality. Additionally our society wants to conduct itself as though there are no absolute rules in our culture. Everything is supposed to be relative, under the auspices of "Well who's to say whats right"...our elected officials are supposed to reflect our values...and unfortunately, they do. Our politicians are people with flaky character and shady dealings. As implied, they are us.
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