Child sexual abuse within the family: The construction of the victim and offender, 1933-1967

In this chapter, it will be argued that, even though the legislation from 1930 represents a legally shift in the perception of the younger party under the age of 18 (from accomplice to victim), in practice, norms about gender, age and sexuality continued to play an important role in the police system after 1933. Dichotomous stereotypes, such as the “decent girl” (with no sexual experiences) vs. the “immoral adolescent” (sexually experienced girl) and the “seduced adult” (who could not resist the temptation from the immoral adolescent) vs. the “child molester” (who had assaulted an innocent child), were, in this respect, shared and used by police authorities and families in the construction of the victim and offender and in attributing the moral responsibility for the crime ¬– despite the fact, that the younger party under the age of 18 couldn’t get punished