Kentler Experiment's Immoral Approach

In Germany, Berlin during the late 1960s a recognized sexologist, Helmut Kentler implemented an experiment that placed orphan children in the care of pedophile men. This experiment is known now as the “Kentler Experiment”.

In 1967 Kentler published 10 thesis on emancipatory sexual education which consisted of the idea that children should be sexually stimulated from a young age in order to learn and develop correctly. He also believed that this practices would take away shame and taboo ideas from sexual acts. After establishing his ideas and position in regards to sexual education, he became a sought-after expert on youth welfare. With the help of the Berlin Senate Administration, Kentler began his experiment of placing psychosocially impaired children in foster homes with pedophile men. Kentler believed that by doing so, children would develop quite well. With the emotional care of these men who loved them, these children would grow to be good adults in society. Once every couple of months the children and their foster parent would drive to Kentler’s home where he asked questions in regards to their feelings about the lives they led in their foster home.

In 1988 Kentler reported his experiment was a complete success. Although it was much later in the early 2000s that the situation was investigated more in depth. The consequences the experiment had on the children were uncovered after many decided to testify. The children that had now become men, suffer from serious lifelong psychological trauma from their lives within these foster homes. When proof started to emerge, Kentler evaded all responsibility in regards to the damage he caused with the help of the German government. He’s still regarded as an influential figure on sexual health and education.

This experiment goes against everything ethical standards represent when conducting reserch. There was no semblance of respect for the children's feelings as they were manipulated and taken advantage of by their caregivers. Kentler had a lack of competence as a professional since most of the claims he’d made, had no proper backing. At the midst of his experiment he concluded it had been a success and many of the children that participated in it, have suffered greatly from his actions. It’s also clear that Kentler’s connection to the Senate administration and other governments organizations, gave him the possibility to evade taking responsibility for his action. Even now, many of his documents and research are kept hidden.

The approach Kentler had for the experiment was qualitative since he used the conversations he had with the children to determine the results of his study. Even though a qualitative approach would be good for a study regarding psychosocially impaired children and their development towards maturity; everything regarding Kentler’s study was atrocious and wrong. The intention of improving children's behaviors combined with a sexual explorative aproche is irrelevant and it would be best if they were studied separately. Nonetheless, if studies in either of these subjects were to be conducted, it would be better to have a combination of a qualitative and quantitative approach. A combination of these methodologies would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomena.

References

Ahrbeck, Bernd; Etschenberg, Karla; and Felder, Marion (2022) "Neo-Emancipatory Sex Education in Germany: Sexual Abuse and Gender Confusion," Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence: Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 2. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol7/iss1/2/

Aviv, R. (2021). The German experiment that placed foster children with pedophiles. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/07/26/the-german-experiment-that-placed-foster-children-with-pedophiles

Bachner, F. (2021, April 27). Missbrauchsopfer des Berliner Kentler-Experiments werden entscha digt. Der Tagespiegel. https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/einigung-nachmonatelangen-verhandlungen-missbrauchsopfer-des-berliner-kentler-experimentswerden-entschaedigt/27133286.html

Baader, M. S., Oppermann, C., Schröder , J., & Schröer, W. (2020). Independent investigation into Helmut Kentler’s activities in the Berlin child and youth welfare services. Stiftung Universität Hildesheim 2003. https://hildok.bsz-bw.de/files/1109/Oppermann_Kentler-Englisch.pdf

BPS Ethics Committee. (2021). Code of ethics and conduct. The British Psychological Society. https://www.bps.org.uk/guideline/code-ethics-and-conduct

Etschenberg, K. (2020). Helmut Kentlers Erbe und das besondere sexualpädagogische Konzept gegen den sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern. http://www.ketschenberg.de/resources/KENTLERS+Erbe.pdf

Howitt, D., & Cramer, D. (2020). Research methods in psychology. Pearson.

Rogers, S. W., & Willig, C. (2017). The sage handbook of qualitative research in psychology. SAGE.

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