Child Sexual Abuse
Important Point: Most victims of child sexual assault know their attacker. A child is three times more likely to be molested by a recognized, trusted adult than a stranger.
What makes children so vulnerable to sex abuse? When criminals search for victims, there is one dominant characteristic that they seek in their targets – vulnerability. Vulnerable victims are less likely to fight back and, consequently, deny criminals the fruits of their crimes. Sadly, children make ideal victims for sex abusers because they are vulnerable. Children are dependent upon others to provide for all their temporal and emotional needs. They are beings in cognitive, emotional, and physical process who must be guided with well-meaning consistency and affection if they are to become productive adult members of society. When even one component of this support structure is missing, the child is at risk for abuse.
Many parents have a tendency to warn their children exclusively about “stranger danger.” From an early age, children are told that they must never speak to strangers because they’re dangerous. This practice inadvertently contributes to the vulnerability of children because it fails to account for the overwhelming majority of offenders – people known and trusted by the child. The child becomes so focused on a theoretical “stranger” that he fails to recognize that his baseball coach is acting inappropriately toward him. Another parental tendency is to require children to obey all adults, no matter what, while failing to recognize that not all adults have the best interests of their children at heart. Children should be empowered to speak up if something seems wrong to them.
