Paedophilia and Child Sexual Abuse in Drama and Theatre

Book excerpt: In many Western countries, numerous instances of cases of historical and present-day sexual abuse of children (Child Sexual Abuse, CSA) have made the headlines across the entire range of media. These cases are discussed variously as paedophilia and child sexual abuse. In the heat of the debate, concepts and related terminology tend to become at best vague, and there is much in the way of sheer sensationalism. Altogether, a hazy cloud of facts and fiction has been created around paedophilia in its relation to CSA. This book adds to the very urgently needed enhanced level of understanding by analysing the nature of paedophilia and its relation to CSA as they have been depicted and dealt with in contemporary British and American drama and theatre. Drawing on the plays and their reviews allows it to illustrate the ambiguity of paedophilia and child sex abuse, and to ask questions that are not often uttered and not easily answered.