Growing Up Sexually

BELGIUM (BELGIË)

Index → Europe → Belgium

Belgian government’s traditional attitude of tolerance toward prostitution in general and child prostitution in particular turned to control and regulation in the 19th century (acc. Steverlynck, 1993)[1]. Judging from a questionnaire study among male and female Flemmish students aged 18 to 30, Kruithof and Van Ussel (1962)[2] speak of the “sexual needs” of the subjects due to an incomplete sexual “ethical” and education curriculum, which “definitely hamper a normal sexual development and experience of sexuality”. Vanderbruggen[3] describes how in the years 1955-1966 the membership journals of the Catholic National Youth ('Katholieke Landelijke Jeugd', KLJ) employed a 'the flesh is weak and sinful' discourse in the contributions about mixed companionship, sexuality and physicality. Virtues like 'decency', 'chastity' and 'self-control' were crucial since every physical act concealed the danger of emerging 'desire'. For fourteen-to-seven-teen-year-olds, friendships between boys and girls were regarded with suspicion and advised against. A CSBI study was conducted by Schoentjes et al. (1999)[4].

A 1996 case of child abduction and murder, still under investigation in 2002, shocked the nation and may have had a significant impact on children’s mobility[5] even in neighbouring countries. In any case, the issue was arguably identified as a “paedophile crime” ever since.

Janssen, D. F., Growing Up Sexually. VolumeI. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed. 2004. Berlin: Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology

Last revised: Dec 2004