Child Sexual Abuse: One of the Most Neglected Social Problems in Modern Times
by Child sexual abuse affects millions of children and families throughout the world and takes many forms. Child sexual abuse hurts survivors. Many do recover with a great deal of understanding and help, but many other children are left to suffer in silence. In many countries, when children are sexually abused, they are blamed and every effort is made to protect perpetrators.
Child sexual abuse affects the quality of life of hundreds of millions of people in the United States and world-wide. Few conditions affect that many people. Yet, aside from huge media reaction and legislation meant to incapacitate perpetrators, child sexual abuse is one of the most neglected social problems in modern times. Survivors often have no one to talk to and families are on their own to figure out what to do.
Few services exist in the United States and internationally. The general public remains uneducated. What they know is informed by myths and misunderstandings with the result that most children believe sexual abuse is their own fault. Most survivors suffer in silence out of fear of the responses they will get if they talk about it. In many countries, victims are ostracized and even killed. Family members protect perpetrators and punish victims out of fear of public disgrace and destitution. When peers learn that a child has been sexually abused, some bully and harass child survivors to the point where children have to transfer schools to maintain any semblance of mental health.
The lack of public will to provide services and wide-spread education protects perpetrators. As a result, child sexual abuse continues. I have been working in the field for almost 30 years and continue to hope that one day there will be a world-wide awakening to what we are allowing to happen to so many children.
Forms of Child Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse of children takes different forms: incest, child molestation by persons children know, child molestation by strangers, pornography, child prostitution and trafficking, temple prostitution, forced child marriages, and rape in war. Sexual abuse that strangers commit gets the most publicity, especially if children are abducted, but more than ninety percent of all sexual abuse is perpetrated by family members, friends of the family, and other persons children know. It is important to identify child sexual abuse wherever it occurs and not be blinded by misleading assumptions.
Whatever forms child sexual abuse takes, children experience an abuse of power, where older, stronger, and often more knowledgeable persons take advantage of them for their own sexual gratification. Children need empathy, understanding, and education about what happened to them. One of the most helpful words children can hear when they are sexually abused is the words that a mother said to her child: “I’m so sorry this happened to you. I love you, and I am here for you.” Parents must do whatever it takes to be responsive to the hurt their children have experienced.
Perpetrators require clear messages that what they do harms children for their life times. There is no justification for the use of children for sexual and emotional gratification. It is exploitation pure and simple. Children require protection from those who would harm them.
Non-offending parents, persons children know, and the general public all have parts to play in prevention and in helping children recover. Simply understanding that perpetrators take advantage of children, that sexual abuse harms children, and that perpetrators have full and sole responsibility for children sexual abuse is a start.
You can read more about child sexual abuse in Shame, Blame, and Child Sexual Abuse, a book available on Amazon Kindle and at stores.lulu.com/jgilgun. A free download of a book that is not finished and has typos in it is also available at stores.lulu.com/jgilgun. It’s called Child Sexual Abuse: Survivors, Mothers, and Perpetrators Tell Their Stories.
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