Abuse with abuse

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Abuse with abuse (occasionally also used in the form of “ abuse of abuse ”) is a catchphrase that is used to criticize an instrumental or misleading approach to the subject of sexual abuse . It denotes a party in a controversy that developed in Germany in the early 1990s but had predecessors in the United States. Katharina Rutschky and Reinhart Wolff , among others , are attributed to the point of view of abuse with abuse , on the other hand there were people who had brought the topic of child sexual abuse to a wider public, especially the founder of the “ Zartbitter ” association, Ursula Enders . The dispute extended to the type of public thematization, the statistical figures for the dissemination of the facts, the diagnosis, the therapy and the judicial processing.

Coining of the formula "abuse with abuse"

The exact origin of the catchy formulation cannot be clearly clarified. The first demonstrable use in the German National Library is a "documentation" of the interest group maintenance and family law (ISUV) from 1992.

According to Karin Jäckel , the formula "abuse with abuse" was used in isolated circles by pedophile and pederastic people before the start of the debate to call for unencumbered sex with children; However, Jäckel does not provide any details. Alice Schwarzer stated in an Emma editorial in 1993 that Reinhart Wolff first used the phrase at the end of 1990 in the magazine Sozial Extra . Katharina Rutschky, on the other hand, used the formula abuse with abuse as a heading in a polemical book contribution in 1995, but attributed the authorship to Ursula Enders (one of her opponents). At this point in time, this coinage had already established itself as a short formula for the controversy and a party in this controversy. It may be a takeover from the asylum debate ; there the formula “abuse with abuse” (of the right of asylum ) can be proven ten years earlier.

However, the concept of sexual abuse, codified in the Criminal Code, has also been sharply criticized by both academics and victim groups, as it presupposes non-punishable sexual use (including by children) in terms of language.

initial situation

In the United States, since Florence Rush and Judith Lewis Herman's publications in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there had been renewed attention to the subject of sexual abuse, particularly of fathers, of their daughters. The debates triggered by this later found an echo in the Federal Republic of Germany. When Emma first published a report on the subject in 1978 , the response was very low, as Alice Schwarzer discovered in retrospect. A few years later that had already changed: the first whitewater advice center was founded in 1982 . Barbara Kavemann and Ingrid Lohstöter's book Väter als Täter, published in 1984, had numerous editions up until the 1990s. As a result, a number of titles were translated from English and French into German (such as Rush's book, but also Masson: What have you been done, you poor child? ). The Zartbitter advice center was founded in Cologne in 1987, in 1990 Ursula Enders wrote the book Zart war ich, bitter war’s , and in 1992 Dirk Bange's dissertation on Sexual Abuse of Children was published with the results of a written student survey.

The topic of "sexual abuse of children" had not only reached a considerable media audience, but also acquired strong practical relevance. Advisory and self-awareness groups and initiatives have been set up in many cities.

Soon, however, there were considerable differences in the assessment of the subject among experts. A feminist interpretation of sexual abuse as an expression of the exercise of power by men over women and children ( patriarchy ) had been given a boost by the new publications and initiatives. This contrasted with other, already established concepts in child protection organizations (such as the Child Protection Association ) and family therapy , which understood sexual abuse primarily as a form of child abuse . The discussion had not yet reached the mass media, but it was very polarized by 1991. Jörg M. Fegert stated at the time: "Every sentence in the current discussion about sexual abuse in Germany contains a 'creed' that is barely noticeable for the 'uninitiated'."

In addition, major legal proceedings for mass child abuse had already taken place in the USA and Great Britain, which had also contributed to the polarization of opinions. The process surrounding the McMartin day care center in Los Angeles (1987–1990) and the so-called Cleveland trial in Middlesbrough (1987) developed the greatest publicity .

