Overview
- Charts the shifting representational history of sexual violence against children in Britain since the 1960s
- Draws on a highly diverse body of cultural, professional and personal documentation
- Challenges problematic assumptions, myths and anachronisms related to sexual violence narratives
Part of the book series: Genders and Sexualities in History (GSX)
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Table of contents (12 chapters)
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Part I
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Part II
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Part III
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Part IV
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Part V
Keywords
About this book
Reviews
“This book is an ambitious work that, like all innovative scholarship, opens up more questions than it answers. … This book is important because it helps us see how people have spoken about child sexual abuse without speaking directly. It also allows us to see more clearly that policies and procedural structures to prevent sexual abuse and care for children who have experienced it have failed in part because of linguistic holdovers from earlier eras.” (Julia B. Haager, The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, Vol. 16 (3), 2023)
“Through a series of compelling case studies and culminating in an incisive analysis of the Jimmy Savile scandal, Nick Basannavar charts shifting understandings of child sexual abuse in Britain since the 1960s. He vividly demonstrates how responses were entangled with wider social and culture crises, reshaping visions of the paedophile and perpetrator for the present.” (Matt Cook, Birkbeck, University of London, UK)
“Nick Basannavar provides much needed historicization of the changing representations of adult sex with children from the Moors murders to Jimmy Savile. He captures the discursive shift from tropes of “unknowability” to the use of open and direct language, and the rise of paedophile and paedophilia as hegemonic terms. Ultimately, this book overturns the myth of child abuse as a “silenced” topic to reveal a long history of linguistic echoes, revivals and reversals.” (Dr. Rachel Hope Cleves, University of Victoria, Canada)
“A unique book that captures the changing essence of this highly emotive and polarising subject in an academically rigorous and balanced way. A must read for academics and practitioners concerned with preventing child sexual abuse through better understanding of its past and present threats, especially given the ever-increasing danger that the Internet and social media represent to the young.” (Carine Minne, Portman Clinic (Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust) and Broadmoor Hospital (West London NHS Trust), UK)
“Adeptly interrogating the language and representation of sexual violence against children across half a century, from the Moors Murders to the Jimmy Savile revelations, Nick Basannavar demonstrates how concepts like ‘child sexual abuse’ and ‘paedophile’ become meaningful in specific political, activist and media landscapes. Basannavar challenges what we take for granted about the past, and also the present.” (Dr. Justin Bengry, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK)
“This book is a deeply researched, theoretically rich, and path setting exploration of how sexual crimes against children in Britain became legible and significant. With sensitivity and nuance, Basannavar carefully excavates the changing meanings of childhood and sexual violence, showcasing the shifting stories told about children and those who have abused them.” (Gill Frank, University of Virginia, USA)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Nick Basannavar is a historian specialising in the cultural, social and sexual history of postwar Britain. He is an Honorary Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, UK, where he also completed his doctoral research and has taught modern British history.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Sexual Violence Against Children in Britain Since 1965
Book Subtitle: Trailing Abuse
Authors: Nick Basannavar
Series Title: Genders and Sexualities in History
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83148-6
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-83147-9Published: 01 December 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-83150-9Published: 02 December 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-83148-6Published: 30 November 2021
Series ISSN: 2730-9479
Series E-ISSN: 2730-9487
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVII, 327
Number of Illustrations: 8 b/w illustrations
Topics: History, general, History of Britain and Ireland, Social History, Media and Communication