III
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 107
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JULY 13 (legislative day, JULY 12), 1999
Received and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of Congress rejecting the conclusions
of a recent article published in the Psychological Bul-
letin, a journal of the American Psychological Associa-
tion, that suggests that sexual relationships between
adults and children might be positive for children.
Whereas no segment of our society is more critical to the fu-
ture of human survival than our children;
Whereas children are a precious gift and responsibility given
to parents by God;
Whereas the spiritual, physical, and mental well-being of chil-
dren are parents’ sacred duty;
HCON 107 RFS
Whereas parents have the right to expect government to re-
frain from interfering with them in fulfilling their sacred
duty and to render necessary assistance;
Whereas the Supreme Court has held that parents ‘‘who have
this primary responsibility for children’s well-being are
entitled to the support of laws designed to aid discharge
of that responsibility’’ (Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U.S.
629, 639 (1968));
Whereas it is the obligation of all public policymakers not
only to support, but also to defend, the health and rights
of parents, families, and children;
Whereas information endangering children is being made
public and, in some instances, may be given unwarranted
or unintended credibility through release under profes-
sional titles or through professional organizations;
Whereas elected officials have a duty to inform and counter
actions they consider damaging to children, parents, fam-
ilies, and society;
Whereas Congress has made sexual molestation and exploi-
tation of children a felony;
Whereas all credible studies in this area, including those pub-
lished by the American Psychological Association, con-
demn child sexual abuse as criminal and harmful to chil-
dren;
Whereas, once published and allowed to stand, scientific lit-
erature may become a source for additional research;
Whereas the Psychological Bulletin has recently published a
severely flawed study, entitled ‘‘A Meta-Analytic Exam-
ination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse
Using College Samples’’, which suggests that sexual rela-
tionships between adults and children are less harmful
HCON 107 RFS
than believed and might be positive for ‘‘willing’’ children
(Psychological Bulletin, vol. 124, No. 1, July 1998);
Whereas, in order to clarify any inconsistencies between the
two conclusions the authors of the study suggest and the
position of the American Psychological Association that
sexual relations between children and adults are abusive,
exploitive, and reprehensible, and should never be consid-
ered or labeled as harmless or acceptable, the American
Psychological Association has issued a public ‘‘Resolution
Opposing Child Sexual Abuse’’;
Whereas the American Psychological Association should be
congratulated for publicly clarifying its opposition to any
adult-child sexual relations, which will help to deny
pedophiles from citing ‘‘A Meta-Analytic Examination of
Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using College
Samples’’ in a legal defense, and for resolving to evaluate
the scientific articles it publishes in light of their poten-
tial social, legal, and political implications;
Whereas the Supreme Court has recognized that ‘‘sexually
exploited children are unable to develop healthy affec-
tionate relationships in later life, have sexual dysfunc-
tions, and have a tendency to become sexual abusers as
adults’’ (New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747, 758, n.9
(1982));
Whereas Paidika—The Journal of Pedophilia, a publication
advocating the legalization of sex with ‘‘willing’’ children,
has published an article by one of the authors of the
study, Robert Bauserman, Ph.D. (see ‘‘Man-Boy Sexual
Relationships in a Cross-Cultural Perspective,’’ vol. 2,
No. 1, Summer 1989); and
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Whereas pedophiles and organizations, such as the North
American Man-Boy Love Association, that advocate laws
to permit sex between adults and children are exploiting
the study to promote and justify child sexual abuse: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That Congress—
(1) condemns and denounces all suggestions in
the article ‘‘A Meta-Analytic Examination of As-
sumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using Col-
lege Samples’’ that indicate that sexual relationships
between adults and ‘‘willing’’ children are less harm-
ful than believed and might be positive for ‘‘willing’’
children (Psychological Bulletin, vol. 124, No. 1,
July 1998);
(2) vigorously opposes any public policy or leg-
islative attempts to normalize adult-child sex or to
lower the age of consent;
(3) urges the President likewise to reject and
condemn, in the strongest possible terms, any sug-
gestion that sexual relations between children and
adults—regardless of the child’s frame of mind—are
anything but abusive, destructive, exploitive, rep-
rehensible, and punishable by law; and
(4) encourages competent investigations to con-
tinue to research the effects of child sexual abuse