Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse denotes those sexual activities with children, that are prosecuted or morally condemned.About 1% of children are the victim of some form of sexual abuse every year. By the time they have reached the age of 18, between 12% to 25% of girls and 8% to 10% of boys have been victims (CCAN, 1999).
Child sexual abuse is a serious criminal offence in all countries. Fixed ages of consent are commonly defined.
Child sexual abuse is regarded as particularly reprehensible in all modern societies. Awareness of the problem has greatly increased.
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2 Offenders 3 Statistics 4 Historical aspects 5 Criticism 6 Related Topics 7 Warning Signs 8 References 9 External links |
There are two main categories of offenders. These categories are known as the "regressed" offender and the "fixated" offender.
The regressed offender has a primary sexual orientation toward adults, but can be aroused by children. In most cases he is heterosexual. The sexual interest in children typically manifests itself in adulthood in this sort of offender. "Due to an inability to maintain adult relationships the offender substitutes a child for an adult sexual partner". The intial offense is often not planned and often alcohol related. The regressed pedophile is typically capable of a traditional life-style and often married. Social skills of the regressed offender are basically normal but with under developed peer relationships. The regressed offender typically has no problem making aquaintances or socializing with others, but is not capable of handling the responsibility of long-term relationships. This behavior is a maladaptive attempt to cope with specific life stresses.
The fixated offender has a primary sexual orientation toward children, i. e. he is a pedophile.
The sexual interest in children manifests itself in adolescence for this offender. The offenses are typically planned out ahead of time and are not alcohol or drug related. The fixated pedophile has behavior that is characterized as a lack of maturity and this offender has difficulty with adult sexual and social relationships. "This offender identifies with children, in other words considers him or herself to be like a child and thus seeks sexual relationships with what the offender percieves to be other children". The fixated offender is often interested in the same activities and interests as the young children who are the offender's victims. Such offenders often collect articles related to small children (clothing, children's books), even if they do not have children. This behavior has been interpreted as a maladaptive resolution to issues with adult maturity. Most fixated offenders prefer members of the same sex.
The great majority of offenders are regressed. Only 2-10 Percent of all offenders are fixated. The third and very rare type of offender is sadistic. He primarily uses sexuality for supression not for sexual satisfaction.
Despite the lack of scientific knowledge the US started to focus on "juvenile sex offenders" or even children for therapy or detention perhaps in the early 1990s. The label "juvenile sex offender" is controversial because it is not only used to describe acts of violence, but also consensual acts that violate statutory rape laws. Similarly, many if not most "children who molest" are viewed by critics of this trend as simply sexually experimenting. As opposed to the criteria of the law, that in these cases considers both children molesting each other, they are quite arbitrarily classified as victim and perpetrator.
Therapies used even on young children have included controversial methods historically used in the "treatment" of homosexuals such as aversion therapy, where children are, for example, forced to smell ammonia while looking at nude pictures or to listen to audio tapes describing sexual situations. In order to measure sexual response, devices like penile plethysmographs and vaginal plethysmographs are sometimes used on these children.
See Pederasty in ancient Greece.
Circumcision is the practice of removing the foreskin of a male. Some consider this practice to be a type of child sexual abuse, though others claim that the negative effects associated with child sexual abuse do not occur with circumcision. See circumcision for a detailed description of this controversy. Similarly, the various "remedies" against masturbation which were proposed and used from the late 19th to the mid-20th century, ranging from physical restraints to castration, have been called sexual abuse, and the common practice of spanking (often on the nude bottom) has been claimed to have sexual undertones (see spanking for a discussion of the sexual fetish of spanking).
In ancient China, young girls often had their feet bound in a manner that caused the big toe to stick out. The enlarged toe served as a substitute penis for the girl. Some ancient Chinese texts describe using the big toe in sexual play, leading many researchers to conclude that the practice was abusive. Others doubt that statement, and claim that this was a standard and accepted practice, and did not cause the negative effects associated with modern child sexual abuse.
In some South Pacific island cultures, it was believed that young boys needed to swallow large amounts of semen, termed jerungdu, in order to properly mature sexually. This was accomplished by older boys receiving oral sex from the younger boys. However, again, this was the accepted norm in those societies.
The following is a list of signs that a person may be a potential sexual predator of children. Obviously, a person who exhibits these qualities is not necessarily a sexual abuser of children. However, guardians of children who observe these qualities in a person thier child comes into contact with would be well advised to reduce that contact, or at least be present during thier child's contact with such a person.
Motivation for outlawing sex with children
Long term consequences of childhood sexual abuse include a wide range of psychological, emotional, physical, and social effects (Smith, et all, 1995):
Severe sexual abuse is associated with suicidality, sexual aggression, and self-mutilation (Kisiel and Lyons, 2001).Offenders
Most offenders are situational offenders (pseudopedophiles) rather than pedophiles. They are rarely strangers, but relatives or
acquaintances like trainers or playmates.Typology
Exhibitionists are commonly excluded in classifications of offenders in child sexual abuse as a phenomenon of its own."Children who molest"
Some therapists noticed that many adult sex offenders showed what they considered deviant sexual behaviour in their childhood already. So they promoted early treatment of deviant minors as a preventive measure. However there is still little known about normal as opposed to deviant child sexuality. It is also unknown whether so called deviant minors have a higher risk of becoming an adult sex offender than anybody else.Statistics
Historical aspects
Though few doubt that child sexual abuse does occur and has negative effects on the children involved, there is much controversy over whether certain practices should be considered abuse. This is especially common when commentators examine rituals practiced in cultures geographically or temporally removed from their own. In many cases, rituals or ceremonies of cultural or religious significance involve activities that some describe as child sexual abuse. These include castration, circumcision (of males), female circumcision, infibulation, cutting and bleeding of the genitals and Chinese footbinding.Criticism
Critics have argued that in some cases, innocents have become victims of mass hysteria surrounding child sexual abuse. Psychological techniques involving discovery of child sexual abuse, including memory recovery, are considered questionable by some (see false memories).Related Topics
Apart from having sex with a child, the following may also be considered child abuse of a sexual nature:Warning Signs
See also
References
External links