PDF version (watch out for fake download button ads)

A book on the history of public perception of pedophiles and child sexual abuse throughout the 20th century. It’s interesting to see how often and how dramatically public opinion has shifted, driven by fads in psychology, law enforcement looking for more power, and individual criminals who got outsized attention. But there has always been absurd, baseless bullshit, whether we’re morally defective imbeciles or insatiable monsters.

It’s been a while since I read it, and I don’t remember a lot of specifics off the top of my head. I’ll have to go through it again sometime. Good to know how things got to where they are, and it’s somewhat reassuring that big panics have come and gone before.