Course of the controversy

The beginning of the dispute was generally felt to be the publication of a sharp polemic by Katharina Rutschky: Excited Enlightenment , 1992. This statement was heavily controversial in the period that followed. There were positive reviews, for example in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and heavy criticism from Alice Schwarzer in Emma . The Critical Psychology Forum devoted a whole number to the topic (No. 33 [1994]), where Frigga Haug , Klaus Holzkamp and Birgit Rommelspacher , among others, commented . The escalation reached a climax when Reinhart Wolff, then rector of the Alice Salomon University for Social Work and Social Pedagogy in Berlin , organized a congress on the subject there in 1994 together with Katharina Rutschky. This could only take place behind closed doors and under police protection; a manual on sexual abuse emerged from it. Wolff was voted out of office a short time later. The university’s women's representative at the time, Gitti Hentschel , organized a counter-congress the following year, which is also documented in a book: Scandal and Everyday Life. Sexual abuse and counter-strategies .

The heated climate could be seen in various attempts by the autonomous movement to prevent events in which exponents of “abuse with abuse” occurred. This not only happened at the Berlin Congress in 1994; In 1995, the outrage was directed primarily against the satirist Wiglaf Droste , who ironically ironized the " hysteria " he assumed on the subject of sexual abuse in a text in the magazine Titanic ( On the dialectic of father's mother child ) and in a gloss The chocolate uncle at work .

Another development was also responsible for the public impact of the discourse: There was a spectacular trial in Münster in 1992 against an educator who was accused of having sexually abused numerous children in a day care center in Coesfeld. The procedure, known as the Montessori process, was followed and commented intensively in all mass media. After a violent dispute between experts, it ended in 1995 with an acquittal. In 1993, comparable large-scale proceedings began, the processes in Worms and Flachslanden .

A campaign by the ISUV / VDU association that began with a press release in January 1992 and included various events ran parallel to these strands of debate . The association, which advocated the regular granting of joint custody of both parents, alleged a significant increase in allegations of abuse in custody and access law proceedings as well as a high rate of false accusations. However, the information was subsequently called into massive doubt. An increase in allegations of abuse in family court proceedings could not be corroborated in empirical studies; according to a study from 2000, the proportion of these cases is consistently around three percent and therefore very low. In the cases of abuse allegations found before family courts, however, there was a “very high proportion of dubious or unprovable allegations”.

Issues of dispute

At least four topics can be consistently recorded. Initially, the spread of sexual abuse in society, especially in German society, was highly controversial. The common reference point for almost all contributions to the debate was a study by the psychologist Michael C. Baurmann for the Federal Criminal Police Office (1983). He started from the data of the official crime statistics (reports of violations of the relevant criminal law paragraphs), analyzed the distribution of this data and tried to estimate an unreported number , since the crime statistics can only capture the bright field .

Second, there was exploration methods for suspected sexual abuse. This was where criticism of the work of the Wildwasser und Zartbitter counseling centers sparked and found a focus in the instructions and reports of the psychiatrist Tilman Fürniss , which had played a major role in getting the 'Montessori Process' started.

Thirdly, in particular in the contributions by Katharina Rutschky, there is a sharp criticism of the staging and instrumentalization of the subject for political issues of feminism, which she claims, summarized in the catchy formula: "Child abuse plus feminism equals sexual child abuse."

Fourth, advocacy organizations (such as the ISUV) alleged that the allegation of sexual abuse was instrumentalized in particular in disputes about custody of children together.

In a short résumé in 2009 , Ilse Lenz stated that when dealing with the abuse issue "in individual cases, problematic diagnoses and hasty suspicions" had come about. It registers polemical attacks on the movement against sexual abuse by Rutschky and Wolff, which would have led to a "hard-fought conflict". This "ultimately turned out to be insoluble".

According to Karin Jäckel, the accusations that were brought to the center of the public due to the media spectacle called "the victims' hard-won credibility" into question again in ten years.

