Altruism in Society Campaign about Child Abuse
Alexzandrea Burke-wimberly, Amanda Wylie, Rebecca Smith,
Jackie Wyrick
PSY-400
November 12, 2011
Leslie Binnix
University of Phoenix

Altruism in Society Campaign about Child Abuse Introduction

The Nature and History of Child Abuse Child abuse has been around and thrived all throughout our history, in all cultures and ethnic backgrounds, in all its forms. Historically there were two human rights that are the core reasons for child abuse. The two rights were the right to own property, and the right to own children. Throughout all ages of history children were considered to be property. Parents had an unrestricted authority to do to a child whatever was deemed necessary. In most cases it was the father that made all the disciplinary decisions (deMause, 1998). In ancient Rome, fathers were given total authority over their children. If the father chose he could sell, kill, maim, sacrifice or otherwise do with his child as he saw fit. Generally, the father would have used this right if the child was born deformed, weak, disabled, or in any way different than was considered the norm. In these types of cases, it was not unusual for a Roman father to declare the child unfit to live. In spite of the fact that society frowned upon sexual abuse of children historically it still occurred within families (deMause, 1998). Child labor was also common through out history. In England and America it was common for children as young as five to be put to work in apprenticeships, workhouses, orphanages, placement mills, factories, farms, and mines. These children were forced to work 16 hour days and were chained and beaten. From 1870 to 1930, there were over 8000 children plucked from the streets of Dublin and London, where the children were then shipped to Canada to work on farms and in factories. In 1887, the Toronto