Elaborado con IA a partir del resumen de los autores
Capítulo que examina los reforzadores culturales del maltrato infantil desde una perspectiva histórica y transcultural. El texto traza la evolución del concepto de infancia desde el siglo XVII y documenta cifras de abuso en Estados Unidos (más de 4 millones de reportes en 1999, con aproximadamente 1400 muertes confirmadas), analizando cómo los sistemas legales y creencias culturales han normalizado o permitido el abuso. Contrasta la tradición de Common Law inglesa, donde los padres tenían amplias facultades disciplinarias sobre los hijos como propiedad, con ejemplos de comunidades como los puritanos de Nueva Inglaterra que establecían límites comunitarios al castigo físico. El capítulo destaca la paradoja histórica de que la protección legal de animales precedió a la de los niños, ilustrada por el caso de Mary Ellen Wilson en 1870, y examina cómo sistemas culturales, creencias religiosas y marcos legales refuerzan o perpetúan el maltrato infantil en diferentes contextos.
Puntos clave
Los sistemas legales basados en la tradición de Common Law concedieron a los padres, especialmente a los hombres como cabezas de familia, amplias facultades disciplinarias sobre los hijos considerados como propiedad.
La tolerancia al maltrato infantil ha variado según estándares comunitarios y creencias culturales; los puritanos de Nueva Inglaterra castigaban físicamente a los niños por considerarlos naturalmente depravados, pero establecían límites comunitarios al comportamiento abusivo.
La protección legal contra la crueldad fue garantizada a los animales antes que a los niños en la historia occidental, como lo evidencia el caso de Mary Ellen Wilson en 1870 que requirió argumentos del derecho animal para obtener protección.
En Estados Unidos, en 1999 se reportaron más de 4 millones de casos de presunto maltrato infantil, con aproximadamente 1400 muertes confirmadas, cifra que se mantuvo alrededor de 1400 en 2002.
Para quién: Estudiantes y profesionales de psicología infantil, trabajo social y derechos humanos que buscan comprender cómo factores históricos, culturales y legales han determinado actitudes y prácticas hacia el maltrato infantil en diferentes sociedades.
Resumen de los autores
Although the history of child abuse remains obscure in many parts of the world, it is argued that as from the late seventeenth century onwards children can be seen playing, sketching, and amusing themselves in portraits, which shows that there was a growing concept of childhood.Nevertheless, the number of abused children in modern times generally is still alarming, since the natural state of affairs is a zero-tolerance to child maltreatment, especially the forms of abuse that lead either to death or permanent physical or emotional impairment.In the USA, more than 4 million children were reported to child protection services as alleged victims of child maltreatment in 1999 alone, of which an estimated 1401 child abuse and neglect related fatalities were confirmed by the child protection services' agencies (Nation Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse [NCPCA] 2000 Annual Fifty State Survey), while the confirmed child abuse deaths in 2002 were about 1400 children (National Data of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, April 2004).The practice of child abuse was based on kinds of philosophies, cultural beliefs and understandings that gave way to a system of laws that, in turn, gave children few, if any, rights.Under the English Common Law, for example, children were considered as property owned by the parents, particularly fathers, who had great latitude over the treatment and discipline of their children.Such legal view was eventually incorporated into early laws in the United States as well.Common law tradition held that the male was head of the household and possessed the authority to act as both disciplinarian and protector of those dependent on him, including his wife and children as well as extended kin, servants, apprentices, and slaves.While common law obligated the male to feed, clothe, and shelter his dependents, it also allowed him considerable discretion in controlling their behavior.Domestic violence, however, was dealt with on the basis of local community standards, which were the most important yardsticks.Puritan parents in New England, for example, felt a strong sense of duty to discipline their children, whom they believed to be born naturally depraved, in order to save them from eternal damnation.Although Puritan society tolerated a high degree of physicality in parental discipline, the community did draw a line at which it regarded parental behavior as abusive, and those who crossed the line would be brought before the courts.The complexity of the sociocultural underpinnings of child abuse is evident from the historical fact that the legal protections from cruelty was granted to animals long before they were granted to children.One of the first cases in the United States (the case of 8-year-old Mary Ellen Wilson) that arose national attention to child abuse in the early 1870s, got through the legal arguments only after an attorney for the then well-established American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) took her case to court and successfully argued for children as being, just like all humans, members of the animal kingdom, hence entitled for the right to be treated with the same legal protection from cruelty as are animals (Shelman and Lazoritz, 2005;Watkins, 1990). Child abuse in Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia is a country occupying most of the Arabian Peninsula with a population of about 27 million who are entirely Muslims.The country is governed according to the Islamic
