Doctors and the sexual abuse of children

A contribution to the cultural history of medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries

Abstract

Abstract: Rape and other sexual violence are part of French criminal law since 1810. Medical doctors have been dealing with these phenomena in their role as medical experts in court cases. This study is based on an analysis of theoretical writings by leading French forensic scientists/psychiatrists as well as expert reports from court cases. The medical expertise was supposed to determine whether a sexual assault had actually taken place or not. Initially the expert investigation was limited to purely physical questions. Over time, however, this approach proved to be inadequate, and forensic experts started to take children’s testimonies into account. The change in medical doctors’ attitudes regarding the legal validity, legitimacy, and credibility of children’s testimony over the course of 200 years reflects wider cultural changes during the period, with the rise of psychoanalytic theory being the most important influence in this respect.