Individual theses

Rutschky and Wolff questioned allegations about the extent of sexual violence against girls and boys and criticized what they said was "missionary activism" by child protection officers, which would have led to children being torn from families if they were unjustified in suspicion of abuse and abused sexual violence in custody disputes would have been. Falff allegations of abuse would be used in custody disputes for the purpose of character assassination or for spurned love , according to Wolff and Rutschky. Child and adolescent psychiatrist Helga Simchen questioned the accuracy of memories obtained through certain therapy techniques ("Recovery memory Therapy" or "Therapy to uncover memories") and cited an example in which a court judgment is revised had to because, according to Simchen, the allegations were based on a falsified memory of the children.

See also

literature

  • Katharina Rutschky: Excited enlightenment. Child Abuse: Facts and Fictions. Klein, Hamburg 1992, ISBN 3-922930-05-0 .
  • Reinhart Wolff: Politics is made with the child at risk . A conversation with Reinhart Wolff about the "abuse of abuse" and the practice of child protection , In: Psychologie heute . No. 7, Belz, Weinheim 1994, pp. 65-70, ISSN  0340-1677 .
  • Katharina Rutschky; Reinhart Wolff (Ed.): Handbook of sexual abuse, psychological and social backgrounds of the current wave of suspicions. Klein, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-89521-021-8 .
  • Jörg M. Fegert : Child psychiatric assessment and the debate about abuse with abuse. In: Journal for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. 1/1995.
  • Bernd Marchewka (ed.): White paper on sexual abuse. How to deal with the unjustified allegation of sexual abuse of children in family and criminal proceedings. Holos-Verlag, Bonn 1996.
  • Katharina Klees, Wolfgang Friedebach (ed.): Help for abused children. Overview of intervention approaches. 2nd Edition. Beltz Juventa, Weinheim 2004, ISBN 3-7799-2017-4 .
  • Gabriele Amann, Rudolf Wipplinger (Ed.): Sexual abuse. Overview of research, advice and therapy. A manual. 3. Edition. dgvt - German Society for Behavioral Therapy, Tübingen 2005, ISBN 3-87159-044-4 .
  • Sabine Kirchhoff: Sexual abuse in court. Observation and analysis. Volume 1, Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1994, ISBN 3-8100-1278-5 (Volume 2: Material volume : 15 court protocols. 1994, ISBN 3-8100-1279-3 ).
  • Ursula Enders: I was tender, it was bitter. Manual Against Sexual Abuse. 4th edition. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2009, ISBN 978-3-462-03328-1 , chapter Is there a "abuse with abuse?" (Online, edition from 2001).
  • Hans-Joachim Lenz (Ed.): Male victim experiences: Problem situations and approaches to help in counseling for men . Juventa, Weinheim / Munich 2000, ISBN 3-7799-1364-X .
  • Silke Birgitta Gahleitner : Bright spots and dark fields - Psychosocial responses to sexual violence through the ages. In: Think outside the box - read - write. Gender / gender issues update. No. 4, 2001, pp. 4-8 ( online ).
  • Florian Wille: Testimony against testimony in sexual abuse proceedings - Deficit defendant rights in Germany and Austria and their correction options. Springer, Heidelberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-642-27421-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Josef Linsler, Rosemarie Rittinger: Abuse with abuse in proceedings for custody and access rights. Documentation. Plea for an open discussion. Published by ISUV / VDU eV Nürnberg 1992.
  2. ↑ Karin Jäckel: "Helfermafia" and "Fürsorgestasi" - About the "abuse with abuse". In: Katharina Klees, Wolfgang Friedebach (ed.): Help for abused children. Overview of intervention approaches . Beltz, Weinheim 1997, p. 343.
  3. ↑ Alice Schwarzer: False Child Friends. In: Emma. September / October 1993. (online)
  4. ↑ Katharina Rutschky: abuse with abuse. In: Wiglaf Droste, Klaus Bittermann (Hrsg.): The dictionary of the do-gooders. Tiamat, Berlin, pp. 130-139.
