Child sexual abuse

Child sexual abuse denotes sexual activities with children.

However, in definitions of the term given in scientific literature there are considerable variations in terms of criteria and specificity. In common use the term "sexual abuse" is sometimes mistakenly used interchangeably with sexual offence, which means sexual activities that are prosecuted by law. Often it also refers to activities that are morally condemned in society. These are ambiguous definitions, because moral norms, socially accepted behaviour and laws vary greatly both nationally and internationally and because the definition is too wide to be useful.

Many researchers note that the lack of a generally accepted definition leads to incompatible study findings and wrong generalisations, when different phenomena are often lumped together as if they had similar causes and results. Rind et al. has criticised the term "child sexual abuse" as being "of questionable scientific validity", arguing that scientists should not deal with such vaguely defined fields, but instead concentrate on specific phenomena that can be observed empirically and clearly defined. Okami (1990) criticises much of current research on adult-child sexual behavior and notes that "much of the current victimology-based research employs polemical devices and research methods that blur the line between social science and social criticism".

Having said that, it is indisputable that some of the phenomena covered by this definition are real, harmful to the children and relatively prevalent, thus warranting attention to the problem.

For a number of decades there has been debate on the prevalence of child sexual abuse. The research has suffered from lack of common methodology, unclear definitions, use of questionable techniques for retrospective studies, such as memory recovery (see false memories), bias, unjustified presumptions and other factors. Goldman (2000) notes that "the absolute number of children being sexually abused each year has been almost impossible to ascertain" and that "there does not seem to be agreement on the rate of children being sexually abused". A meta-analytic study by Rind, Tromovitch, and Bauserman (1998) found that reported prevalence of abuse for males ranged from 3% to 37%, and for females from 8% to 71% with mean rates of 17% and 28% respectively. A study by Fromuth and Burkhart (1987) found that depending upon the definition of CSA use, prevalence among men varied from 4% to 24%.

By the above definition child sexual abuse is a criminal offense, although the range of activities that are prosecuted varies between countries. These often include sex of adults with children below a predefined age of consent that ranges between 12 and 18 years and lewd actions towards children.

Child sexual abuse is regarded as particularly reprehensible in many modern societies, however, the ambiguity of the definition and the intensity of fear and reprehension prompted some critics to argue that in some respects this is a result of mass hysteria and not rational view towards specific problems. The attitudes towards various sexual activities also vary between countries. For example, in many countries going to sauna or public bath together by children and adults is acceptable. In Japan such strange activities as groping schoolgirls in trains are tolerated to some degree. Child prostitution is often tolerated in poor societies as a way to support the family.

Motivation for outlawing sex with children

A wide range of psychological, emotional, physical, and social effects has been attributed to child sexual abuse, including "anxiety, depression, obsession, compulsion, grief, post-traumatic reactions, poor self perception, sexual dysfunction, social dysfunction, dysfunction of relationships, poor education and employment records, and a range of physical symptoms" (Smith et al., 1995). There is a debate about how best to determine the causal dependency. Rind et al. (1998) found the confounding variable of poor family environment as a plausible cause for the majority of negative effects. Children with such a background are more likely to become victims of abusers.

The percentage of adults suffering from such long-term effects is unknown. Smith quotes a British study that showed only 13% of adults sexually abused as children suffered from long-term consequences. For example, Rind et al. (1998) also found that "CSA does not cause intense harm on a pervasive basis".

It should also be noted, that not all activities classified as child sexual abuse always result in harm to the child involved. A distinction should be made between severe sexual abuse that is often associated with being suicidal, sexual aggression, and self-mutilation (Kisiel and Lyons, 2001) and other, more prevalent types of CSA that do not necessarily have any negative effects.

Wakefield and Underwager (1991) note the difference between CSA experiences of boys and girls, where more boys than girls report the experience as neutral or positive, saying that "It may be that women perceive such experiences as sexual violation, while men perceive them as sexual initiation."

Critics of outlawing sex with children, especially pedophile emancipation groups, disagree with labelling all child sexual activity as abuse and object to the use of terms victim and perpetrator when talking about consensual acts. Many pedophiles doubt that there is scientific evidence that consensual sexual activity causes harm to minors and argue that child sexual abuse is considered a crime solely because of sexual morality.

According to United States laws, children can only give simple but not informed consent to sexual activity. Therefore in many jurisdictions a person performing such acts with a minor commits statutory rape (or Sex without consent if the age of the child is very low). A child can not even give informed consent to another child. Pedophiles argue that denying a child the right to give informed consent ignores his right to sexual self-determination and only reinforces the existing sexual morality of a culture.

Offenders

Most offenders are situational offenders (pseudopedophiles) rather than pedophiles. They are rarely strangers, but relatives or acquaintances like trainers or playmates. Most offenders are male, the number of female perpetrators is usually reported to be between 10% and 20%, however in some studies it was found to be as high as 70%.

Typology

Exhibitionists are commonly excluded in classifications of offenders in child sexual abuse as a phenomenon of its own.

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 initial 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 acquaintances 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 perceives 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. They primarily use sexuality for suppression not for sexual satisfaction.

"Children who molest"

Some therapists noticed that many adult sex offenders showed what they considered deviant sexual behavior 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.

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, critics of this trend as simply sexually experimenting view many if not most “children who molest”. 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 photoplethysmographs are sometimes used on these children.

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 practised 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.

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. 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.

In ancient Greece pederasty (sexual relationship between adolescent boys and adult men), was prevalent, sanctioned by the state and sanctified by the church.

References

Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect "American Academy of Pediatrics: Guidelines for the Evaluation of Sexual Abuse of Children: Subject Review" Pediatrics 103 (1) January 1999, pp. 186-191
Smith D, Pearce L, Pringle M, Caplan R. "Adults with a history of child sexual abuse: evaluation of a pilot therapy service" BMJ 1995;310:1175-1178
Kisiel CL, Lyons JS. "Dissociation as a Mediator of Psychopathology Among Sexually Abused Children and Adolescents" Am J Psychiatry 158:1034-1039, July 2001
Ralph Underwager, Hollida Wakefield "Antisexuality and Child Sexual Abuse" IPT Volume 5 - 1993
Eric Vern L. Bullough and Bonnie Bullough, "Problems of Research into Adult/Child Sexual Interaction" IPT Volume 8 - 1996
Pedophilia: Biosocial Dimensions (). Edited by Feierman JR. New York, Springer-Verlag, 1990
Some Methodological Problems in Estimating Incidence and Prevalence in Child Sexual Abuse Research. Journal of Sex Research, Nov, 2000 by Juliette D. G. Goldman, Usha K. Padayachi [1]
Fromuth ME, Burkhart BR: Childhood sexual victimization among college men: definitional and methodological issues. Violence and Victims 1987; 2:241-253

External links

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry on Child Sexual Abuse
Stop it now A campaign to prevent Child Sexual Abuse by calling on potential abusers to seek help
Male Survivor - Overcoming sexual victimization of boys and men
Ethical Treatment for All Youth by Geoff Birky; a website which protests and documents trends in the area of "children who molest"
Child Sexual Abuse: What It Is and How To Prevent It
The Role of Schools in Sexual Abuse Prevention and Intervention