The History of Child Abuse (International Perspective)

The History of Child Abuse


by Lloyd deMause

The Journal of Psychohistory 25 (3) Winter 1998

Was having a debate with someone about whether instances of child abuse was more prominent in Asia or the west, and I said that it probably manifests in different ways such as how it is institutionalized in China and Muslim countries due to practices of foot binding and female genital mutilation while in the west it would be corporal punishment and child labour

Anyway I busted out this old article I read, and i still find the whole concept that we as a group of humans have historically and continue to abuse the future by hurting children to be chilling and difficult to accept. The article posits that society hurts the most vulnerable as a way to release their own fears and worries thus creating a never ending cycle of instability. I found the idea that China’s adoption of foot-binding helped stall its technological and cultural progression due to women being unable to be loving mothers to be fascinating and instinctively true.

This is one of the most powerful "papers" (it’s actually a speech) I have read, as I often think back to it and wonder how it’s possible that we can work abuse into the structure and culture of humanity. It seems completely at odds with the logic of evolution where we would like our off spring to be successful and flourish.