Allie C. Kilpatrick

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Allie Callaway Kilpatrick (birth date unknown), known as Allie C. Kilpatrick, is a social work professor at the University of Georgia, who conducted a literature review on childhood sexual experiences, both wanted and unwanted, and administered her own 33-page questionnaire to 501 Southern women. As Judith Levine explained, "Most of Kilpatrick's subjects had kissed and hugged, fondled and masturbated as adolescents, and more than a quarter had had vaginal intercourse. Her conclusion: "The majority of young people who experience some kind of sexual behavior find it pleasurable, without much guilt, and with no harmful consequences." Her large book project Long-Range Effects of Child and Adolescent Sexual Experiences: Myths, Mores, and Menaces (1992), was reviewed constructively by psychologist Paul Okami, and Emeritus Professor of Social Work LeRoy G. Schultz. Kilpatrick's most relevant research to MAPs, AAMs and their allies, is the following:

Relatively few empirical studies have addressed long-range effects of childhood sexual experiences. This study examined the relationships of various childhood sexual experiences to adult functioning in five areas: (a) family relations, (b) depression, (c) marital satisfaction, (d) sexual satisfaction, and (e) self-esteem. A retrospective survey was conducted with a sample of 501 predominantly middle-class women. [...] Some of the findings challenge commonly held beliefs and have far-reaching implications for the helping professions and others who study human sexuality.


Existing studies of the long-range consequences of childhood sexual experiences are marred by problems which render many of their findings useless. A review of the literature reveals the methodological problems of the definition of terms, sampling methods, and measures of consequences. In this review, scientific criteria are used to evaluate each of 34 studies which attempted to account for long-range effects of childhood sexual experiences. Ten studies were found which met the scientific criteria. The findings of these 10 studies do not support the three different hypotheses that childhood sexual experiences inevitably lead to either long-term harmful effects, neutral effects, or beneficial effects.


This book represents an attempt to present varying views as they are found both in the literature and in an original research study in an open, unbiased, and scientific approach.
When I have discussed my study with individuals and groups, my experience thus far has been that many people do not want to hear what my findings are saying. They do not want to hear about positive reactions to early sexual experiences. They do not want their preconceived notions that all early sexual experiences are harmful to be challenged. They especially do not want to hear that incestuous experiences do not always cause irreparable harm. This is particularly true of those who work with the clinical population of survivors of child or adolescent sexual abuse. They see the harm that certain types of experiences can cause. As a clinician, I was somewhat surprised and apologetic myself when I first analyzed my data as the findings were not always as I had predicted. I had to come to terms with my own reactions so that I could present my findings in a scientific and unbiased way. It is my hope that the readers of this book will seriously consider what the 501 women who participated in this study are saying, and that they will try to separate myths from facts, mores from scientific evidence and actual menaces to healthy development from preconceived notions. (From the Preface)

References

  1. Non sci-hub journal link.
  2. Archived on our Chronological Archive.