@article{10.11648/j.ss.20211006.22,
  author = {Ulrika Wolf-Knuts},
  title = {Paedophilia and Silence: A Finland Swedish Case Study},
  journal = {Social Sciences},
  volume = {10},
  number = {6},
  pages = {359-366},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20211006.22},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20211006.22},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20211006.22},
  abstract = {In the year 2009, in a small Lutheran revivalist movement, a Laestadian community in western Finland, a case of paedophilia was disclosed. Paedophilia is known as a crime since the end of the nineteenth century. It turned out that several members of the community had been aware of what was happening but that, for some forty years, they hid their knowledge from one another. After several decades of silence some of the paedophile’s victims, i.e., his grandchildren, decided to reveal their memories. Everybody could read about their fate in both the local press and newspapers published in Sweden, and what they learnt, certainly, caused vivid reactions. In this article, interviews with four members are analysed, and the questions posed to the oral material about what had happened are why the members of the community turned a blind eye although the man’s behaviour was a crime and how they avoided revealing what they knew. It turned out that the community members subsided for reasons supported by religion, society, pedagogics, cognisance and economy. Laziness and cowardliness were not the most important reasons for silence, although they were elements in the process of co-dependency. The strategy for not being obliged to expose their highly appreciated preacher and Sunday school teacher was to refer to his religious expertise.},
 year = {2021}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Paedophilia and Silence: A Finland Swedish Case Study
AU  - Ulrika Wolf-Knuts
Y1  - 2021/12/24
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20211006.22
DO  - 10.11648/j.ss.20211006.22
T2  - Social Sciences
JF  - Social Sciences
JO  - Social Sciences
SP  - 359
EP  - 366
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2326-988X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20211006.22
AB  - In the year 2009, in a small Lutheran revivalist movement, a Laestadian community in western Finland, a case of paedophilia was disclosed. Paedophilia is known as a crime since the end of the nineteenth century. It turned out that several members of the community had been aware of what was happening but that, for some forty years, they hid their knowledge from one another. After several decades of silence some of the paedophile’s victims, i.e., his grandchildren, decided to reveal their memories. Everybody could read about their fate in both the local press and newspapers published in Sweden, and what they learnt, certainly, caused vivid reactions. In this article, interviews with four members are analysed, and the questions posed to the oral material about what had happened are why the members of the community turned a blind eye although the man’s behaviour was a crime and how they avoided revealing what they knew. It turned out that the community members subsided for reasons supported by religion, society, pedagogics, cognisance and economy. Laziness and cowardliness were not the most important reasons for silence, although they were elements in the process of co-dependency. The strategy for not being obliged to expose their highly appreciated preacher and Sunday school teacher was to refer to his religious expertise.
VL  - 10
IS  - 6
ER  - 

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