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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
This is specifically the result of the variation in definitions, 393 representativeness of the random sample
and the research method that was used. 394 One example may serve as an illustration: when Finkelhor
compared 19 (specifically North-American and Canadian) studies between 1983 and 1994, it emerged that
2% to 62% of women and 1% to 16% of men had experienced child sexual abuse. 395
Table 1.3 shows a selection of relevant results from the most recent retrospective study of child sexual
abuse in the Netherlands. 396 , 397
It emerged from the study that 20% of Dutch women and 4% of Dutch men, according to their own perception,
experienced a form of sexual violence (excluding solely offensive remarks) prior to age of 16. If
we examine experience of at least one of the forms of sexual violence listed in the table, these figures
even increase to 31% of women and 9% of men in 2009.
Furthermore, the forms of sexual violence listed as third and fourth in Table 1.3 are of particular interest
from the perspective of child pornography. In this context, it would be interesting in follow-up studies
to include more questions concerning sexual violence in relation to the Internet/ICT, and to report the
results in greater detail (for example relating them to the age of respondents). 398
393 For example, the age limit varied in each study (younger than 16 or younger than 18 years of age) and it
is sometimes the case that child sexual abuse is defined as including hands-off offences and/or abuse
by peers (or spouses in cases where a minor is already married), but is, in other studies, defined as
excluding these aspects.
394 Consider, for example, the difference between face-to-face in-depth interviews and an online questionnaire
(Creighton, 2004). It has been found that the more the questions in a study are concerned with
victimisation as a result of sexual abuse, the more often respondents have reported that they were
victims of this (Finkelhor, 1994).
395 Finkelhor, 1994.
396 Bakker et al., 2009.
397 In 2006 and 2009, Rutgers Nisso Groep (since 2011 Rutgers Nisso Groep forms Rutgers WPF jointly with the
World Population Foundation) conducted a study of sexual health in the Netherlands within the scope
of the Monitor of sexual and reproductive health, care requirements and use of care provision (SRGZ),
funded by ZonMw (Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development) and the Ministry of
Public Health, Welfare and Sport. As part of this periodic study, an online questionnaire was used to ask
about aspects including experience of sexual abuse amongst Dutch citizens. In 2009, the random sample
consisted of 6,428 respondents between the ages of 15 and 70, which, after weighting by age, gender, education
level and degree of urbanisation was representative of the Dutch population. In this study, experience
of sexual violence prior to 16 years of age constituted sexual abuse. The broad, psychological definition
of ‘experience of sexual violence’ was used, which was based upon the victim’s perception. This therefore
concerns behaviour of a sexual nature that violates the victim’s norms and boundaries. Everyone who
reported having experienced such behaviour themselves, with the exception of those who experienced
solely offensive remarks, were counted as victims (Rutgers Nisso Groep, 2006 and Bakker et al., 2009).
398 It should be noted that the sexual preference for children and the extent to which that preference is manifested
in behaviour will also be investigated in the next study (Niet iedere pedoseksueel is pedofiel [Not every
pedosexual is a paedophile], Volkskrant, 27 July 2011). This is of particular interest within the context of
the ‘Stop It Now!’ project to be set up in the Netherlands, amongst other initiatives (see §3.2.2 & §3.3.1.1.