"CRIME AGAINST CHILDREN."
1939; BMJ; Volume: 15; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1136/sti.15.3.235
ISSN1472-3263
Autores Tópico(s)Homelessness and Social Issues
ResumoTHIS booklet deals with the superstition that intercourse with a virgin, preferably a child, is a cure for venereal disease.That such a belief was at one time widespread is well known.Mr. Morland believed, with others, that it was rare at the present time, but as a result of his investigations during the past four years he has now reached the conclusion that " this superstition, which results in the rape of infant girls, not only still persists but is actively practised."He states, " that forced intercourse with innocents has definite and, indeed, unique curative powers is a conviction spread over many different countries.It retains throughout a remarkable consistency of form and is associated with a number of similar beliefs."" Among the peasants of the more backward countries where so many curious practices prevail, a belief of this kind might be considered explicable, however much it might be deplored.But this belief is not confined to such environments.It attains, in fact, almost the status of an article of faith among people of the lower intellectual strata nearly everywhere, irrespective of the general educational level of the country concerned."Mr. Morland gives several individual examples of child rape by infected males from different countries.The figures which he quotes for England and Wales of defilement of girls under sixteen years of age tried at assizes and quarter sessions are of interest, and are disquieting in showing an upward trend in recent years.They are given as annual averages as follows
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