corporal

of the human body....

hi all... as a general rule.... I dont use the word corporal...

as BELT or HIT or assault is more in my terminology....grin

looked up that site Ranier..... yep pretty cool

half the people I know would not know what corporal punishment meant..

however now that is clear....

usually if someone belts a child for any reason, you will find
that they are abusive in other ways,

emotional
verbal
sexual
vd sexual

and so on....

carried down like genes.... ?

JHH

JHH, I'd be interested to see the independant research backing your statement "usually if someone belts a child for any reason, you will find that they are abusive in other ways"

That's not my impression. I would agree with you if you were talking about those who lose control and belt a child around the head, punch them etc but your wording is much broader than that.

No research to back it up but I suspect that those who fail to appropriately discipline a child are likely to be the ones who are abusive in other ways be it physical, emotional, sexual, neglect etc.

R0bert

Rainier, what do you mean by "Child abuse is a symptom of not just system failure but of a society that thinks they are expedient". What is expedient?

Under the heading of child abuse, religion has to be one of the biggest culprits.

In his latest book 'The God Delusion', Richard Dawkins, considered one of the world’s most influential genetic scientists, points out that religion is a form of child abuse.

"Innocent children are being saddled with demonstrable falsehoods," he says. "It's time to question the abuse of childhood innocence with superstitious ideas of hellfire and damnation.

Religion is the one field in our culture about which it is absolutely accepted, without question — without even noticing how bizarre it is — that parents have a total and absolute say in what their children are going to be, how their children are going to be raised, what opinions their children are going to have about the cosmos, about life, about existence.”

From the tragic immediacy of suicide bombers in the Middle East, through to the long term scarring and suffering of adult survivors of religious child abuse it is implemented by all religions and Christianity is no exception.

Christian sects such as the Exclusive Brethren ostracise former adherents to their faith. They are prevented from any contact with friends or family still within the sect. This is nothing short of vicious and vengeful behaviour.

As a result of so-called "good intentions" and obedience to divine orders, untold suffering is inflicted on innocent, powerless children in many mainstream Christian homes, and schools. The Christian message of love has been distorted and twisted into a most insidious form of cruelty: the hurting and damaging of children in the name of God.

For example, telling little children that they’ll burn in hell for disobedience is particularly heinous. That’s not discipline its emotional blackmail.

I am surprised, no, disappointed that so far on this thread religious abuse hasn’t scored a mention.

BTW GrahamY

Are you having an attack of the pedantics?

Clearly Rainier meant ‘expendable’.

Are you as petty minded with your children as you are with your fellow posters/

hi all,
and RObert,

hi RO,

corporal punishment, I would make a wild guess...
is inflicted bodily harm

why we need as a society some discussion, on child hitting and belting, really assault....
if one reads the law correctly....
and a crime in australia

yep sometimes I am not clear,
but simply put, I mean anyone who belts a kid, in anger, and for no other reason than their own background, and or mental condition at the time

sadly I take very little notice of statistics, in any form....
but try and research if appropriate to my subject

re child abuse, and adult male and female abuse,
my experience is research, and some work related

sometimes I guess, society needs rules, and sometimes one needs
reminders
as is the DONT ABUSE KIDS media adverts

re religion ...mentioned by a poster

the assault laws, include INTIMIDATION, and emotional abuse....

parents of course, are the basic educators

any media that reminds people not to abuse others..... can only be good
for society in the long run

hope this is clearer...

JH

JH, much clearer thanks. I don't consider corporal punishment as necessarily inflicting bodily harm although it does inflict physical pain.

I've not heard the term used much for in family smacks, rather in the context of hitting (usually with an impliment such as a cane or long ruler) in institutional discipline. State schools have not been allowed to use hitting for discipline some time. Interestingly Queensland has this year changed the rules on physical restraint to give teachers greater scope to manage dangerous situations. That is a safety issue rather than a punishment issue.

When misused corporal punishment/smacking can inflict harm but I think that in all but the most extreme cases the real harm is the mental harm as with other forms of discipline gone wrong. The real issue is not the form disipline takes but the attitude and skills of the adults attempting to administer the discipline.

If the capaign is broad based about appropriate care of children then I'll be pleasantly surprised, what I've seen so far suggests that will not be the case. Time will tell.

R0bert