Gay priests and other bogeymen.
The sexual abuse of boys by priests was at the center of the 2002 scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. This scandal has resurrected the misconception that a link exists between having a homosexual orientation and being at increased risk for being a pedophile or child molester. This paper reviews and debunks the arguments in support of this misconception. Central to these arguments is what might be called the "proportionality argument": that the ratio of homosexuals to heterosexuals among child molesters is higher than the ratio of homosexuals to heterosexuals in the general population. The flaws in the proportionality argument and several other misconceptions are discussed.
Clark
Stephen J
SJ
Department of Psychology, Keene State College, Keene, NH 03435-3400, USA. sjclark@keene.edu
D002410:Catholicism / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002977:Clergy / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D010378:Pedophilia / Q000523:psychology; D009626:Terminology as Topic