‘African traditional systems kind of protect or have protected its population against this tendency,’ [Cardinal Peter Turkson, the African Cardinal widely tipped to be the first black Pope in modern history] told Christiane Amanpour of CCN.
‘Because in several communities, in several cultures in Africa homosexuality or for that matter any affair between two sexes of the same kind, are not countenanced in our society,’ he continued.
‘So that cultural taboo, that tradition has been there,’ said Cardinal Turkson, 64. ‘It has served to keep it out.’
Um...Research tends to disagree with your assertion, Cardinal Turkson.
According to a recent study by the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, the highest rates of child sexual abuse globally affecting boys is in Africa.
Our comprehensive meta-analysis combined prevalence figures of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) reported in 217 publications published between 1980 and 2008, including 331 independent samples with a total of 9,911,748 participants. The overall estimated
CSA prevalence was 127/1000 in self-report studies and 4/1000 in informant studies. Self-reported CSA was more common among female (180/1000) than among male participants (76/1000). Lowest rates for both girls (113/1000) and boys (41/1000)
were found in Asia, and highest rates were found for girls in Australia (215/1000) and for boys in Africa (193/1000). The results of our meta-analysis confirm that CSA is a global problem of considerable extent, but also show that methodological issues drastically influence the self-reported prevalence of CSA.
Of course, perhaps it's all a "misunderstanding" - perhaps, Cardinal Turkson it's a matter of semantics. You aren't "abusing" young children, you're just performing a rite of passage - right?
On the African continent, initiation rites representing the "transition into adulthood’’ in early and mid-adolescence may encourage sexual behaviors with older persons
Or perhaps it's a father's "right" or a matter of health?
In addition, young partners are considered less likely to have HIV, and are thus preferred as sexual partners (Madu & Peltzer, 2000). Furthermore, Madu and Peltzer
(2000) pointed out that the male dominant society in South Africa may be responsible for high CSA rates because men in such societies feel that they have authority over women and children.
Or is it not abuse because it's showing respect to their elders?
The socialization of African children to unquestioningly obey older people puts them at risk for sexual abuse by people to whom they are expected to pay their respects
Reference:
A global perspective on child sexual abuse: meta-analysis of prevalence around the world Full Text by Stoltenborgh, Marije; van Ijzendoorn, Marinus H; Euser, Eveline M; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J Child maltreatment, ISSN 1077-5595, 05/2011, Volume 16, Issue 2, pp. 79 - 101
FACT
Homosexuality has
NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE.
And if you are going to be Pope, I think it would behoove you to educate yourself about pedophilia.
Did you not learn anything from Cardinals past?
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, 2010
The Vatican was yesterday forced into a climbdown after remarks by a senior cardinal linking homosexuality with paedophilia caused an international outcry.
The French foreign ministry protested at the "unacceptable linkage" which Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone had made between sexual orientation and child sex abuse. A forceful statement by British bishops distancing themselves from the remarks added to the pressure.
"To the best of my knowledge, there is no empirical data which concludes that sexual orientation is connected to child sexual abuse.
"The consensus among researchers is that the sexual abuse of children is not a question of sexual orientation, whether heterosexual or homosexual, but of a disordered attraction or fixation. Many abusers of children have never developed the capacity for mature adult relationships." - Rev Fr Marcus Stock, general secretary to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales
In fact, literature says quite the opposite:
As early as 1977, the medical literature discussed whether male homosexuality and child molestation were associated but concluded that there was likely only a random connection between the two. In another report, female children were victimized
twice as often as male children, and all perpetrators were said to be heterosexual later as adults.
Reference:
Review of Medical Reports on Pedophilia Full Text by Hughes, John R
Clinical Pediatrics, ISSN 0009-9228, 10/2007, Volume 46, Issue 8, pp. 667 - 682
From The Abel and Harlow Child Molestation Prevention Study
Excerpted from The Stop Child Molestation Book, by Gene G. Abel, M.D., and Nora Harlow (Xlibris 2001)
Findings:
11. Sexual Orientation: More than 70 percent of the men who molest boys rate themselves as heterosexual in their adult sexual preferences. In addition, 9 percent report that they are equally heterosexual and homosexual. Only 8 percent repport that they are exclusively homosexual. The majority of the men who molest boys are also married, divorced, widowed or living with an adult partner.
12. Crossing multiple sex boundaries: More than 60 percent of pedophiles have other paraphilias. Many are also exhibitionists or voyeurs. Of the pedophiles who molest girls, 21 percent also molest boys. Of the pedophiles who molest boys, 53 percent also molest girls.
But here is one fact you may want to learn immediately
•A 1994 National Institute of Health survey of 453 pedophiles, conducted by Dr. Gene Abel, showed these criminals were collectively responsible for the molestation of over 67,000 children. That’s an average of 148 children per individual pedophile.
Again, Cardinal Turkson - I implore you to educate yourself on the true definitions of pedophilia and, instead of trying to lay blame at one's sexual orientation, perhaps begin looking inwards at the church and the failures in your own home.
STOP PROTECTING PEDOPHILES - START PROTECTING CHILDREN