  5. ↑ So 1981 in the journal The Public Administration: Journal for Administrative Law and Administrative Policy. , Volume 34, p. 216.
  6. ↑ See for example Frigga Haug : Child abuse. In: Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism . Volume 7 / I, 2008, Col. 677-694, online (PDF; 174 kB).
  7. ↑ Florence Rush: The Best Kept Secret. Sexual Abuse of Children. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs 1980; Judith Lewis Herman: Father-Daughter Incest. Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1981.
  8. ↑ I indict. In: Emma. April 1978. (online)
  9. ↑ Look at me. In: Emma. November 1991. (online)
  10. ↑ See for example Gahleitner 2001, but also Ulrike Brockhaus, Maren Kolshorn: Sexual violence against girls and boys. Myths, facts, theories. Campus, Frankfurt et al. 1993, p. 14f.
  11. ↑ Gahleitner 2001, p. 5. The quote comes from: Jörg Michael Fegert: Creed and group jargon. Points of contention and standpoints for discussion of sexual abuse. In: D. Janshen (Ed.): Sexual violence. The ubiquitous human rights violation. Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt 1991, pp. 47–85, here: p. 47.
  12. ↑ See for example Susanne Mayer: Abuse and Truth. In: The time. No. 30, July 22, 1994, (online)
  13. ^ Table of contents of the issue Forum Kritische Psychologie No. 33. 1994, accessed on May 17, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Nadja Katsch: Review of: Gitti Hentschel (Ed.): Scandal and everyday life. In: Forum Critical Psychology. No. 37 (1995), pp. 191-199, here: p. 199.
  15. ↑ Jörg Lau : The one who describes himself as left. In: taz . May 5, 1995. Retrieved May 17, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Micha Schöller [women help women, Tübingen]: Attention masturbator. In: taz . May 11, 1995. Retrieved May 17, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Marco Carini, Ulrike Winkelmann: Two appearances: Butyric acid & Häme. In: taz. June 12, 1995. Retrieved May 17, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Objectively not funny , by Frank Drieschner, Die Zeit , June 23, 1995 26/1995
  19. ↑ Jan Schwarzmeier: The Autonomous Between Subculture and Social Movement. Dissertation. Göttingen 1999, available as Book on Demand, Norderstedt 2001, here the chapter The campaign against Wiglaf Droste, pp. 192–195.
  20. ↑ On the death of Wiglaf Droste Der Tucholsky of Our Days , by Friedrich Küppersbusch, taz May 16, 2019
  21. ↑ A "documentation" published by this association itself contains the press release, an article from the magazine Stern and contributions from an expert forum organized by the association. See Josef Linsler, Rosemarie Rittinger: Abuse with abuse in proceedings for custody and contact rights. Documentation. Plea for an open discussion. Published by ISUV / VDU eV Nürnberg 1992.
  22. ↑ Detlef Busse, Max Steller, Renate Volbert: Suspected abuse in family court proceedings. In: Practice of Legal Psychology. Special issue 2/2000, pp. 3-98; the quote there p. 74.
  23. ↑ See the overview in Gahleitner 2001.
  24. ↑ Katharina Rutschky: Excited Enlightenment. 1992, p. 23.
  25. ↑ Ilse Lenz : When women say no, they mean no! The movement against violence against women. In: Ilse Lenz (Ed.): The new women's movement in Germany. VS, Wiesbaden 2009, pp. 209-213, here: pp. 211f. The quotations are from p. 212.
  26. ↑ Karin Jäckel : "Helfermafia" and "Fürsorgestasi" - About the "abuse with abuse". In: Katharina Klees, Wolfgang Friedebach (ed.): Help for abused children. Overview of intervention approaches . Beltz, Weinheim 1997, pp. 342-343.
  27. ↑ Melanie Reinke: The right of every child to protection from sexual abuse . Tectum, Marburg 2002, p. 22.
  28. ↑ Reinhart Wolff, Katharina Rutschky: Handbook of sexual abuse . Klein, Glückstadt 1994, p. 9ff.
  29. ↑ Helga Simchen: Insecure , anxious, aggressive: behavioral disorders in children and adolescents - causes and consequences . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2008. Therein: Chap. 14.4: If the abuse is abused , p. 176f.