Every time you turn around, it seems there is more scandal in the headlines about sexual abuse and children. What is causing this trend? And why is it all coming out now?
We know from listening to the television that many adults are coming out with their stories. As children they were abused. But no one ever talks about the person who did the abuse. We just all assume that person is bad and dirty. But, has one ever stopped to think that maybe there is something within this person that caused him or her to do that. What if they did not do it simply because they wanted to, or it made them feel good, but because they did it because they felt they had to?
Childhood Sexual Abuse is defined as any sexual activity with a child by an adult, teen or even another child, anyone with more power. When an adult abuses a child sexually, that is Sexual Abuse. This heinous act is illegal in all fifty states. At least 1 in 5 girls and 1 of 10-20 boys are abused, and 88% of the abuse is never reported. People who sexually abuse (molest) are more likely to be people we know, like, trust and care about. In 70-90% of the reported cases, the child knows the abuser (Finkelhor). Most definitions tend to ignore the social and cultural context of any given episode of sexual abuse. But without taking into account the context, it is very difficult for individuals, communities, or systems to truly define, much less respond appropriately to, the sexual abuse of children (NYC Alliance).
So then who would want to harm a child in such a way? Well, there are a number of reasons. It is likely that the abuser was also abused as a child and is acting out against that. If that is the case, they may never have learned that sexual abuse was wrong. But, let's clarify that not all sexually abused children abuse as adults (Gordon, S.). It could also be they abuse due to the feelings, the rush they get at that chance to increase their power and pleasure. These people become "hooked" on using children for sexual arousal the way a drug addict depends on its drugs for that euphoric feeling. Abusers may seek children to abuse because they have a long history of sexual attraction to kids or because they took advantage of an opportunity to abuse a child in their trust (stopitnow.com).
We can not put the abusers into one and the same category. Just as not all people are the same, not all abusers are the same. As with any other group there are different behaviors and a wide variety of people who abuse. We have been able to identify some common risk factors in the abuser. Physical neglect and cruelty to animals seem to be the top two (Gordon, S.) The statistics show that child sexual abuse crosses boundaries of race, class, culture, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. There is no one kind of community where child sexual abuse happens, no one type of person it happens to (NYC Alliance).
With treatment and accountability many abusers can change and never strike again. It helps that the public is notified of known sex offenders and the offender must register with the local law office. With specialized treatment for abusers, and if the sex offender takes full accountability for the crime, then they can learn to control the abusive behavior. Without treatment, 17% will strike again (stopitnow.com). Even with treatment, and abuser still runs a very high risk of striking again and should never be left alone with children or placed in those types of situations. Although these numbers are low, you probably would not want that person to be your babysitter (Gordon, S.)
Children can heal from sexual abuse. The lives of these children will forever be changed. There are many children who live a caring and productive life. For others, it is hard to feel like they fit into society. Due to this, there are a variety of studies that show how the abused see themselves. The abused feel helpless, hopeless, guilty, have trust issues, sexual difficulties, self-blame and have very low self-esteem. Research and clinical observations have long suggested that Childhood Sexual Abuse is associated with both initial and long term alterations in social functioning (Gordon, C.). 25% of the abused will suffer from these psychological problems. The immediate effects of sexual abuse include sleeping and eating disturbances, anger, withdrawal and guilt. The children typically appear to be frightened or anxious. What seems to happen is the socialization process toward propriety goes awry in these kids (Kohn).
In children, anger is frequently expressed in behavioral problems, with abused children and adolescents' displaying significantly more difficulties in this area than what is found typically in the general population. There is no single, universal or uniform impact of sexual abuse, and no certainty that any given person will develop any post traumatic stresses as a response to sexual abuse. Because Childhood Sexual Abuse stirs up such strong emotions, denial, minimization, and rationalization have always played a central roll in the societal response to Childhood Sexual Abuse (Gordon, C.).
Mandatory reporting laws have greatly assisted our society in identifying and responding to Childhood Sexual Abuse. Much attention has been focused on the process of reporting, investigating and studying. Sometimes there may be an excessive number of reports made based on weak suspicions that can not be investigated fully. All of the observed increase in reporting could be explained simply by increased awareness and willingness to detect and disclose.
Sexual abuse is not a crime that is exclusive to the Catholic Church (Hector). Sensational newspaper headlines about day-care center scandals seem to appear almost daily and, together with feminist protests against sexist exploitations, these reports have greatly increased public awareness of what we know is a widespread problem (Kohn). The backlash is characterized by extreme positions, lack of supporting research data and near total rejection on the knowledge and experiences of Childhood Sexual Abuse. The number of reported cases of sexual abuse has risen faster in the recent years then the number of reported cases of other forms of child abuse (Horton, C.). The only thing we can do to stop this epidemic is to educate and make children and adults aware that this is a real problem.
Bibliography
Gordon, Clay. (2005) Sexual abuse.
http://www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/sexualabuse.h tml
Gordon, Serena. (2003) "Sexually Abused Kid's Don't All Become Adult Abusers: British Researchers Find Only 12% Become Pedophiles" Health Scout News
http://www.hon.ch/News/HSN/511653.html
Hector, Audrey. (2005) Sexual abuse isn't a crime exclusive to the Catholic Church.
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/childsexualab use.html
Kohn, Alfie. (1987, February) Shattered innocence
Psychology Today, 54-58
Through the Eyes of Social Science, 460-466
New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault. (2005)
Childhood sexual abuse: defining the problem. Retrieved October 28, 2005, from
http://www.nycagainstrape.org/survivors_factsheet_85 .html
Stop It Now!
Retrieved October 28, 2005, from http://www.stopitnow.com